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Originally Posted by harit Oye I thought wrong. Allied Motors apparently did represent Humber also.
Hello Mr Tagore,
Any luck on info about your ancestral Rolls?
Well, it should have been 109MG, a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost originally sold to Profullanath Tagore, Calcutta, bearing registration number 8489, body by Mann Egerton. AND, the car is alive with a collector in USA. Somehow the BLA alphabetical part of the registration was not known to them(those who told me). Sold around 1968 by Mr. Hari Agarwal of Calcutta. The name Coco Mckenzie has been heard, not much known may have been a dealer. This car participated in the Statesman Rally in 1967.
Apparently the present owner is a private person, I do not know the name, now you have to do your networking.
Cheers harit |
Some astonishing news!
Boy Bentley gave me the contact details of the person who owns the car now, and he was also kind enough to share with me his telephone number which he got of the net.
I have just gotten of the phone after a half hour conversation with the current owner in America!
He kept repeating that he was so excited that he could't stand it, finally bringing to a close both our quests about the history and ownership of the car.
The gentlemen says that it is the only complete Series "O" Silver Ghost in the world existing, and it was made in 1921. The car still retains its non-original bumpers (which are opened as the garage is not large enough) and the spot lamp. It also has a gun rack holder behind the front seats, added no doubt by the marketing pros that sold the car. He was also given the story that the car was used by an Indian Maharaja for hunting tigers (what else!).
When he bought it, the cars woodwork was destroyed by a fire and the engine was seized. When he opened up the engine, he found that someone had over heated the car so badly, that number 1 and number 6 pistons had seized. He changed the rings and pistons, and he was surprised to find, on measuring the crankshaft journals and bearing diameters, that, in his own words "they measured exactly the same as when Henry Royce had built it".
He also said that he bought it from an old lady, and paid 3 times the value of the car in its shape, about 10 years back, paying $75000 for it. He bought it from the lady, after selling a very historical car, a Mercedes Benz 540K, originally presented by Adolf Hitler to the arms manufacturer, Alfred Kruppe.
He also said the when he opened the gearbox, it had no wear on it at all, and was convinced that it was used by a Rolls Royce certified driver. I told him that this was true, as my grand dad had told me that the driver was sent to England to get trained in driving and repairing the car.
The car was restored, especially its fire ravage wood work, over a period of 6 years, and the owner tells me that it regularly participates in Concours and Events and it is the cynosure of all eyes, as this car is one of the very few Rolls Royce's in his town which retains its original coach built body, by Mann Egerton that too. He says that car is currently valued at well over $200,000!
I now have an open invite to visit the US and meet with and drive the very same car that was in our family nearly 90 years ago when it was new. He said that he has 9 vintage cars, including another Rolls Royce, but out of all of them this was his favorite.
As the cars engine had seized, it wasn't used for decades, and when he bought it 10 years back, it only had 30,000 genuine kms on it (kms not miles). He has added another 30000 to that. In fact when I called him he said that he was working on the car and putting in a new radiator core. The car has all its original gauges, and working clock. The only extra gauge he has put in is a water temperature gauge.
The entire body is in aluminium.
I will be sending him the ownership history and period photos of the car as well as all stories I have of the car, and he will be sending me detailed photos and the remainder of the history of the car. He also said that he has a copy of a photo when the car was new.
I am at peace as at long last, as a life long obsession of tracing this car, finding out whether at all she still exists, and speaking and sharing pictures and information on this wonderful car has finally ended.
He confirms that the Chassis No. is 109MG.
I would like to thank 2 people for helping me with this life long quest:
a) Shri Harit Trivedi who shared the Chassis number, gave me a picture of the car, and did some serious searching to find out about this car. The Chassis No. was very very vital.
b) Anton (aka Boy Bentley) for correctly identifying the current owner on the basis of the chassis no., finding out 2 pictures, and also getting the phone number of this lucky gentleman who owns the car.
Thanks to you both, you will never know how grateful I am.
In the meantime, before I can share the current pictures, here are 2 pictures spotted by Boy Bentley as the car is today.