Royal Cars

In 1909, when an American , Henry Ford, mass-produced his famous Model-T, cars became cheaper. They were also easier to drive and more reliable. All Ford cars looked alike . “You can have any colour you like", said Ford, “as long as it's black."         
               

     The Maharaja of Patiala at one time owned ninety Rolls Royces, while the Maharaja of Bharatpur had twenty. However speaking of car lovers , there was no one who could match the Nizam of Hyderabad.
         

     Whenever he saw an expensive and beautiful car in his kingdom, the owner was informed that His Exalted Highness would like a ride in the car .The owner , hardly  believing his luck, would lend his car for the royal drive. The car , of course , was bought and never returned.
          Thus , the Nizam collected a fleet of three to four hundred cars that were never  used. Many years later, when the Nizam turned down the proposal and instead spent lakhs of rupees to get them overhauled.
            The craze for cars ended suddenly with the beginning of the First World War. Car and buses then carried soldiers and their supplies to the battlefield.

     The royalty were among the first to make regular use the car. Knowing that the Maharajas were fond of hunting , Rolls Royce wasted no time in selling them cars specially designed for the purpose. Off came the roof and instead was placed a glass ceiling on four poles to create just the right atmosphere for a hunt. 

    The first Rolls Royce , ‘Pearl of India' as it was called , entered India in 1908 .Designed especially for the Maharaja of Gwalior , it was specially built for tropical conditions. It had a high ceiling and ventilators. It was finished in cream with apple - green stripes edged with gold.

           Around 1911, there were more than a hundred cars in India. Of all these , the Rolls Royce was perhaps the only one that could survive the Indian conditions.