The first shot has to be right, because second chances are rare. The organizers of the Oberoi Concours d’Elegance were more aware of this than ever. After several years of planning, a classic event unlike any before was held in Udaipur, the Indian city of lakes. Almost 100 of the country’s most expensive classic cars, as well as 30 historic motorcycles and many of the best-known car collectors from all over the world celebrated a classic car event that is unrivaled anywhere in the world at the legendary Oberoi Hotel in Udaipur.
Even the view of the dark blue Lake Pichola with its numerous palaces surrounding it is a surreal scene. Not only since large parts of the 007 James Bond film Octopussy were filmed here in 1982 in the palaces of Shiv Niwas, Taj Lake Palace and especially the Octopussy island Jag Mandir, better known as the Lake Garden Palace, are the three artificially created Lakes around the 670,000-strong city of Udaipur, one of the most sought-after destinations in the Indian region of Rajasthan.
On the trail of James Bond
The best view of the cinematic island of women, which once took James Bond alias Roger Moore by storm as well as its ruler Octopussy (Maud Adams), is from the hilly gardens of the Oberoi Hotel opposite. However, the panorama all around is not easy this weekend against the almost 100 classic automobiles from the BMW 328 from 1939 to the 1933 Fiat Balilla or the Ansaldo Tipo F from 1952 to the Rolls-Royce All Weather Tourer from 1937.
More spectacular than ever in the warm sunlight are beauties such as the red Delahaye 135 MS Roadster from Maharaj Duleep Singhji of Jodhpur from 1935 or the 1937 Mercedes 540 K Cabriolet B in a unique blue-red paint from the Pranlal Bhogilal collection in Mumbai. In the late 1940s, after India’s independence, it was the country’s first official vehicle collection and has grown to include more than 100 classics worth seeing that are unparalleled anywhere in the world.
The automotive history of the subcontinent itself is unique. “Between 1955 and 1984, there were just three car manufacturers in India,” reflects curator Manvendra Singh Barwani, “Hindustan Motors, Premier Automobile and the Standard Motor Company. While many from this generation will remember their first drives in one of the car brands , the nostalgia for cars from this period comes primarily from films.”
Automobile history and exclusive vintage car rarities
Some of these dream cars stopped off in style at the Concours d’Elegance, with which the Oberoi hotel group celebrated its 90th birthday in a more than befitting manner. The individual classes themselves could hardly have been more impressive and vehicle classes in particular, such as the cars of the Maharajas of Mysore or the mobilization of the Indian masses, are not otherwise seen in the Western world.
As an enthusiastic collector, the late Maharaja Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar of Mysore in particular had countless unique models made – mostly with specially made bodies. He always had six identical models of special models built, which made the term “doing the Mysore six” a household word in India. A great model like the 1949 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Drophead Coupé in Carnation Red paint with a red-gray interior. The open tourer was used, among other things, to chauffeur the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince of Wales on their visits to India.
Just a few meters further on the banks of Lake Pichola, there couldn’t be any difference to models like the Austin Seven Tourer from 1932, the charismatic Hindustan 10 from 1946 or a Fiat 1100 103 from 1956, with which Indian mobility went beyond bicycles and motorcycles learned to walk before the first face of modern India hit the streets in 1983 with the Maruti 800 Hatchback, known to us as the Suzuki Alto, before the Tata Nano caused a stir worldwide in 2015 as the first cheap car.
The first show of such a classic event in what is now the most populous country in the world was a real show with the combination of vehicles, Indian way of life and unique location in Udaipur. It seems that, in addition to the most prestigious classical events in Pebble Beach and Lake Como, there will soon be a third event in the classical calendar that plays in the top league. Namaste Oberoi!