Maharaja Duleep Singh of Jodhpur with his 1939 Delahaye at the Cartier event. (Santosh Nagwekar/Fotocorp)

Mumbai, Nov. 1: From Imran Khan to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and model Yasmin Le Bon, “outsiders” have descended on the city battling to save its cosmopolitan image but Raj Thackeray should not have any problem welcoming them.

Cartier, the French jewellery- and watch-maker known for refined luxury, has converted the elite Royal Western India Turf Club in Worli into a grand shamiana showcasing an eclectic mix of international celebrities to choose the best of India’s vintage cars.

Part of Cartier’s first concours, titled “Travel with Style”, 60 vintage cars shone brightly in the mild November sun ready to be judged tomorrow by an array of international guests. Shah Rukh Khan, who will turn 44 tomorrow, is expected to be present.

India has over 6,000 vintage cars and the hard work to select 60 from them fell on Indophile, travel writer and conservationist Mark Shand, brother of Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker-Bowles, and vintage car expert Madhavendra Singh.

King George V’s 1936 Daimler

Among the beauties picked are two 1931 vintage Pierce Arrows and a 1928 vintage Mercedes Benz owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, actor Jackie Shroff’s Jaguar SS 100, media baron Viveck Goenka’s 1939 Daimler and Jaipur jeweller Sudhir Kasliwal’s 1939 six-seater Mercedes.

Calcutta also is represented, by Gulam Momen, the chairman of Whitecliff Tea, who has brought his 1938 Rolls Royce two-door sports convertible. “It has an airplane type steering wheel,” Momen said.

But the show-stealer is the 1936 Daimler V12, which once belonged to King George V of England. The car, one of three of its kind, was shipped to India for his royal tour in 1935. The visit was cancelled, but the car remained in India till 1947, and was bought by the Maharaja of Darbhanga.

Prince Michael of Kent, a grandson of King George V and invited to judge the show, saw his grandfather’s proud possession — now owned by Indian car dealer Sharad Sanghi — for the first time.

Besides Imran the cricketer, Mason and Yasmin Le Bon, the Iranian-British model married to Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon, the glitterati invited to be judges include Michael Kadoorie, chairman of CLP Holdings which lights up over half of Hong Kong and also owns the Peninsula group of hotels, and war photographer Don McCullin.

Parked neatly in rows, the cars have been divided into four categories — Vintage Classics, Post-War Classics, Exotic Cars and Roadsters — and will compete for the “Best Car of the Show”.

Cartier thinks it is fitting that it would showcase the regal cars, most of them commissioned by India’s wealthy royalty. Jacques Cartier came to India first in 1911 to meet his clients — the maharajas.

“We decided to re-enter India in style and thought the concours was the best way to do it to coincide with the launch of our boutique in Delhi. India has over 6,000 vintage cars which are part of its heritage, and we decided to rediscover and re-appropriate it,” Cartier managing director Patrick Normand told The Telegraph.

Cartier approached travel writer Shand to select some of the cars that represent an impressive legacy of design and craftsmanship.

Shand, who has been travelling across India for nearly 30 years, worked with Singh for 17 months to persuade car owners to lend their prized possessions. “More than the cars, the writer in me is interested in the history and stories associated with them,” said the 57-year-old Shand who says his favourite car during his travels is the “good old Ambassador”.

Once, though, he forsook the Amby and travelled 800 miles along the Grand Trunk Road on the back of a 30-year-old elephant named Tara.

Actor Shroff fell in love with a vintage sports car long after he married actress Ayesha. Both were present bestowing their affection on the white 1937 Jaguar SS 100.

“As a child, I used to see such cars in comic books. I also fancied owning one, and this one I bought seven years ago. The SS 100 stands for its reputation of whizzing past at 100 miles per hour,” said Shroff, awestruck by the presence of Pink Floyd’s Mason who had a word of admiration for his car.

Mason, a keen racing enthusiast, moved around the show with gay abandon. “We have laid parameters to judge the cars. The look and style, its history, maintenance, restoration are some of the criteria to judge,” said Mason, who authored the 1998 book Into The Red on his experiences with the 30 cars he owns.

Along with Mason, some of the foremost names in car designing will judge the beauties. They include Britain’s Peter Stevens, Formula One legend Jackie Stewart’s youngest son Mark Stewart and aviator Commander Glen Kidston’s nephew Simon Kidston.

Also on the panel is Gordon Murray, designer of Formula One racing cars. Murray is now working on a prototype of a lightweight, economical supercar, and is keenly watching the development of Ratan Tata’s Nano. He could have seen it on the roads, but hadn’t bargained for Mamata Banerjee.