Is there life after death? After millennia of Vedic-Puranic teachings and learnings, the answer is definitely a resounding ‘Yes’. Nothing dies, it changes form; nothing is born, it assumes new forms. What applied to human life applied equally to objects, both man-made and those bestowed by nature. At the Palace Motor Garage of the former Royal Family of Mewar in Udaipur, the rebirth of a 100-year-old Rolls-Royce is worth recounting a thousand times. It is akin to a modern Vedic saga where Maharanas, their Princes and clansmen engaged in an engineering battle, resurrecting not just a motor car but rescuing a legacy of prestige. At the centre of the epic struggle was the 1924 Barker bodied Tourer 20 HP Rolls-Royce (chassis no. GLK 21) acquired by the State of Udaipur-Mewar in 1936.
Shortly after Rolls-Royce GLK 21 arrived in the Palace Motor Garage, it was cannibalized and its engine removed for another Rolls-Royce, a favourite of the reigning Maharana Bhupal Singh. The Rolls-Royce GLK 21 was left abandoned, surrendered to the ravages of time, to put it more dramatically. It lay neglected in the Zenana Mahal (Palace for Royal Ladies) inside the City Palace of Udaipur for almost 60 long years. Was the Rolls forgotten, left for the dead? Had it lost its soul, reduced as it was into a physical heap of rust, dust and dismembered interiors? Not so.
In 1999 Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar, the 76th Custodian of the House of Mewar and chairman-managing trustee of the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation administering the City Palace Museum, asked the Palace Motor Garage to take full stock of Rolls-Royce GLK 21. Typical of a military-like operation, lists of available and missing parts were made; work required to restore it was listed, and restoration experts in India and the UK were contacted.
What emerged, at one level, was a mammoth automobile engineering challenge, requiring multidisciplinary expertise in restoration, craftsmanship, transfer of electrical and mechanical technologies and skills. As a metaphor, the meticulous restoration of Rolls-Royce GLK 21 could be read as a resurrection of the past. It was as if the time past and the present were being bridged to forge a new life. The living were now conversing with the past, searching archives and warehouses as if on a do-or-die mission, while the Rolls-Royce GLK 21 awaited its rebirth. Come to think of it, chroniclers of ancient cultures have invariably pointed out that the past, present and future exist together, running in parallel lines, giving people the chance to move across the lines or time zones, learning from the wisdom of the past. All time is together, it is said. In fact the British politician-philosopher Edmund Burke, writing in ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ in 1790, said “Society is a partnership…not only between those who are living, but those who are dead and those yet to be born.”
The idea of rebirth, resurrection, reincarnation resonates across cultures, geographies and the axis of time. What was transpiring in the Palace Motor Garage was not only a major trans-continental effort to bring Rolls-Royce GLK 21 to life, it was demonstrating team-work, coordination and transfer of technologies and skills in the 21st century through an engineering challenge. In every way it was a veneration of the past, honouring the heritage of Mewar in vastly-changed environs of the postcolonial present. The history of Rolls-Royce (RR) motorcars and India is interestingly entwined with the era of the Princely States of India, whi – ch in turn pre-dates the British Empire of the 19th century by several hundred years. The Maharajas lived in palaces which defined the cities and towns built by their forefathers; their lifestyle, court protocols, places of worship and forts were an integral part of their royal identity.
“It would not be wrong to say that if Rolls-Royce is today perhaps the most honoured luxury marque in the history of the automobile, it owes this special position to India,” observed ‘The Royal Udai pur RR GLK 21’, a glossy pictorial book. The Indian sub-continent became the ultimate destination for many of Rolls-Royce’s early cars, as the Indian royalty were only too happy to make the transition from horse-drawn carriages to horseless ones. When in 1907, an English businessman brought the first Rolls-Royce to India, it was christened the ‘Pearl of the East’. The Rolls-Royce was purchased by the Maharaja of Gwalior. By the time King George V of Britain was crowned Emperor of India at the Imperial Delhi Durbar in 1911, Rolls-Royce had already established its presence; eight identical Silver Ghosts had been ordered for official use at the Durbar.
A team from Rolls-Royce was in India to establish a sales-andrepair depot. Soon most royal garages in India had a Rolls-Royce in them. The Maharaja of Patiala went on to own a total of 44 RollsRoyces by 1938. The princely state of Udaipur-Mewar was no exception: the first Rolls-Royce in the Palace Motor Garage arrived in 1914 when Mah arana Fateh Singh ordered a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Colonial Tourer 40–50 HP with coachwork by Hooper. He used the Silver Ghost extensively, even taking it on hunting trips. Maharana Fateh Singh’s successor, Maharana Bhupal Singh’s favourite RR was a 1922 Tourer 20 HP (chassis no. 42 GO), purchased in 1925 for Rs 15,551. Maharana Bhupal Singh purchased many more Rolls-Royces, but RR 42 GO remained his favourite.
With the passage of time and extensive usage, RR 42 GO began to require some maintenance work. Spares were not easy to procure so the State of Udaipur-Mewar in 1936 purchased the 1924 Barker bodied Tourer 20 HP (chassis no. GLK 21) for Rs 5,721, whose resurrection has been meticulously documented in ‘The Royal Udaipur RR GLK 21’. Said Anu Vikram Singh, Keeper of the Vintage and Classic Car Collection (VCCC), Udaipur, “M/s Hofmann’s of Henley were given the job of overseeing the project; they put Rolls-Royce restoration expert Graham Ashley-Carter in charge of this assignment. Andrew Wood, an engineering expert and founder of the UK Rolls-Royce specialist company P&A Woods, was also roped in to help out as were people like John Fasal, noted Rolls-Royce historian and author of books like RollsRoyce Twenty.
Each one contributed in his own way.” For the Udaipur team of senior mechanics ~ Surendra Singh, Manoj Sen, Rajendra Sen and Mohan Lal Lohar ~ it was an exercise in coordination, learning and absorbing the knowledge from RR experts, as in the case of the engine which had to be procured in UK, and the original gearbox made to match it. The detailed process of completely stripping down RR GLK 21 has been documented with accurate time-lines: radiator and parts were sent to UK, new leaf springs, new shackle pins, exhaust system procured, new tyres came from New Zealand, the switch box was overhauled and a new key made. Ashley-Carter insisted the plating should be done in nickel and not chrome. By the time the oil pressure gauge was overhauled and recalibrated, brakes and speedometer were in place; petrol tank serviced and the full upholstery done in leather.
By October 2005, the electrical overhaul began with new tail lights, wiper motor, wiper arms and blades refitted. RR GLK 21 had a hand-lamp or spotlight to be manually adjusted by a lever at the back. This lamp, an extra fitment ordered specially for India, was made by Stephen Grebel of Paris. With the carburettor restored and the car painted powder blue, with the mudguard sprayed dark blue and the wheels black ~ the original factory colour combination ~ RR GLK 21 was fired up for the first time in almost 70 years, in the presence of AshleyCarter, a truly historical moment! Finally, RR GLK 21 was adorned with the Udaipur coat of arms, state flags, license plates and ceremonial lights, marking a restoration process that took almost eight years. RR GLK 21 was now resurrected, finding its pride of place in the Palace Garage. “Ten years may seem a long span of time spent on restoring RR GLK 21,” said Maharaj Kumar Dr Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, trustee of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation and an avid motorcars-motorcycle enthusiast himself. “Yet like the restoration of palaces, public buildings or places of worship being undertaken by us it is a fine example of how we are keeping alive the heritage of Mewar.”
The global awards bestowed on RR GLK 21 testify not only to the engineering brilliance and accuracy achieved by the transcontinental teams but also to the prestige and honour they have brought to Udaipur’s royal cars collection. In November 2008, the ‘Best of Class Category, Vintage Classic in the Cartier Travel with Style Concours’ award was bestowed on RR GLK 21; in 2012, it claimed the Lucius Beebe Trophy at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event in California, marking a first for an entry from India to be awarded with the prestigious trophy. “We respect and honour the past, our unique legacies, it adds new dimensions to our identity in Mewar,” said Dr Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar.
(The writer is a researcher writer on history and heritage issues, and a former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya)