Rolls-Royce 20/25 (1935)

SALE AGREED
A handsome, well proportioned sunroof saloon, with ‘trouser crease’ wings, Ace wheel discs, P100 headlights, etc. Amazingly, the car has been with one owner since 1959, when the car was bought for £545 on hire purchase, as evidenced by the sales invoice still in the file, along with various other interesting historical documents from the last, long-term ownership, including a complete ownership record from new, and an agreement for the aforementioned purchase, showing 24 monthly payments of £10.18.2d, completed in 1961! The car is nicely original, though rather tired cosmetically in some ways, but nonetheless very appealing, not least due to the long term ownership. Offered, prepared, serviced and MoT tested until September 2017.

SALE AGREED

Chassis No. GOH15 Reg No. CYH 785 Price £39,500


Snippets: The American Owners

Although GOH15 never left British shores she managed to have a pair of very distinguished American owners – from 1936/38 the chassis cards show Harvey Seeley Mudd (1888/1955) as being the 2nd owner. H. S. Mudd was the son of Col S. W. Mudd Mine Manager & engineer who in 1907 had co-founded the Ray Copper mine in Arizona which is still in production today; shortly before WWI father & son started the Cyprus Mines Corporation (the Greek word for Cyprus is Kupros meaning copper). After the Col’s death Harvey expanded C.M.C. to include an Iron mine in Peru, copper mines in the Mediterranean, oil in the USA & shipping worldwide. By the time of Harvey S. Mudd’s death in 1955 C.M.C. had become the largest industry on Cyprus with the mine exporting a million tons of copper annually. The Times described Harvey’s wife Mildred as “being a typical society matron noted for her “lavish parties, her charitable activities and her ancient Roman jewellery” which had been dug up in Cyprus at her husband’s mining operation. Their USA home on Benedict Canyon Drive (Beverley Hills) had been designed by Elmer Grey in 1922 for Charles Boldt – owner of the Boldt Glass Company known for their Mason jars. During WWII GOH15 was owned for a short period (12 weeks) by Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle a wealthy socialite and diplomat (he also served during WWI & WWII). Anthony was a scion of the Drexel & Biddle banking families, in 1915 he married Mary L. Duke a tobacco heiress but they divorced in 1931, his 2nd wife was Margaret Thompson Schulze (daughter of William Thompson a mining magnate & the ex-wife of Thomas Schulze). Anthony & Margaret’s son-in-law was Polish Royalty as Peggy (Margaret’s daughter) had married Prince Alexander Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst (Oct 1939) shortly after the Drexel-Biddle family had escaped from Poland where Anthony had been stationed as the American Ambassador.

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