If you fancy a shot at a Pebble Beach entry next year, one of the lots at Bonhams' December sale could be the ideal starting point.
The auction house is offering a 1912 Lanchester 38hp State Limousine, which was specially made for the powerful and wealthy Maharaja of Rewa in May 1912, at Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge on Thursday 1 December.
Featuring a removable limousine top and driver’s canopy, so the car could be used as an open tourer, it has an estimate of £80-100,000.
Bonhams said: "This type of car was a favourite among Indian nobility and favoured in particular by Maharajas. Indeed the Indian market absorbed a considerable amount of the Lanchester factory output. The Maharajah of Rewa was so impressed with this car that he later ordered a 40hp Lanchester as its successor."
Returned to the UK in the 1960s and initially acquired by North Country collector, Douglas Thompson of Teesside, the Lanchester has been with the present owners for 27 years, forming the ‘jewel in the crown’ of a collection of significant Lanchester motor cars.
James Elliott is a former Editor of Classic & Sports Car