As an important member of the Chamber of Princes,
he carried a great deal of influence in India as well. Perhaps, it is
this influence that Adolf Hitler was hoping to leverage. Hitler’s hordes
were sweeping across Europe and he had grand plans for his thousand
years Reich. This is the story of those times, of Hitler’s extraordinary
gift to the Maharaja of Patiala.
The
story of this gift is recounted by his grandson Raja Malvinder Singh in
his book “The Automobiles of the Maharajas”. He says –
“My
grandfather Maharaja Bhupinder Singh went to
Germany in 1935 and asked to see Adolf Hitler who very reluctantly gave
him 10 to 15 minutes. They got into conversation, one thing led to
another and 15 minutes became 30 and then 60. The Fuehrer asked
grandfather to stay on for lunch and then asked him to come back the
next day and then a third day. On the third day, he gave him German
weapons like Lignose, Walther and Luger pistols and a magnificent
Maybach.
There
were only six ever made of this type. The Maybach was a ceremonial
vehicle – a huge monstrous car that used 12 Zepperlin engine so the size
of the bonnet was enormous. It
was a cream coloured drophead with maroon upholstery and the boot used
to open with two jump seats for the retainers. It could seat the driver
and one more at the front and three at the back because it was very
wide. It also had foldup seats like the later Buicks and Cadillacs and
foot rests for passengers. In those days, it used to do three miles a
gallon.
This amazing vehicle had one
“hot” cylinder. When you are cranking up 12 huge cylinders, the same
engine that propelled the zeppelin, it drained any normal battery. So it
had a series of batteries which used to crank up once to start off. If
you switched it off say an hour later, eleven cylinder decompressed but
one cylinder kept maximum compression so all you had to do was hit the
switch without hitting the starter button. The moment you hit the
switch, that one cylinder came thump down with it’s own compression and
fired the other eleven without
taking it off the battery. So all 12 came into use. Its only when you
let it rest for 4 to 5 hours that hot cylinder lost its compression.”
This
extraordinary car was shipped to India and was kept that the vast
garages of the Moti Bagh Palace at Patiala amongst the numerous other
Patiala vehicles including 27 Rolls Royces! After Maharaja Bhupinder
Singh died, he was succeeded by his son Maharaja Yadavindra Singh. In
1947, India became independent and cataclysmic changes soon followed in
the princely states. Patiala was merged with other states to form the
PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union). Like other
princely families, Patiala royal family too sold off it’s vast
possessions to adjust with the new times. Many things were simply gifted
away, including the Hitler’s Maybach.
Raja Malvinder Singh recalls how the Maybach was lost to the Patiala family in 1957 –
“I
think it was the only Maybach of its kind that survived the war. I was
sitting one day in Patiala House Delhi reading a comic when my father
walked in with Sardar Sukhjit Singh Majithia after a game of Golf. The
ADC came and said that Sardar Satyajit Singh had come to see my father. I
was minding my own business but listening to what they were saying.
After a while Sardar Satyajit Singhs aid to my father “Sir, I have come
to ask a favour of you. You have this Maybach which you have never used.
Can I buy it from you? My father said “ I am not selling any cars, but
if you want it as a gift, you can take
it”.We had a Australian named Harvey who was in charge of the garages
and Sardar Satyajit said “Sir, could you give it to me in writing as
Harvey won’t give it to me”. So my father dictated a letter to
stenographer, signed it and the next day Satyajit drove to Patiala and
picked up the Maybach. He eventually sold it and it is now with a
private collector in America and probably worth close to 5 million
dollars. “
Thus, this part of national heritage was lost to this country for ever.
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