The Maharajas' Motor Car: The Story of Rolls Royce in India (BBC4)

This programme was a gem in BBC4s motoring season (which, I’ve felt, has been slightly lacklustre up until now) and a real feast for the eye. It took you back to a time of incredible decadence and wealth. A time where the Indian Maharajas' would buy their Rolls Royce Twenties six at a time and get their coachbuilders to add every possible extra including tea sets, drinks bars, bull bars, silk interiors and even a shooting platform for Tiger hunting.

It followed the rise and fall of the great Indian Maharajas from the time where their wealth was such that the Maharajas bought the Rolls-Royces while India's "colonial masters" could not afford to. To a time after the war and independence where these great displays of wealth became embarrassing and another use had to be found for them. Where else would you cut down your Rolls Royce Phantom to the equivalent of an open top minibus to provide transport for your local cricket team?

Many of these "mechanical elephants" are no longer on the road but some found their way back to the UK (before a restriction on the movement of vintage motors was introduced in the 1970s) and there were tales of cars being given away, or being purchased for the equivalent of £25, and driven from India through the Khaiber Pass and on back home to the shires. Naturally being the best car money could buy they never ‘failed to proceed’.

All these cars seem to have a facinating story attached just as we found when we saw an old coachbuilt v8 Lancia at the Thatcham Classic meeting last year. It had been owned by Maharaja of Mysore and had found its way to England after the war - it was wearing it’s patina well.

Available on iplayer this week, and a little taster here...

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