Earliest Motor Car In Colaba Bombay – Old Photo 1900
This is a rare 1900 photograph of one of the earliest motor cars in Colaba in Bombay or Mumbai. Shown are two men driving on the Colaba Reclamation Road stretch. The automobile is a Horseless Carriage of the late 1800s. Perhaps a De Dion or Deschamps or a Humberette. All three were some of the earliest that were once used in Mumbai.
Read about Humber Limited.
Although there were varying reports of the first car on Indian roads. But newspaper articles state that the first on Indian roads was possibly the French-origin DeDion.
The Horseless Carriage initially left most people of Bombay terrified because it was never seen before. The view shows the beautiful Colaba Sea-Face, or possibly the Kennedy Sea Face stretch. It was one of the places where motor cars first made their appearance. Visible at the far distance are the Rajabai Clock Tower, Victoria Terminus, High Court, Secretariat Building, etc.
See my post Bombay Car Rally Vintage Cars – Old Print 1906.
Did you know- since petrol filling stations were not yet opened then, cans of petrol were carried in the automobile.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph c1894., Shimla British India’s Summer Capital – Old Photo 1890., Nazi Germany’s Map of Bombay With Eagle & Swastika 1940s., Indian Railways One Hundred Years – Old Book 1953
The images are of the actual items from my collection. And Not a photocopy, pirated, reproduced, or stock photos or taken from other sources.
