Tiger Car Roars Again

at the Bonhams annual auction in Carmel,California,on

August 18-19.

“Due to its distinctive history,it’s been said that the Indian consulate once requested that the car be repatriated to India to be displayed in a museum as a piece of national heritage. Respectfully declined by the then owner,the car will now be available at

an auction for the first time and carries an estimate of $750,000-$1,000,000 (Rs 3.3 crore to

Rs 4.4 crore),” says Julian Roup,director of press and marketing at Bonhams,one of the world’s oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The car is among the six pre-war Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars that will go under the hammer.

He informs that the Rolls-Royce Limited company,then based in Derby,England,employed coach builders Barker & Company of London to create the highly specialised and bespoke sports touring body for the car. Then,befitting the car’s hunting nature,it was “mounted with a Howdah gun,a double-barrel shotgun in pistol form,a rifle stand in the rear passenger compartment,two powerful searchlights for night spotting,a mountable Lantaka cannon

attached to the bumper,and,if that weren’t enough,a machine gun mounted on an attached,matching trailer”. Powerful brass searchlights would swing from side to side. A hidden safe and a nickel-plated hissing snake horn were among the other features.

As for the power under the bonnet,Roup says,“The car

was powered by an eight litre,six-cylinder engine,with

dual-spark ignition that was set to a low gearing ratio,allowing

it to creep powerfully

through the roughshod jungles of Rajasthan.”