Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost : The Charkhari Alpine Eagle!

So much has been written about Indian royalty and their extravagant tastes which many a time bordered on the garish and the idiosyncratic that many tomes could be written about them. However, on the positive side is the fact that a majority of Indian royalty displayed good taste in abundance and clear evidence of this was visible in the choice of grand automobiles with graceful coachwork which packed many garages in palaces all over the country.

The best thing about many an Indian raja, raj kumar or a full blown maharaja was that it didn’t matter whether his dominion was vast or small, the aesthete and the technically inclined among them were always known to go for the best and the most powerful automobiles. And for sure, every royal garage worth its name had to have at least one Rolls-Royce stabled for his or her Excellency’s use. It is in this context that the car featured here is significant because this car came from the principality of Charkhari located in the Central Indian province (now part of Uttar Pradesh) which we all know as Bundelkhand. Charkhari was an enlightened state and the rulers seemed to be well versed in the arts as well as the upliftment of their citizens. In fact Charkhari had its own postal system and a defined code of law which was pretty unique for this area in the India of near about a century ago.

The Silver Ghost was the car which made the Rolls-Royce reputation, especially the claim to being the best car in the world at that time. On any other occasion once could have dismissed such a claim as British jingoism but for once this wasn’t the case and the Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP was indeed one of the greatest cars ever built in its time. The 40/50 HP model as it was first known was truly a marvel of fine engineering coupled with a solid build and sporting top notch craftsmanship. While there were cars from other marques to rival it, notably Napier which also made top end prestige machines with more power than was thought needy at that point in time, the 40/50 HP Silver Ghost was a paragon of refinement, smooth power delivery, great quality and exceedingly high reliability.

It was Rolls-Royce policy in its formative years to champion the cause of their products by putting them through the red hot crucible of motor racing and the Silver Ghost was also subjected to such. Charles Rolls, the marketing genius who lent his name to the brand, was clear in his understanding that motor racing victories translated into commercial success. An adventurer at heart and one of the pioneer motorists in England, the Hon’ble Charles Stewart Rolls was also a consummate marketer who understood what the market wanted and his thoughts were quite lucidly delivered to the great Henry Royce who in turn conjured up a truly awe-inspiring automobile which was to create a legend which Rolls-Royce nurtures to this day.

The 40/50 HP Silver Ghost was a paragon of refinement, smooth powerdelivery, 

great quality and exceedingly high reliability.

While the Silver Ghost was never actually put into a direct road race as in the 1906 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race which was won by Rolls driving one of the early RR Twenty, the original Silver Ghost did make its mark with the virtually non-stop 15,000 mile reliability run where upon it was stripped and only a small number of parts seemed to feature the minutest of wear. From there on there was no looking back and the Silver Ghost had Rolls-Royce up and running. It was a time when not many had actually encountered an automobile, even in the major European urban areas but here was a car which was outstanding for its time and surely way ahead of cars which were built a decade and a half later! Charles Rolls, however knew that he had to underline the strength of the Silver Ghost and he found the right foil in one James Radley who was so enamoured of his Silver Ghost that he decided it was good enough to go and win the tough Austrian Alpenfahrt Trials.

Radley entered for the first time in 1912 and would have gone on to have a clean slate on this treacherous reliability trial but for stalling the car and incurring a solitary penalty point. This happened on the tough Katschberg pass which featured an average gradient of around 25 per cent for a majority of its near six kilometre length. Rolls-Royce couldn’t countenance such a result so they mounted an all out attack for 1913 with specially upgraded series of Silver Ghosts which later came to be termed, by enthusiasts and not the works, as the Alpine Eagle Silver Ghosts. These were revised in more ways than one, using modifications crafted for use in tropical lands such as India, a market which Rolls-Royce was eyeing for a long time. A total of five Alpine Eagle cars were made of which four were full works cars while a fifth was James Radley’s car which was a works-supported private entry.

The insides are as stunning as the exterior and everything has

been restored immaculately to its original glory

This time round the Silver Ghosts put on a stirring display and was a paragon of reliability and performance. Radley was in his element and he cleaned his class to be one of just nine who finished the event with a clean slate devoid of any time penalties. This crushing success also signaled the end of all motor racing competition for Rolls-Royce from then on and even though James Radley went back and triumphed a year later, using another Silver Ghost, the lessons learnt from the Alpenfahrt campaign were wrought into all Silver Ghosts rolling off the assembly lines.

Brings us then to the car which adorns these pages and while it does not look at all like James Radley’s 1913 Austrian Alpenfahrt winner, this 1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost ordered and owned by the Maharaja of Charkhari, was indeed built on one of the special chassis (50UG) laid down to Alpine Eagle specifications! Great cars with a strong Indian heritage have always enthused collectors the world over and this particular Silver Ghost ranks right up there with the best of cars sporting an Indian provenance.

This car was prepared by Rolls-Royce on an order placed by its Indian sales office in Bombay along with that for another similar machine having a Barker cabriolet coachwork, these cars destined for display in the Calcutta Motor Show held on December 19, 1921. Given that many Maharajas of even the tiniest districts and such would also come to see and be seen at this event, the Rolls-Royce Indian office knew that selling these two cars wouldn’t be much of a hassle.

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

The reputation of the Silver Ghost had already been established in India and naturally many did appreciate the finer aspects of cars sporting the RR logo. As planned many royals did turn up and of them it was the Maharaja of Charkhari, who was the ruler of Bundelkhand who purchased this car. Apart from using one of the small run of special Colonial Ghost chassis, 50UG came equipped with the higher compression engine, had higher speed gearing and had the revised “D” rake steering and control levers. It was fitted with a Touring Phaeton body made by Hooper & Co. and finished in ivory with green leather upholstery.

The young Maharaja who had succeeded to the throne only in 1920 used the car for some time before he returned it back to the factory in England, asking for an all-new body, which had caught his attention. The car went to Barkers, the noted coachbuilder who gave it a stunning polished aluminum Torpedo Phaeton coachwork, which this car carries to this day. Lucas “King of the Road” headlights and fender lights, dual side-mounted spare tyres complete with special Rolls-Royce rear view mirrors (from the RR accessory line), aluminum tool box on the aluminum running board and a Boa constrictor horn to complement the electric Klaxon horn were other features on the UG50. Overall there was quite a lot of detail specified by His Highness and the overall build and turnout of the car made it stunning to behold. A host of items on the car’s exterior were nickel-plated including the hood irons, the luggage grid and guard rails plus also the dashboard garnish. The Barker coachwork was magnificent and well done both in terms of looks and form plus also for longevity and reliability. To say that it was one of the most extravagantly crafted bodies ever to grace a Silver Ghost with an Indian provenance wouldn't be off the mark at all!

Sadly, this car no longer resides in India but thankfully it has been cared for and restored to its original glory. After its restoration, in 195, it has been on the international concours circuit, taking major awards at the great Concours d'Elegance events at Meadow Brook, Amelia Island, Pebble Beach, Rhode Island, etc in the US. Truly an eclectic machine and also one with minimal mileage on the odometer (had just 10,000 miles on the clock when it went out of India, probably in the early to mid-1980s), thanks to the noted auction house R M Auctions, one more Rolls-Royce with an Indian provenance has been revealed and recorded for posterity.