Milani


Mahdiyeh Javid showing off one the Shah's Rolls Royces
Mahdiyeh Javid showing off one of the Shah's Rolls Royces
she bought at an Iranian government auction in Switzerland... massalan.


Only 19

A letter distributed on the Internet by Farah Diba Pahlavi's secretary denying that her husband, the late Shah, had 3,000 cars.

March 25th, 1997

Mr. Peter Job
C.E.O. Reuters Ltd.
85 Fleet Street
London, EC4 PAJA
U.K.


Dear Mr. Job,

I am writing to express deep concern about inaccuracy of the report that went over your wire dated March 12th, 1997 in conjunction with the auction, in Geneva, of the cars belonging to the late Shah of Iran.

It is respectfully submitted that your report regarding the Shah's ownership of "3000 cars including more that 2000 Mercedes Benz" is pure fantasy and a character assassination of the late Shah of Iran. As Private Secretary to Her Majesty Farah Pahlavi, I would like to offer the following facts for your enlightenment:

In the 1970's, a modern facility was built to house and to park all the vehicles belonging to the Imperial Court, consisting of a covered area for approximately sixty cars and an open air space for another fifty.

The royal residence of Niavaran Palace and Saadabad Palace each had a small garage to accommodate a maximum of six to eight cars.

There were two categories of vehicles in the inventory of the Garage Saltanaty (Royal Garage):

1. Cars purchased and maintained by the Imperial Court for official and state functions (an annual budget was allocated for this purpose by the Parliament "Majlis").

2. Cars that the late Shah acquired using his own private funds, plus those given to him as gifts by his friends.

Other members of the Royal Family were individually responsible for the purchase and maintenance of their own vehicles.

The whole inventory of cars belonging to the Imperial Court, including other family members, did not exceed 200, of which 19 personally belonged to His Majesty. This is a far cry from the number of 3000 vehicles as reported.

Furthermore, in the late Seventies when it was decided to house the collectible cars and coaches of the Royal Mews, the authorities had difficulty finding a sufficient number of autos for display. What was available consisted of two Rolls Royces from the 1920's in poor condition and a Pierce Arrow, all of which the Shah had inherited from his father. There was also a Chrysler of which the Shah had inherited from his father. There was also a Chrysler Ghia, a Phantom IV, a Ferrari 500 Super Fast1966, and a few other cars, none of which were of museum quality.

Of the nine or possibly ten cars auctioned recently by "Brook's Europe" in Geneva, six were personal property of the Shah and rightfully belong to his legal heirs. The Daimler DS420 and the Cadillac Fleetwood were owned by the government. Also, one of the auctioned Rolls Royces was confiscated from a third party and had nothing to do with the Shah or the Imperial Court.

To claim that the Shah had 3000 cars is preposterous. It is an outright fabrication by the auctioneers to whip up public interest in an irresponsible manner for the purpose of their own financial gains.

For the sake of journalistic integrity and in all fairness, I sincerely hope that Reuters will take the necessary steps to correct this wrong.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.

Yours truly,

Kambiz Atabai
Private Secretary to HIM the Shahbanou
New York, New York

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