Shah Rukh Khan with the 1939 vintage Roadster Delahaye that won the Cartier concours in Mumbai. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, Nov. 2: Actors, tycoons and even a long-dead king of England were in the fray, but an Indian prince topped the beauty pageant.

Maharaja Duleep Singh of Jodhpur broke into a smile behind his flamboyant moustache as his red, 1939 vintage Roadster Delahaye won the Best of the Show award at the “Travel with Style” concours this evening.

The car, with its unusual “teardrop” design by Figoni & Falaschi, beat some 60 vintage cars at the show by Cartier, the French maker of jewellery and watches.

“The car’s French owner left India around Independence. My eldest brother, Maharaja Hanuman Singh, bought it from a showroom,” Duleep said after receiving the trophy from Union aviation minister Praful Patel on the Western India Turf Club lawns at Worli.

After Maharaja Hanuman’s death, the car passed to the second brother, Maharaja Hemant Singh, who looked after it for years.

“In 1961-62, when I had just graduated and was looking to buy a sports car I had spotted in Mumbai, my brother said he would gift me the Delahaye instead. Since then, it has been with me and is in perfect working condition,” Duleep said.

A 1924 vintage Rolls Royce owned by Arvind Singhji of Mewar won the Vintage Classics category. Amirali Jetha’s Rolls Royce Phantom II Continental came second and Hemant Kumar Ruia’s 1930 Lancie Dilambda was third.

Diljeet Titus’s 12952 Cadillac Series 62 topped the Post-War Classics category which featured British, European and American cars made between 1946 and 1959.

P.P. Asher’s Healey Westland won the Roadster category that featured British, US and German convertible sports cars made in 1936-46. Former cricketer Imran Khan presented D. Patnaik, the owner of a 1923 Rolls Royce, the trophy in the Exotic Cars category.

The 11-member jury, headed by Prince Michael of Kent, awarded a Preservation prize to a 1950 vintage Jaguar XK120, owned by Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur who was not present.

According to lore, Gayatri Devi, then maharani, had cast a longing look at a Jaguar whizzing past her and her husband during a visit to southern France. A week later, in London, a new white Jaguar was delivered to her — a gift from her husband.

The designer’s prize went to Viveck Goenka’s 1939 vintage Daimler DB 18. Formula 1 designer Gordon Murray presented the award.

Nishant Dossa’s 1949 vintage Bentley Mark VI won the Resurrection prize. Shah Rukh Khan and UK model Yasmin Le Bon presented a special prize to actor Jackie Shroff and wife Ayesha for their 1937 Jaguar SS 100.

Prince Michael said he was delighted to see the 1936 vintage Daimler once used by his grandfather, King George V. The car was shipped to India for a royal tour, and had stayed on after the tour was cancelled. It’s now with Indore-based Sharad Sanghi.