Despite India having been controlled by Britain since 1757, it was American cars that were most popular there in the early decades of motoring. That started to change in the 1920s, per a letter from a risaldar in Simla, who had swapped to a Wolseley Ten, “for which [he] had nothing but praise”. This light car had conquered a sandy, rock-strewn ‘road’ with 2ft-deep ruts while hauling three men and 200kg of kit up to the building site of a dam in Mulshi (still in operation today), its circa-3m wheelbase compensating for a mere 165mm of clearance.
RM SOTHEBY’S / GETTY IMAGES