Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental

A very smart indeed, attractive sports saloon, with louvred bonnet, etc, and is the penultimate Phantom II Continental built. The car is in lovely condition, very nicely painted in black, with excellent black leather interior, contrasted by red carpets and red waistline pinstripe. Paintwork, chrome, upholstery, woodwork, headlining, etc, are all excellent, and the car benefits from a large sunroof. Engine is currently dismantled for overhaul, and this work is included in the sale price, although alternatively, we can offer the car ‘as is’ at a substantial discount.

SALE AGREED

Chassis No. 42UK Reg No. CYL 862 Price £135,000


Snippets: Petroleum, Animal Feeds & a Titled Family.

The first owner of 42UK was George Samuel Engle (1883/1944) who in 1918 had changed his name by deed poll from Engel to Engle. Engle was a senior manager of Asiatic Petroleum which was part of the Combined Petroleum Company which later became Shell; in the biography of Sir Henri Deterding written by Glyn Roberts - Engle is referred to as “Secretary & prime mystery man of Asiatic Petroleum”. Within 3 years, 42UK had been sold to Richard Poole Silcock, a scion of R. Silcock & Sons, feed merchants later acquired & renamed BOCM SIlcock. In 1909 Richard’s father Thomas Butler Silcock commissioned T. H. Mawson & Son to design Arthfield House which he built in 1920, Mawson’s also did a garden layout at Thornton Hall and a woodland walk at Bleasdale Tower – this for Richard’s uncle W. A. Silcock. The Silcock family also bred Pigs fed exclusively on their products & won many awards in the “Bacon from 1st Cross Pigs” with their Landrace cross Large Whites. Within 12 months and just before the outbreak of WWII the PII was acquired by Lady Effie Millington-Drake who had returned ahead of her husband Sir Eugen John Henry Vanderstegen Millington-Drake from Uruguay where he had been stationed since 1934 as Minister. Lady Effie was the daughter of the 1st Earl of Inchape – businessman and colonial administrator in India , later Chairman of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company ("P&O"), Effie’s sister Elsie (1893/1928) was a lady of many talents - aviator, actress, and interior designer for P & O, she vanished whilst attempting an east-westerly Atlantic flight. When the Millington-Drake’s travelled they did so in style with 30 Louis Vuitton and of course outfits from Worth for Lady Effie (an heiress in her own right). Sir Eugen entered the diplomatic service in 1912 with his first posting being St Petersburg and later placements including Paris, Buenos Aires, Bucharest, Copenhagen and Uruguay. Sir Eugen was a keep sportsman and this was reflected in the fact that he served on two Olympic committees 1936 & 1948. After WWII 42UK was sold to G. H. Walford (1902/68) of Sherborne St John, a solicitor whose lineage can be traced back to the 13th Century.