Wheels of history: Swanky cars from the Independence era

India’s well-heeled loved their swanky set of vehicles. Here’s a look at the cars from the Independence era:

Rolls Royce Barker Tourer

Owned by the royal family of Udaipur, the 1924 classic car has been with the family since the 1930s. It has been parked with the royals of Udaipur for seven generations. The car has a rich legacy as it was retrofitted to accommodate cricket teams. Arvind Singh Mewar is the current owner of the car. A part of the company’s smallest cars made in the 1920s. The car was designed by Henry Royce. The car had a 3.1-litre inline six-cylinder engine that produced 20 HP of power.

French De Dion Bouton

The first car to be imported in India by Maharaja Rajinder Singh of Patiala was the French-made De Dion Bouton. This steam car came in 1892 — it had the registration number plate of ‘0’. It is said that he also became the first Indian to own a motor-operated four-wheeled car. A two-cylinder tricar, it was lightweight and had pneumatic tyres.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith

The car was originally a gift from Queen Elizabeth to her last Viceroy in India, Louis Mountbatten. Before leaving India, Mountbatten handed over the car to the Indian government. The car has historical significance for it served several government luminaries from Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri to foreign heads of state like the Shah of Iran and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It became the state car of India and served the country till the late 1960s.

Packard 120


Believing in a non-materialistic lifestyle, MK Gandhi did not personally own any cars. However, his well-wishers offered him their vehicles. One such car was a Packard 120 owned by industrialist and freedom fighter Ghanshyam Das Birla. Gandhi was often clicked alongside the car during the freedom movement in the 1940s.

Auto Union W24 Wanderer


This car made by the now defunct Auto Union has a place in Indian history for being the vehicle Subhash Chandra Bose made his escape in. Bose posed as a Pathan insurance agent and escaped his house arrest in 1941. The car was restored in 2017, and unveiled to the public by former president Pranab Mukherjee. Nicknamed the ‘Great Escape Car’, its top speed was around 108km/hour.