108 years later, Mahindra team rebuilds piston engine patented by Anand Mahindra's grandfather

Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra said on Tuesday that a team at Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai had rebuilt and successfully fired up a 108-year-old engine patented by his grandfather, JC Mahindra, in 1918.

"Six months ago, I shared the story of a patent filed by my grandfather, JC Mahindra, in 1918, for a two-cycle, opposed-piston engine designed to run on crude oil," Mahindra said in a post on X. "I thought that was where the story ended."

But the team at Mahindra Research Valley had other ideas. As a "labour of love", the researchers went back to the 108-year-old patent, interpreted its drawings and built a working prototype of JC Mahindra's engine.

The prototype was unveiled and fired up on Founders' Day, Anand Mahindra said. "I cannot adequately express my gratitude to the team that brought a piece of our history back to life."

A patent Mahindra himself had only recently discovered

Mahindra had revealed the story of his grandfather's patent in April this year, saying he had only recently learned about it while the group was organising its archives.

JC Mahindra had trained as an engineer at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai and spent much of his career in the steel industry, including a stint at Tata Steel.

During World War II, he served as India’s first Iron & Steel Controller. He built relationships across global steel mills, connections that later helped him and his brother, KC Mahindra, build a trading business.

That business eventually evolved into manufacturing, including bringing Willys Jeeps and International Harvester tractors to India.

Mahindra said his father and uncle had occasionally described JC Mahindra as a "tinkerer" who had held a patent. But the story had never become part of the group’s institutional folklore.

That changed when Vaidehi Mayekar, a senior manager helping organise Mahindra’s archives, found a document relating to the 1918 patent in a box of files and memorabilia.

"She had come across a document about a patent filed by JC in 1918…and assumed I would already know," Mahindra had written in April. "I didn't."

He said he was "genuinely stunned" when he learned that the patent was related to internal combustion engine technology.

'May we never stop tinkering'

Mahindra said the rebuilt engine should be more than a piece of family history. "JC Mahindra was, as my father and uncle used to describe him, a 'tinkerer'," he said.

“May we never stop tinkering. May we never stop imagining, experimenting & building."

He said that would be the "best tribute" the group could pay to its founders.