Rolls-Royce 20/25 (1932)

SALE AGREED

A very handsome, traditional D back in fine condition, sound, smart and running well. The engine is particularly quiet and smooth and the car drives nicely. Appealing features include ‘cutaway’ front wings, typical of the period and a very nice set of Lucas headlights and sidelights in stainless steel as specified on the original factory records. R-R referred to them as 'staybrite', a term they also used for the radiators and other stainless items at the time. It was a very appropriate term, as they are indeed still bright 85 years later! The seats have all been re-upholstered in brown leather a few years ago and this, along with new carpets and a lovely set of early style instruments make the interior of the car a nice place to be. A sweet car in good order.


Chassis No. GBT25 Reg. No. EV 5476 £37,500.

Snippets: Bland & Kitchener
Mrs Dulcie Katherine Bland (nee Bernard) part-exchanged her 7 year old Austin for GBT25 and was allowed £125 against the Rolls-Royce. Dulcie & her husband Charles Riviere Bland lived at Debden Manor which Charles purchased in the early 1920s shortly after the birth of their son Thomas Riviere Bland - in 1944 Thomas (aged just 23) was awarded an Immediate Military Cross for his actions during the battle for Monte San Michele in Italy. Charles Riviere Bland was a “name” at Lloyds with an interest in breeding Suffolk Punch horses and Jersey Cattle. When Thomas demobilised he joined Hartley Cooper Insurance - Charles Bland became a director of the company in 1900 when the insurance firms of E E Cooper & James Hartley merged to create Hartley Cooper, Charles later served as Chairman of the firm. Two of Dulcie’s aunts (her mother’s side) married into European nobility – in 1867 Alice Gore to Alexander Nikolaevitch Wolkoff-Mouromtzff – a noted watercolourist under the name of A M Roussoff, his portrait sitters included HRH Princess Louise & today 3 of Roussoff’s painting are hung in the V&A Museum. In 1881 Dulcie’s Aunt Beatrice Gore married Baron Werner Von Globig, he was the aide de camp to the Emperor of Austria. When Dulcie Bland sold GBT25 it was to Bernard Patrick Cromie whose family, like the Gore’s had strong ties with the Church as both Bernard & Dulcie were the offspring of Reverends. During WWI Bernard Cromie had served with the British Expeditionary Force & in 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross, during WWI Bernard had a war horse named Kitchener - we have found a photograph of “Kitchener” drinking a bottle of beer! It is not known how long Bernard owned GBT25 for but we next know of the car in 1986 when it is with Mr J. Flannary with whom the car remained until 2005.

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