Car holders

A rare 1907 photograph of a rani of Jubbal has her at the wheel,not in the backseat,of her Wolseley.

Written by Georgina Maddox
June 22, 2010 02:13 AM IST

3 min read

A rare 1907 photograph of a rani of Jubbal has her at the wheel,not in the backseat,of her Wolseley. The car represented freedom for women even before universal adult suffrage, says advocate Diljeet Titus,one of Delhis biggest collectors of vintage car memorabilia. Pro Bono Publico,his museum at Mehrauli,showcases black-and-white photographs,paintings and,of course,cars.

Cars were considered a male domain but even in the early 1900s the maharanis and the British memsahibs who drove around in their Chevrolets,Buicks and Cadillacs proved otherwise. This is just one fascinating aspect of vintage cars, says Titus,who has schoolchildren coming to his 22,000 sq ft museum. There are some interesting images from Kumbakonam and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. Sometimes,the entire family posed with the car,like one would with the patriarch of a family, says Titus.

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Friend and fellow car enthusiast Sandeep Katari is close behind in his endeavour to showcase his photographs and will be opening his collection at his Chhattarpur villa. My collection looks mainly at the 1920s advertisements,photographs of the royalty with cars and some of the early cars that the middle class took to, says Katari. A restorer of old cars,he has been a collector of memorabilia for 10 years. There are some glass negatives,which when developed,show fascinating images from early British India maharajas on their hunts and royal families in procession. Everything is packed up in boxes now. I plan to organise a space for my permanent collection, says Katari who plans to open his space to the public in the next couple of months.

On a smaller scale,Deepak Jains store All Arts at Hauz Khas Village is a great place to pick up black-and-white and colour posters. There are early adverts of Mobiloi car lubricant,Fargo buses and Hindusthan the only cars manufactured in India. There are also old tin matchboxes with images of vintage cars on them,photographs and glass negatives. We are never sure what we are going to find,but we go on buying trips and are constantly in touch with our suppliers to get good images that reflect the past, says Jain.

He is a major supplier for collectors like Titus,Katari and Tarun Thakral. The gentle competition between collectors leads them to look beyond Delhi. Bindra Studios in Simla is a great supplier of negatives and old photographs since theirs were

the official photographers of the kings who visited the summer capital, says Titus. Even the funeral procession of a British officer makes for fascinating study. The car that doubles as a hearse is surrounded by grieving relatives as well as working class men who want to get a glimpse of the car. This motif repeats in photographs where guards,water carriers and the domestic help pose beside the car. The car-related aspirations of the lower- and upper middle class have been depicted over many decades, says Titus.