Mysore Rolls Royce, 1923 fire truck turn heads; 1934 Packard wins at car show

A 1922 Daimler car fitted with wooden cabinets, and a 1935 two-door Bentley in a jet black finish, both originally made for royal families in India and a 1923-era fire truck manufactured in the US were among the head-turners at a grand vintage car show in Vadodara that ended on Sunday. While a 1934 Packard 1107 Coupe Roadster won the Best of Show award, a graceful 1949 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Drophead Coupe, bearing Mysore plates, finished second, while the third position was bagged by the 1936 Nash Ambassador Series 1290 Sedan, the organisers said.

The post-war Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, bearing its royal insignia, drew a lot of eyeballs during the event. The tenth edition of the 21 Gun Salute Concours dElegance, hosted at the celebrated Lukshmi Vilas Palace, commenced on January 6 in Vadodara and concluded on January 8.

Visitors thronged the 19th-century Lukshmi Vilas Palace on the last day of the grand event organised by the trust in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and supported by Gujarat Tourism.

The 1934 Packard 1107 Coupe Roadster that won the Best of Show award car is owned by industrialist and car collector Gautam Singhania, they said. Singhania, the chairman and managing director of Raymond group, also owns the 1923-era fire truck that was put on display.

The 1949 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith is owned by Yohan Poonawalla while the Nash Ambassador Series 1290 Sedan belongs to Delhi-based Diljeet Titus.

On Saturday and Sunday, a large number of visitors drawn from Vadodara and other parts of Gujarat and foreign tourists witnessed the automobile extravaganza. The restored 1922 Daimler, originally made for the then Maharaja of Mysore, left visitors surprised with a sense of awe and wonder, as did the 1948 Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupe (labelled Baroda 2) that was originally made for a Maharani of Baroda. Madhya Pradesh-based Yash Pathak, the current owner of the 1922 beauty, says he bought the car a couple of years ago from a person in Delhi.

“It was built for the Mysore Maharaja and one can see the royal insignia mounted on the engine front. It also has a wooden bar cabinet, a metallic peacock sitting atop the bonnet, and it has a wooden body over which metal was added,” he told

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