Manvendra Singh of the royal house of Barwani near Indore had a tough but enviable task. The vintage and classic car expert, restorer and author was the curator for India’s first concours d’elegance and he had to put together about 60 fine automobiles for an international-class vintage and classic car event. Now how the hell do you choose a mere 60 cars from the fabulous automotive treasure house that is India? Well, that’s where knowledge comes in and Manvendra Singh did manage to pull it off, making the first Cartier Travel With Style Concours D’Elegance to be held in India a huge success.
Held last month, at the Turf Club in Mumbai, the cars were shipped in from different parts of the country and were judged by an array of international automotive experts and celebrities. Each of the 59 cars that were present had a story to tell, that too, a unique Indian tale (in fact, regular readers of BSM would have seen full-blown features on many of the cars present at the show).
So it would have been pretty difficult for the judges as well to choose a few winners from amongst the thoroughbreds. But they managed and here is the list of winners of the key awards:
Best Of Show: 1939 Delahaye 135 MS owned by Maharaj Duleep Singhji of Jodhpur
Best of Class – Classic
I. 1924 Rolls-Royce 20HP owned by Shriji Arvind Singhji of Mewar
II. 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental owned by Amir Ali Jetha of Mumbai
III. 1930 Lancia Dilambda owned by Hemant Kumar Ruia of Mumbai
Post-War Classic – 1946 to 1959: 1952 Cadillac Series 62 owned by Diljeet Titus of New Delhi
Roadster–Convertibles from 1936 to 1946: 1949 Healey-Westland owned by P P Asher of Mumbai
Exotic (Special, unique or rebodied cars): 1923 Rolls-Royce 20HP owned by Dharmaditya Patnaik of Bhubaneshwar
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