When the maharajas fell in love with the motor car
Before the car: a Rajput ruler's grandeur was measured in horses and elephants. The stables of Jodhpur and Jaipur were famous across India, and the Marwari horse was bred for war.
Processions: a royal procession was led by elephants in painted howdahs.
Then the motor car: in the years before and after the First World War it arrived, new, expensive, European, and able to cross a desert that had taken camels a week.
- Cars arrived
- Around the First World War
- Makers
- Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Bentley, Cadillac and more
- Shipped to
- Bombay, then driven or railed north
- Privy purses ended
- 1971
- Finest collection
- Udaipur
- A great market: India's princely states became one of the world's most important for Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Bentley, Lanchester, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Packard.
- Built to order: cars were ordered from London and Detroit to the ruler's own designs, with coachwork for the climate and the occasion.
- Open tourers: for the hunt, with high seats and racks for guns.
- Closed limousines: for the zenana, the women's quarters, with curtained windows so the queens could travel unseen.
- Ceremonial cars: for durbars and state visits, painted in the colours of the house.
- The journey north: many were shipped to Bombay and driven or railed up to Rajasthan, to live in garages beside the palace stables.
A famous tale, and the palaces built for cars
Every taxi driver in Alwar tells it: a maharaja of Alwar, slighted in a London showroom, bought a fleet of Rolls-Royces and had them used to collect the city's rubbish. It is a wonderful tale, and like most wonderful tales it has many versions. We tell it with a smile and leave you to decide.
Umaid Bhawan: Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur, built between 1929 and 1943, was designed for motor cars and viceroys.
- 1926
- Lalgarh Palace, Bikaner, finished
- 1929-1943
- Umaid Bhawan built in Jodhpur
- 1947
- Independence
- 1957
- Rambagh becomes a hotel
- 1971
- The princes lose their privy purses
- Lalgarh: Lalgarh in Bikaner, finished in 1926, likewise.
- What changed: carriage porches, long drives and garages rather than stables.
- Rambagh: in Jaipur, a royal residence until it became a hotel in 1957, belongs to the same age of polo, motor cars and garden parties.
- After 1947: following Independence, and especially after the princes lost their privy purses in 1971, many cars were sold, given away or left to rust.
- The survivors: restored and polished, they are among the most charming things to see in Rajasthan.
Where to see the royal cars, place by place
- Udaipur
- Former state motor garage, museum since 2000
- Jodhpur
- Cars outside the Umaid Bhawan museum
- Dungarpur
- The Mews at Udai Bilas Palace
- Bikaner
- A DH.9 biplane at Junagarh
- Taoru, near Delhi
- 70+ cars, opened 2013
- Allow
- About an hour each
Udaipur, the Vintage and Classic Car Collection
Where: the former Mewar state motor garage near Gulab Bagh, next to the Garden Hotel.
History: opened as a museum in 2000 by the House of Mewar.
- The cars: a couple of dozen, kept in running order and polished to a shine.
- The Bond car: a 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II that appeared in Octopussy, shot in Udaipur in 1983.
- The royal Cadillac: the convertible that carried Queen Elizabeth II during her 1961 visit, still brought out by the family for important occasions.
- The oldest: the Rolls-Royces of the 1920s.
- Lunch: the Garden Hotel's restaurant next door serves a simple vegetarian thali, a very Udaipur hour.
- Pair it with: the City Palace in the morning and Saheliyon ki Bari, the garden of the maidens, afterwards.
Jodhpur, the cars of Umaid Bhawan
On the way in: the maharajas' classic cars stand polished in front of the Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum.
- The palace: on Chittar Hill, the last great palace of princely India.
- The museum: tells the story of twentieth-century royal life through Art Deco furniture, clocks, glass and photographs. The cars belong in that story.
- Who lives there: the former royal family still lives in one wing, and another is a hotel. Stay at Umaid Bhawan Palace and you pass the cars on the way to breakfast.
Dungarpur, the Mews at Udai Bilas
Where: in the hills of Vagad, south of Udaipur, at Udai Bilas Palace, the royal family's lakeside home on Gaib Sagar, now partly a heritage hotel.
- The collection: the Dungarpur Mews, smaller and more personal than Udaipur's, shown where the cars were actually used.
- Allow: an hour for car lovers.
- Read more: our Dungarpur guide explains the palaces, the painted Juna Mahal and the lake.
Bikaner, a motor palace and a biplane
No car museum: but the best sense in Rajasthan of a ruler who loved machines.
Maharaja Ganga Singh: ruled from 1887 to 1943, brought a railway and a canal to his desert kingdom and built Lalgarh Palace for the motor age.
- The biplane: his First World War de Havilland DH.9, now in the museum at Junagarh Fort.
- Photographs: the Shri Sadul Museum at Lalgarh shows the family's cars, aircraft and sporting life.
- Live inside it: stay at Laxmi Niwas Palace, part of the same red sandstone complex.
Near Delhi, the Heritage Transport Museum
Where: Taoru, about an hour south-west of Gurugram.
- What it is: a private collection, opened in 2013, telling the whole story of Indian travel, from palanquins and bullock carts to vintage cars, motorcycles, railway carriages and aircraft.
- The cars: more than seventy vintage and classic cars.
- When to go: a good half-day for car lovers at the start or end of a journey, and a fair detour between Delhi and Jaipur.
Gwalior, a train on the dining table
Not a car, but too good to leave out: in the dining hall of the Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior, the Scindia family's nineteenth-century palace.
- The toy: a silver model train runs on rails around the dining table, carrying decanters and dishes to the guests.
- Who loves it: children of every age. It is the most delightful toy of the princely age.
How to read a royal car
- Tourer
- Open, for the hunt and processions
- Limousine
- Closed, often for purdah
- Landaulette
- Folding roof over the back seat
- Shooting brake
- Built for the hunt
The chassis and the coachwork
A rolling chassis: in the golden age, great makers often sold the engine, frame and wheels, and the buyer chose a coachbuilder for the body.
- Why two cars differ: that is why two Rolls-Royces of the same year can look completely different.
- Body styles: open tourers, closed limousines, landaulettes with a folding roof over the back seat, and shooting brakes for the hunt.
- Ask your guide: who built the body. You will often find a famous London or Paris name.
The hunting cars
- Built for shikar: the royal hunt was central to princely life, and some cars had high seats, gun racks, searchlights and rugged suspension for dry-forest tracks.
- How much has changed: hunting is long gone, and the forests where the princes shot are now reserves like Ranthambore and Sariska, where the tiger is protected.
The purdah cars
Purdah: royal women in Rajasthan were seen only by their family until well into the twentieth century.
- The cars: curtained or tinted rear windows and, sometimes, a separate compartment, so a maharani could cross the city unseen.
- A motor-age jharokha: they are the modern cousin of the screens of Hawa Mahal.
The ceremonial cars
For durbars, weddings and state visits: rulers needed cars that carried them slowly in public, standing or sitting high.
- Processions: open tourers and convertibles, often in pale colours.
- Still in use: some are brought out for family weddings and royal occasions today.
The badges and the colours
The details: a royal crest on a door, a mascot on the bonnet, a particular shade of paint.
- House colours: many houses had their own, and their cars were painted to match.
- Your guide: points out which car belonged to which ruler, and what each was used for.
The Ambassador, the car that drove a nation
The car of India: for decades, the car of ministers and civil servants with a red light on the roof, of taxi drivers, and of families who saved for years to buy one.
Through its windows: generations of travellers in Rajasthan saw the country from its wide back seat, windows down.
- Maker
- Hindustan Motors, near Kolkata
- Built
- 1958 to 2014
- Based on
- The Morris Oxford
- Famous as
- Ministers' car, taxi, family car
- Our father's car: when he began driving guests in the 1980s, an Ambassador was the only choice.
- Its character: slow and heavy, it overheated on the climb to Mount Abu and could be repaired by any roadside mechanic with a hammer. Every driver in Rajasthan has a story about one.
- Today: our guests travel in modern cars with air conditioning and seat belts, as it should be.
- It survives: you still see a few as taxis and private cars, and collectors restore them lovingly.
- A short ride: tell us, and we will see what we can arrange that season with an owner we know, through the old city or to a sunset viewpoint. Not a luxury, but a piece of Indian history that makes everyone smile.
Driving in a vintage car, and weddings
The groom's arrival: a vintage car is now a favourite at Rajasthani weddings, in place of the white horse or decorated elephant of older days.
For your celebration: for destination weddings and vow renewals in a palace we can often arrange a classic car for the arrival or departure, from collectors or wedding specialists we trust.
- Wedding season
- November to February
- Book ahead
- Well in advance, when you first plan
- Depends on
- The car, the route, the venue
- Rallies
- Cool months, dates change yearly
- Book well ahead: especially in the wedding season from November to February. It depends on the car, the route and the venue's permissions.
- On an ordinary day: a short drive is sometimes possible through a palace hotel or private owner, for an anniversary dinner or a proposal.
- Never promised in advance: these are old, precious machines, and their owners decide when they leave the garage. We confirm each season and tell you honestly if not.
- Rallies and concours: India has a lively community of vintage car clubs, and events are held from time to time in Delhi, Jaipur and other cities, usually in the cool months.
- Check the dates: they change every year, so tell us when you travel and we will see what is on.
From the stables to the garage, and back to the horse
Side by side: in the outer courtyards of almost any palace, you find the old stables, long low ranges of arches, and nearby the later garages with their wide doors.
Horsemen too: the princes of the motor age were also the great horsemen of the polo age.
- Jaipur: Maharaja Man Singh II was one of the finest polo players of his generation, and the city's polo season still runs in the cool months.
- Jodhpur: the polo tradition of Sir Pratap Singh's time carries on.
- The Marwari horse: with its curving, inward-turned ears, still bred with pride on the estates of Marwar.
- Two sides of one country: a morning at the Udaipur garage can be followed by a ride on a Marwari horse across the fields at Rohet, or a chukker watched from the lawn in Jaipur.
- Read more: our pages on polo and horses, Marwari horse safaris and a private polo match, and our Jaipur polo season page for when matches are played.
A car lover's route through Rajasthan
- Delhi
- One night, then Taoru on the way
- Jaipur
- Two or three nights
- Jodhpur
- Two nights at Umaid Bhawan
- Udaipur
- Three nights
- Dungarpur
- Two nights at Udai Bilas
- Fly home
- From Udaipur
Delhi, and a morning at Taoru
Start: a night in Delhi, then drive towards Jaipur by way of the Heritage Transport Museum.
- Why first: it gives you the whole sweep of Indian travel, from palanquins to Ambassadors, before you meet the royal cars.
- Arrive: in Jaipur by the late afternoon.
Jaipur, the city of polo and parade
Stay: two or three nights at Rambagh Palace, the old royal residence among lawns where the polo set once gathered.
- See: the City Palace and its museum of royal costume and arms.
- In season: watch a polo match, and if a rally or concours is on during your dates, we will find it.
Jodhpur, the last great palace
- Stay: two nights at Umaid Bhawan Palace, where the cars stand before the museum and the palace itself is a monument to the motor age.
- Compare: a morning at Mehrangarh, whose museum holds the palanquins and howdahs that carried rulers before the car.
Udaipur and Dungarpur, the two collections of Mewar's houses
Udaipur: three nights, with the Vintage and Classic Car Collection on the first full day.
- Dungarpur: a drive south through the Aravallis to two nights at Udai Bilas Palace and its Mews.
- One family, two lines: the collections belong to branches of the same Guhilot family, the younger line in Mewar and the elder in Vagad. Seeing both is a quiet lesson in history.
- Home: fly from Udaipur.
When to go and how we arrange the visits
October to March: the best season for Rajasthan, and for these visits, which pair well with garden walks and palace mornings.
April to June: in the fierce heat, a car collection makes a good midday visit, shaded, unhurried and easy to combine with lunch.
The monsoon, July to September: the Udaipur garage is a fine plan for a rainy hour.
- With a private guide: who meets you at the collection and knows its history, its cars and often the people who look after them.
- For enthusiasts: we ask in advance whether a curator or staff member can show you more, though we can never guarantee it.
- Prices and hours: we don't publish them, because they change, and we confirm both before your visit.
- Allow: about an hour for most collections.
- How we fit them in: in Udaipur, after the City Palace and before lunch at the Garden Hotel. In Jodhpur, with the Umaid Bhawan museum in the late morning. In Dungarpur, as part of a slow day at Udai Bilas.
- Read more: our Udaipur things to do and Jodhpur things to do guides.
Who will love it
Car lovers
- The obvious audience: allow extra time in Udaipur, add Dungarpur, and consider a half-day at the Heritage Transport Museum near Delhi.
- A journey for you: our Offbeat Rajasthan journey, through Bundi, Chittorgarh and Dungarpur, takes you to the Mews.
Families
Won over: children who claim not to care about cars regularly fall for a James Bond Rolls-Royce.
- Royal toys: pair it with the biplane at Junagarh and the silver train at Gwalior.
- A journey for you: our family journey through Jaipur, Ranthambore and Udaipur includes the Udaipur cars.
History lovers
- The story they tell: the princely states at their most glamorous and most fragile, between the First World War and Independence.
- Read on: our short history of Rajasthan's royal families today takes the story forward.
Who might skip it
- Short on time: with only two days in Udaipur and no interest in machines, the lake, the palace and the ghats will fill your time happily.
- No pressure: nobody needs to see every collection.
What we tell our own guests
Hands off: don't touch the cars unless invited. Paint, chrome and leather a century old are fragile.
Photography: rules vary between collections and change from time to time. Your guide checks on the day.
- Ask the staff: the men who look after the cars often know their history better than any label.
- In Udaipur: combine the cars with lunch at the Garden Hotel next door, and save your appetite for the thali.
- In Jodhpur: the cars stand outside the museum, so see them in morning or late afternoon light, not at noon.
- Wedding cars and special drives: tell us when you first plan the journey.