Rolls-Royce 20HP

SALE AGREED .

A really lovely example of an authentically replicated original body design, which is well-built, and absolutely looks the part, with excellent attention to design detail of items such as windscreen and Auster screen, door shaping, etc. Much good work carried out in the 1990s and 2000s, including a thorough engine overhaul, fully documented and photographed. Also fitted with overdrive, which nicely relaxes the engine at cruising speeds. Just fully re-painted to a very high standard in Burgundy with black wings, complimented by very nice red leather interior, and looking lovely! Complete with recent hood, and full wet weather gear including side screens and two-piece tonneau cover. Correct 21" wheels with a recent set of Dunlop tyres fitted. In the process of being serviced and prepared, MoT tested until January 2018.


Chassis No. GA28 Reg No. XP 7542 £62,500

Snippets:
In 1923 GA28 was delivered to the firm of W. J. Smith & Sons Ltd at the premises of Little Cadogan Place in Belgravia – we are not sure if the car was for the private use of Horace Smith or as part of the company’s fleet. W J Smith & Sons Ltd were better known as The Cadogan Riding School with W. J.’s son Horace (born 1878) started working at the stables when he was just 16 years old & in due course his distinguished pupils included non-other than The Royal Sisters - Elizabeth & Margaret (Her Majesty even confided in her royal riding master that if she hadn't been queen she would have liked 'to be a lady living in the country with lots of horses & ponies.') In 1955 Horace Smith published his autobiography “A Horseman Though 6 Reigns” (Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI & Elizabeth II). During the 1920s the stables were managed by George Vincent Francis (an amateur jockey & horse dealer) who was also the father of Dick Francis (champion jockey & author) & grandfather of Felix Francis (author). The garden of Cadogan Place was once known as the London Botanic Garden & was designed by William Salisbury towards the end of the 18th Century. Famous residents of the area have included the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce; Dorothy Jordan, an actress, who for 21 years was the mistress of the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) who fathered 10 of her 15 children! From 1937 until 1965 GA28 was located in Devon with J. S. Stephens at Vigo Engineering (the firm can be traced back to the early 1900s) but by 1965 GA28 was in Nashville as a running chassis with Leonard Ghertner – who his sons remember as having traded an industrial air conditioner unit for the car. It would appear that nothing was done to the car and it was sold in 1973 to a Rodman Heckman who bought the car for the wheels to go onto his other 20hp GSK81! It was then sold in 1985 still as a running chassis to an Irishman – it was at this point in her life that GA28 acquired the current coachwork