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Vintage
car spotting can be a immensely rewarding hobby for the enthusiast. Manvendra
Singh relates the story of the first racing car that came to India.
To come across a tumbledown garage, peek through the door, and discover
a rare automobile inside is the greatest thrill any vintage car enthusiast
could have. The motor car is an all-consuming passion with me and I have
travelled around the country and abroad in hot pursuit of abundant leads,
often to come up against myths and unproven stories. But then sometimes
the dream of finding rare cars, some untouched and unseen for years, has
also come true many times.
As with all first things, the adventure of my first find is still imprinted
clearly in my memory. Chance information by the gracious hostess of a
luncheon party hosted by my mother back in 1971 set me on my first mission.
The family’s Buick Wildcat, the car my mother chose to use that day,
prompted the lady to remark that her late husband had been very fond of
buying cars and that he hardly ever sold any of them. The cars, including
some very old and broken-down ones, were all still there at her house
in Jhalawar-Patan, an old quaint town in Rajasthan, that was once situated
within the domain of the erstwhile princely state of Jhalawar. About an
eight-hour drive away from Indore, it lies hidden within the high walls
of an ancient fort, as does the mansion of the ‘Nagar Seth’,
the late Binodi Ram Balchandji. I reached the gates of the fortress by
mid-afternoon and, eager to see the cars, drove straight to the house.
The old ‘munimji’ proudly took me around and showed me all the
cars in the garages.
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| Massive
10.1-litre four-cylinder engine with siamesed blocks could
power Star to a top speed of over 120kph. |
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The
collection included half-a-dozen and more cars from the late 1920s till
the forties. There was also a large variety of horse-carriages and coaches.
But I knew there was more. A little persuasion and the chowkidar told
me of a walled enclosure across the street that was a dump yard for some
of the older cars. But the ‘munimji’ was not very keen to take
me there. The place was overrun with vegetation and infested with snakes,
and, besides, he was sure the junked cars would not interest me much.
But I was not to be deterred.
Reluctantly the old man had the gates opened and what I saw was more than
I had imagined. Here lay a treasure in the form of some very old and rare
cars. Few knew anything about the cars and those who did know did not
realise their worth. There were 15 cars built between 1906 and 1920. Apart
from a few early Model T Fords, there were early Fiats (one from 1909),
a 1919 Buick, a very early Dodge Brothers, a 1914 Berliet Deluxe Tourer,
a 1910 De Dion Bouton seven-passenger tourer, and one of the very first
examples of the Steyr Type I Tourer with its massive, V-shaped nickel
radiator. As I moved around the cars in wonder and excitement, the caretaker
warmed up to my enthusiasm and came out with the pièce de résistance:
there had been one more car. A very small chain-driven two-seater with
a brass radiator and three-pointed star monogram. An ‘angrez’
had been keen to have it and it was sold to him for a pittance about two
years before.
At that time, misled by the star monogram, I presumed it to be an early
Mercedes and was disappointed that it was gone. It was about a decade
later that I realised the identity of the car. A fellow vintage car enthusiast
in England wrote to me about a Star Racing car his friend was restoring.
The car had been discovered in India in the late 1960s. Unfortunately,
the person who had brought it back to England had died without leaving
much information. He sought assistance in researching the history of the
car in India. All he had was a contact sheet with a few photographs of
the chassis being loaded onto a truck, and this he sent to me.
I recognised the place immediately. The photographs had been taken in
the very same yard in Jhalawar-Patan. It was quite exciting to discover
that the car was not a Mercedes after all, but a Star Racing and a rare
one at that.
This particular model had taken part in the famous Gordon Bennett Trophy
Race of 1905. It had not won the event, but the fact that so few cars
remain today that are considered to be authentic ‘Gordon Bennett’
racing cars makes it very special and valuable. The Gordon Bennett Cup
was the first international series of motor races before the Grand Prix
races took over.
I could not verify the antecedents of the car prior to the ownership of
Seth Binodi Ram Balchand and surmised that it was probably the Maharaja
of Kota who had brought it to India. He was among the first few Maharajas
who imported automobiles in the early 1900s and an authentic racing car
that took part in a famous race was tempting enough for him to purchase.
Kota, being Jhalawar’s neighbour state, it is not improbable that
the car was bought by the Sethji some time later.
With only two seats, the car must have had very limited use for the Sethji.
It could only be enjoyed for short bursts of speed down empty roads. Besides,
the early chain-driven motor cars were difficult to maintain. The Sethji
was content just to add it to his collection. This four-cylinder, two-seater
Star ‘Gordon Bennett’ Racing with a Mercedes-based engine and
honeycomb radiators was the first racing car to be brought into India.
We followed up the story with our sister magazine, Classic & Sports
Car which had carried out a road test of this very car in January 1988
(see ‘Star Quality’). Fact is that the then owner’s Richard
Smith’s Star Racing was the same car found in Jhalawar-Patan, around
65 years after it was shipped out, wearing elegant touring bodywork in
its new role as a luxury motor carriage for the Maharaja of Kota. When
Christopher Renwick, proprietor of publishers Dalton Watson and classic
car specialist, found the Star it was in chassis form minus all body work.
Coys of Kensington acquired it and had it sent home to England. Its general
‘Mercedes’ character, amplified by the six-pointed star badge
on its very ‘Merc’ radiator, aroused the interest of Gerhard
von Raffay, an ardent collector, who bought the car unseen, having it
despatched at once to Colin Crabbe’s Antique Automobiles for rebuilding.
The Crabbe establishment identified the car as a Gordon Bennett racer,
at which von Raffary made them complete their work and sell the Star.
The racing bodywork to 1905 pattern was built up, and the car was then
acquired by VCC and VSCC member Nick Ridley of Sproughton, in Suffolk.
He ran it on several road events and a hillclimb or two, and found it
an excellent road car, happily cruising at 60mph (96kph). Ridley kept
it for about seven years, clocking up around 25,000 miles (40,000km) before
selling it to Richard Smith, an enthusiast for veteran cars, in 1983.
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| Blast
from the past. Built in 1905 and having passed through many
owners, the fully restored Star Racing car now resides in
America. |
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The
Star had a new owner, and Richard Smith a compelling new interest. It
was quickly apparent that the car would need a thorough overhaul, and
after starting the job himself Richard decided to call in expert help
- the engine was stripped and overhauled, the Zenith carburettor changed
for a period one from a Daimler and the transmission and other mechanical
parts overhauled.
The Oxford Carriage Company remade and refined the racing body, and the
chassis, wheels and brakes all received attention. Richard raced the Star
at Silverstone and other events and trials and also paraded it at the
Brooklands Reunion.
In 1993, Richard Smith sold the car at an auction to Peter Groh of Germany.
Groh raced it at the Shelsey Walsh hillclimb circuit in England and passed
it on Ben Collins who made a new inlet manifold and fitted a new carburettor
to the Star. After Collins had finished his work on the car - which also
included some minor cosmetic restoration - it went home to Germany with
its new owner. About three years ago, the Star was sold again and now
resides in America although its current location has not been widely publicised.
However, there are doubts about just which Star this really is. At first
it was thought to be Fred Goodwin’s No 2 Isle of Man car, but a repaired
nearside frame member and other evidence indicates it is more likely to
be the development car for the 10-litre 1905 racers, built out of the
old armoured wood-framed 1903 machine. Whichever Star it is, its present
owner has bought a little known but highly interesting ‘new’
old racing car to enliven the status quo of historic motor racing.
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March 2001 