Osian's - The Auction House

24/07/2019

Osian’s Group has opened up a window into the fascinating world of Vintage & Classic Automobiles. We take a peek into the magnificent auction catalogue, a collector’s item in itself!

07/03/2019

Osian’s sets new benchmark in taking forward market for Historical Vehicles VS Gaitonde stars in Modern Indian Fine Arts Sale at INR 7.50 crores.

01/03/2019

Check out vintage and classic cars such as the majestic 1957 Rolls Royce Twenty, the elegant 1948 Bentley Mark VI and many, many more at the Osian's Vintage ...

01/03/2019

27/02/2019

The Riley Pathfinder is too interesting and rare a car not to present when opportunity knocks, though this is not an original shot (thanks, Osian’s) like most of what you see here.

The Pathfinder is often called “the last real Riley,” because while it was the first of many Rileys to share a body with another make, it retained the old 110-hp Riley 2.5L twin-cam four and looked and felt substantially different from its sister, the Wolseley 6/90 (introduced a few months after the Riley).

Riley had been part of the Nuffield organisation (Morris/MG/Wolseley) since 1938, but wasn’t really integrated into the larger whole until 1947-49. Even then, the Riley RM series continued with little relationship to MGs or Wolseleys.

After Nuffield merged with Austin in 1952, future Rileys, like many Wolseleys, were largely badge-engineered from Austins and Morrises. But the Pathfinder and 6/90 predated the merger and both arguably retained a great deal of their individual makes' characters, even if they shared many things.

Both were designed under Gerald Palmer, who’d come to Nuffield from Jowett, where he designed the advanced but ill-fated Jowett Javelin.

Palmer’s first Nuffield/BMC cars debuted in 1953. The Pathfiner’s sleek looks and traditional motor and suspension (torsion bars up front, trailing arms & coil springs in back) were attempts to stay true to Riley’s heritage. The Pathfinder was a very fast car for a British sedan in 1953, and it became a police favorite, but Its weight (~3,400 lbs.) and closeness to the 6/90 were market handicaps.

But one flaw was worst of all. The panhard rod that located the rear axle could snap on the very earliest cars due to a design error. This problem was quickly fixed (and some cars had a second bar added for reinforcement) but the already understeery car earned the unhappy nickname “ditchfinder” in the process for its supposedly hard-to-tame handling.

The Pathfinder was full of interesting quirks too, things that are fascinating now but drove accountants crazy. Most nobably, the gear lever was on the right side on RHD cars and the left side on LHD cars, near the driver’s door as if it were 1923. The turn signals weren't on a stalk but on the horn ring.

Once the axle problem was corrected it was a good drive and it still looked great (complete with a beautifully detailed wood-and-hide interior in the best British tradition), but sales were always cool and just 5,152 were made into 1957, when it was replaced by the “Two Point Six" (Yes, the model name was spelled out).

This new car was a virtual clone of the SIII Wolseley 6/90 and was powered by a less-powerful BMC C-series six. Also missing was the Pathfinder's unique suspension, which had been partially eliminated in 1957 (trailing arms gave way to leaf springs). The Two Point Six proved an even weaker seller and was dropped in 1959.

As rare as the Pathfinder is, it’s even rarer in LHD - just 327 “left hookers” were made for export - mostly to continental Europe and a few to North America.

This slightly scruffy one, mostly original but sporting an old repaint is in India - where such a car is super-rare. It's not known when or how the car arrived in India but it's lived in the Dehli area for at least the past decade. This particular example is another gem from next Monday’s auction in Dehli by Osian's - The Auction House. To find out more about the Osian’s event go to bit.ly/2TYcxF8.

27/02/2019

Osian's - Connoisseurs of Art are set to present their Inaugural Live Auction & Catalogue for Vintage & Classic Automobiles scheduled for 27th February 2019, with the Opening Auction Preview on Friday 15th February 2019. All the cars can be viewed at 14 Green Avenue, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi from the....

27/02/2019

This 1966 Hindustan Ambassador comes courtesy of Osian's - The Auction House, who’ll be auctioning it on Feb. 27. I usually don’t delve into auctions too deeply here because you can see auction stuff anywhere, but the Osian’s auction is different.

Though there have been smaller-scale and online auctions before, this event is one of the first proper catalogued auctions in India. Best of all, it features a selection of highly-prized Indian-built classics including locally-made Mopar products and Fiats, and a pair of 1960s Hindustan Ambassadors - the “Amby” effectively being India’s national car for decades.

Enthusiasts in India are serious diehards; in part because importation of classic vehicles (and often parts) has historically been very expensive - post-1950 used cars imported to India face a 125% base tariff (in total more like 180%) and so did pre-’50 cars until 2013.

As a result, Indian classics are often meticulously (and sometimes creatively) maintained, but the hobby has had a very hard time expanding. Events like Osian’s are in part about making classics a more mainstream pastime and getting people interested in classic cars they might not know about.

The tariffs are a legacy of the 1950s, when Government policy dictated local assembly; which resulted in three domestic manufacturers producing nearly all of the cars in India.

Premier, founded in 1941 with a license agreement for building Chryslers and later Fiats; Standard, a JV with Standard-Triumph, founded 1948; and Hindustan, founded near Gujarat in 1941.

Hindustan built several licensed Morrises (Ten, Minor, Oxford MO, Oxford SII) until, in 1957, it launched the Ambassador - a lightly reworked version of the Morris Oxford Series III, itself an update of the previous Hindustan product, the Landmaster (the Hindustan version of the SII Oxford).

The Ambassador served India from mid-1957 until it was finally discontinued in 2014; with periodic updates - the most significant of which were engine updates - like a switch to the OHV B-series 1.5L four in 1959 (previously a sidevalve four), and the gradual inclusion of more domestically-developed components.

Market liberalisation in the 90s eventually spelled more modern competitors (Maruti Suzuki was set up in the 1980s and rapidly gained ground), and the Amby added a pair of modern Isuzu engines at that time to keep up - effectively doubling power.

The car was a workhorse - a capacious and comfy, if slow, and omnipresent in India. It was a staple of taxi and government work and well known for its cushy back seat and tricky four-on-the-column shifter. Modern emissions rules eventually forced it off the production line if not the road.

"Modern" Ambassadors are still very common, but very old ones aren't. This green '66 Ambassador is a Mk 2, lovingly restored by former owner S. Taneja in Dehli and now owned by a collector of pre-war cars. To find out more about the Osian’s event go to bit.ly/2TYcxF8.

25/02/2019

A SIGNIFICANT & RARE NANDALAL BOSE PAINTING OF SHAKUNTALA
Lot 14
Nandalal Bose (1882-1966)
Shakuntala
Tempera on board, 1952
S/d in Bengali 'Nand 2.1.52' with Artist's Seal l.l.
41.6 x 19.9 in (105.7 x 50.6 cm)
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Nandalal Bose by Ramakant Pimple, an eminent Art collector from Kolkata in 1958. After his death it was sold to the present owner by his wife - the Late Ramadevi Ramakant Pimple.
Estimates
INR 4,000,000 - 6,000,000
USD 56,338 - 84,507
National Art Treasure | Non-Exportable Item

“Nandalal’s paintings are of great range and show his acquaintance with many phases of world art including the Egyptian, the Syrian and Far-Eastern. He, however, kept aloof from western styles partly perhaps due to his spirit of nationalism. His familiarity with Japanese art and artists made him conscious of importance of line. Drawing was a definition, a distillation of form. Through line, several individual variations of form were brought together, condensed, simplified and expressed in a general, universal statement.”
– Nandalal Bose “The Doyen of Indian Art” by Dinkar Kowshik, Chapter XV, p.73

“The major contribution of Nandalal Bose to the Indian art of his period was that he reasserted the importance of form…Nature was the matrix of forms and it was to nature that Nandalal turned when he had outgrown the literary bias and romanticism of the early Bengal School… While Nandalal had a great respect for the Indian tradition, he was not a mere copyist as has often been supposed. The past to him was a source of principles and ideas; it had an artistic grammar that was a discipline for hand and eye…Nor did he consider tradition as art, it was only one source of language, a language that was always being remade, that had to be fashioned anew to communicate the ideas of our own time.”
–Jaya Appasamy, rpt. in Nandalal Bose Centenary NGMA Exhibition Catalogue 1982; p.27.

“The artist’s work includes designs of two types firstly designs based on an iconic figure or symbol, the subject matter is sacred and the composition like a jewel complete in itself. Though stylised and decorative we feel the presence of a divinity looking out from the picture towards the beholder...His themes are imaginative figures, stylised and imbued with his love for decorative form. ‘The plasticity of this art harmonises with its simultaneous graphic and linear quality.’ The lines are like those that define Indian sculpture. They are taut and have a tensile strength, though executed with the brush. They are informed with style...The lines seem to feel what is portrayed, and produce a three dimensional effect. The contours which establish the figure are contrasted with the more casual lines of drapery and accessories such as the details of jewellery and hair... For him art was not an elitist activity catering to the dilettante taste of aristocratic patrons. art was a principle that informed all types of creative activity and it was related to social need. Thus Nandalal thought of himself as a worker who had a certain responsibility to fulfil. His dharma was a to create works that added to and enriched culture, a culturre that was not for the few but for the many. In this endeavour he did not lower himself to the collective consciousness but raised that consciousness to a higher level refining it with taste, order and style.”
– Jaya Appasamy, in Nandalal - Master Draughtsman, rpt. in Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) Centenary Exhibition. New Delhi: NGMA 1982; pp.28-30.

25/02/2019

Lot 10
1948 ROVER 12 P2
Documentation Incomplete

Chassis N° R7211311

Engine N° 7211308

- A prestigious English marque from yesteryear
- A recent comprehensive restoration
- A very fine runner

Provenance C. P. Kavaranas > Jaikumar Babulal Bhandari > Naveen K
Estimates
INR 1,800,000 - 2,700,000
USD 25,000 - 37,500
Non-Exportable Item

The Rover badge features a Viking longboat in which the Norse people roved and raided their surroundings. Rover the car company was based in Solihull in Warwickshire and the cars produced had a reputation for quality and performance. In fact, when the first post-war model was tested by the American Road & Track magazine in 1952 it was the magazine that claimed that it would take a Rolls-Royce to be better than a Rover.

The Rover story began in Coventry when John Kemp Starley partnered with William Sutton in 1877 to start making bicycles. When the partnership broke up three years later Starley continued making cycles under the name Rover. Coventry’s first motor vehicle came in 1888 when Starley built an electric three-wheeler using an Edwell Parker motor. England had a 4mph speed limit in those days so Starley took his invention to France where it managed a staggering 8mph. Manufacturing, however, only began two years after Starley died in 1901, and H J Lawson, an entrepreneur took over the business. 1904 saw the arrival of an 8hp single-cylinder-engined car designed by Edmund Lewis which had aluminium in its construction with a 6hp model following the next year. The success of these two cars led Rover into manufacturing four-cylinder-engined cars. Also designed by Lewis, these were the 10/12 and the 16/20. Bernard Wright was another influential designer at Rover. It was he who got Rover to start using Knight sleeve-valve engines and in 1911 the first such car appeared, an 8hp and a 12hp.

1911 also saw Ex-Wolseley man Owen Clegg of Yorkshire exerting his influence on Rover. He designed a 2297cc 12hp car that proved to be excellent and being a skilled production organiser he also streamlined the manufacturing of cars at Rover. By 1912 Rover was claiming that they offered the largest selection of cycles, motorcycles and cars between £6 to £600!

Cycle and motorcycle production was halted from 1925 leaving Rover to concentrate solely on cars. When depression hit, Rover tried to survive by launching the Scarab in 1931, a rear-engined car designed to bridge the gap between a small car and a motorcycle. While it was technically impressive, garnering praise from Dr Porsche, the Scarab never went into production. The range in the 1930s included the Family Ten and the more luxurious six-cylinder Meteor Limousine.

In 1934 Rover launched the 12, a more powerful four-door sedan, which was offered parallel to the Rover 10, and with the same body as the successor to the Rover 10/25. A typical “middle class” sedan from the period, the Rover 12 featured a four-cylinder OHV engine of 1496cc, developing 48bhp. With a top speed of 112 km/h, it offered fairly decent performance for the period. Suspension was conventional leaf springs on rigid axles, and the wheelbase initially was 2.84m. The body was in steel, with the framework in wood. This car later became known as the Rover P1.

An updated version came out in 1937 with mainly cosmetic changes, and the chassis was reinforced. The 1938 model had fixed side bonnets, and in 1939 synchromesh was fitted on the top two ratios of the four-speed gearbox. Disc wheels became optional to the spoked wheels in 1939, and standard in post-war models. As many as 11,786 of these Rover 12s – known later on as the P2 – were sold before production halted during World War II. After production recommenced post-War in 1947, the P2 was back on sale for just two years, until 1948. During these two years just 4,840 of the Rover 12 P2s were produced. The P2 range consisted of not just the 12, but also the smaller 10hp and the larger 14/16hp too.

The car on offer is a Rover 12 P2, from 1948, the very last year of production. Post-War the Rover 12 was offered in mainly two body styles: a four-light (four side windows) sports saloon, and a six-light (six side windows) standard saloon. (Another 200 two-door convertible tourers were made, most of which were coach-built by AP Coachbuilders of Coventry.) The car for sale is the six-light standard saloon, which has seen just three owners since new, with the first owner a certain C. P. Kavaranas.

The second owner was Pune’s famous JaikumarBabulal Bhandari, who comes from the family that owns the automotive dealership network of B U Bhandari, a chain of dealerships for brands such as Honda motorcycles, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz cars and much else. Given their facilities, this Rover received a very extensive and detailed restoration in their workshops in 2013.

Subsequently the Rover was acquired by Bengaluru-based collector Naveen K, who has been using the car for events in Bengaluru and the South of India. The car is a very fine runner and like all Rovers, which have been likened by journalists from the period as a “poor man’s” Rolls-Royce – is very refined, as well as robust and comfortable. A practical and usable historic vehicle, this elegant and handsome Rover 12 P2 can make a very good “starter” historic or a noteworthy addition to any collection.

24/02/2019

24/02/2019

Lot 17
1956 PLYMOUTH SAVOY
Documentation Complete

Chassis N° 14193876

Engine N° P-28PA1290

- An elegant and rare sports saloon
- From one of the world’s most iconic marques
- In excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition

Provenance Dr Darius Bacha > Rishad Kundanmal
Estimates
INR 1,600,000 - 2,400,000
USD 22,222 - 33,333
Non-Exportable Item

Plymouth cars made their debut in 1928 at the (famous today) Madison Square Garden, New York. It was the Chrysler Corporation’s way of entering the low-priced car market which was ruled by Chevrolet and Ford at the time, with products that were more attractive than the rivals as a result of features and characteristics that the rivals lacked, like internally expanding hydraulic brakes for example. Plymouths were low-priced equivalents of the upmarket Chrysler cars. The Plymouth logo is a rear view of the Mayflower, a ship which landed at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. However the choice of the Plymouth name has nothing to do with the city. The Plymouth Cord Company used to make a type of twine which was very popular with farmers of the time.

The origins of Plymouth lie in the Maxwell automobile made by the Maxwell-Chalmers Car Company. Walter Chrysler took control of the troubled company and inherited the Maxwell car as part of the deal. After launching a six-cylinder Chrysler in 1924 he wanted to make a cheaper car too. This is where the Maxwell came in handy – it was reworked and rebadged as the low-end Chrysler 52 model in 1926. Two years later the 52 was reworked all over again and the Plymouth-Chrysler Model Q was born. From the Model U onward in 1929 the “Chrysler” portion of the name was discarded.

While the Great Depression of the 1930s hit luxury and high-end car manufacturers badly, Plymouth with its low-end cars ensured the survival of Chrysler Corporation. Badge engineering was big at Chrysler and Plymouths were sold badged as Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge. After having survived the depression years, Chrysler decided to up the engine stakes and a 3.1-litre flathead six-cylinder engine along with a downdraught carburettor was installed in the Plymouth PC of 1933. This car was not too popular though as the wheelbase had been reduced. However, a Dodge DP chassis was put under the Plymouth PC body along with DP front fenders, hood, and radiator and renamed the PD while the PC became the ‘Standard Six’.

The PC was exported to Europe and Australia and also renamed the Chrysler Kew in England after the town in England where Chrysler’s factory was located. By 1939 Plymouth had produced 417,528 vehicles, of which almost 6,000 were two-door convertible coupes with rumble seats. At the 1939 New York World’s Fair 1939 the convertible coupe was promoted as the first mass-production convertible with a power folding top.

Like most of the other American car makers Plymouth manufactured munitions and military engines during the war, whilst stylists like A. B. Grisinger, John Chika and Herb Weissinger worked on post-war ideas whenever they could. When the war ended and production recommenced, Plymouth launched the pre-War range with a few cosmetic upgrades. It was only in 1949 that the new family of cars from Chrysler arrived in the marketplace. Even if the all-new Plymouth DeLuxe was not one of the better looking cars in the American marketplace, it was very spacious and comfortable.

In the meantime, India’s Walchand Hirachand group had inked a deal with Chrysler Corporation, to assemble their cars in India. So, when Walchand Hirachand’s Premier Automobiles factory came up in Bombay, soon after India’s independence, in 1949, the first cars that they started importing in kit form and assembling were Chrysler’s triumvirate of popular cars: the DeSoto DeLuxe, the Dodge DeLuxe and the Plymouth DeLuxe, with pricing reflecting their positioning in Chrysler’s corporate scheme of things.

As these models went through their yearly model changes in facelifted cosmetics the cars on offer in India also followed the same changes. For the 1954 model year, Chrysler (and thus Plymouth) replaced its entire model range with new vehicles. Amongst them the Plymouth Savoy was located between the entry-level Plaza and the flagship model, the Belvedere. The names of the new models were taken from well-known hotels, in this case the London Savoy Hotel. The name Savoy had been used by Plymouth from 1951 to 1953 for a full-size model line-up. Both the Concord Savoy, as well as the later Cranbrook Savoy were wagons with better equipment than the cheaper Suburban wagons.

From 1955, the Plymouth Savoy featured Chrysler’s so-called “forward look” for the brand from the late 1950s (which became famous thanks to the Plymouth Fury from the movie Christine). This style was proposed by Chrysler’s design chief, Virgil Exner, and was quite a success. Special feature of this style were the huge tail fins and the inclined forward profile at the front.

The car on offer, a Plymouth Savoy from 1956, is a very fine example of this style. An Indian-assembled Plymouth, at Premier Automobiles in Bombay, this Savoy was bought new by Dr. Darius Bacha, of Mumbai’s Bacha Nursing Home fame. The car remained with Dr Bacha and his family for more than three decades. Current owner Rishad Kundanmal, who lives in the same building as Dr Bacha, has known this car since he was a child. And he has always been in love with it. It took several years of persuading before Dr Bacha decided to part with the car, and Rishad Kundanmal became a very happy proud owner (in the same building!) of this flamboyant Savoy in 1989.

When Rishad came into the ownership of the car, it was a runner, but needed work. Over the years several mechanical and cosmetic interventions were executed, but it was only over 2012-2013 that the Savoy received a really comprehensive restoration. Following the restoration, the Savoy has made several very long drives: first to Rajasthan in 2013, and then in 2014 to the South of India, to Bengaluru and then Hyderabad. In 2015 the Savoy was back travelling to Gujarat and Rajasthan, as well as regular shorter trips to Mahabaleshwar, Udvada and elsewhere.

To make it a more usable car, Rishad has carried out a few practical modifications, such as an electric fuel pump, an alternator and an electric fan. The headlamps have been upgraded for night driving. Completely rattle free, with a really tight body line, this Plymouth Savoy is impressively smooth and refined. The interiors have been redone in genuine, high quality leather, and Rishad has cladded a thick, see-through plastic covering over the seats and the door trims to retain the newness of the materials. The carpet too is new, and also has a plastic cover over it. The dashboard is complete and completely original.

On the exterior, Rishad has taken the liberty to clad the relatively plain flanks of the Savoy’s with the trim that features on the more upmarket Plymouth Belvedere, thereby dressing it up in a striking two-tone of metallic white and yellow! The car also features a pair of original wing mirrors, as well as guides on top of the front fenders, making it easier to locate and manoeuver the car. Another very useful accessory is the driver’s side spot lamp, with an inbuilt rear view mirror.

At the front the Savoy features a badge bar with emblems and badges to indicate the various events that this Savoy has participated in since Rishad’s ownership of the car. The car will come with the badge bar, proclaiming the wonderful history and provenance of such a fine example. Arguably, one of the finest Plymouth Savoys in the country, here is an opportunity to own an extremely well-restored car, which is a dream runner, a historic vehicle that is waiting to be driven and used and appreciated by another true-blue enthusiast.