Rolls-Royce 20/25

SALE AGREED Not what it seems on the face of it, this is a car with hidden depths and one or two surpises, being a very handsome sports saloon, with twin side mounted spare wheels, louvred bonnet & scuttle, 'trouser crease' wings etc, in wonderfully original, but superficially very shabby condition. Beneath the surface however, there is more to discover. The car was in storage for 47 years from 1966 to 2013, when we sold it to its last owner, having at that time been with one family since 1959! Since then, in excess of £50,000 has been spent on some excellent re-commissioning work, including an engine refurbishment with new cylinder block, radiator re-core, excellent quality re-wiring in correct, cotton-covered cable, rebuilt wheels with new tyres, and a great deal more in the way of mechanical refreshing, resulting in a sound, reliable, useable car, which has just been driven 300 miles to us. The cosmetics as a whole are very scruffy indeed, but utterly original, with the exception of the front seats which have been nicely re-upholstered in suitable green leather. The car comes with an impressive, original tool kit mounted in the boot lid tray, the original handbook, with chassis number stamped inside, a buff logbook from 1955, some very early MoT certificates, invoices from the 1960s, correspondence, and last but not least, a bundle of invoices for work carried out in the last five years.

Chassis No. GEH24 Reg No. CGX 604

Snippets: The Whisperer & The Capps
Ordered by John William Beaumont Pease (1869/1950) a scion of the Pease Quaker family - connections include Bankers (Darlington, Pease, & Lloyds Bank), Railway owners, MPs, inventors (Fowler’s steam plough), Earls, suffragists, chocolate (Joseph Fry) to name a few. His mother-in-law was Rachel Cecily Forster (nee Douglas-Scott-Montagu) she was the sister of the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu; his secretary was Miss Eleanor Thornton, she became his mistress and was the inspiration for what is perhaps the most iconic car mascot in the world “The Whisperer”! in 1923 John married a young widow, Dorothy Forster whose 1st husband (Lt Hon Harold Fox Pitt Lubbock, 4th son of Baron Avebury, Coutts Bank) had been killed in action in April 1918 leaving Dorothy with two children under the age of 2. When John Pease purchased GEH24 he part exchanged his 1934 Rolls-Royce 20/25 GAF16 which was less than 6 months old! Just before the onset of WWII GEH24 was acquired by the Riders Garage in Falmouth from whom Albert Edward Capps of Plymouth purchased the car. The Capps family have been in business in Plymouth since the 1890s when William George Capps opened a jewellers & a watch repair shop. Albert worked for his father but his older brother Reginald Capps opened his own jewellery shop, however as their father didn’t want to compete with another Capps his son adopted his mother’s maiden name & opened as Wray & Co. When William Capps retired in 1921 sold the family firm of Capps to his Reginald for the sum of £1,500 which included the fittings, fixtures & stock. Both the shops were destroyed in WWII and at one stage Reginald traded from the front window of a chemist! The firm today in the hands of the 6th generation of Capps with the great-great-great-grandson of William Capps. Albert Edward Capps (the youngest son being 14 years younger than Reginald) started his own firm as A E Capps Jewellers with the middle son - Russell – opening an optician / photographer’s shop.