Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn (1953)

SALE AGREED Just in from California, this car is a lovely, very sound example, finished in Ivory with excellent, soft and supple light tan leather interior with darker tan carpets. Headlining and woodwork are all good too, adding up to a very appealing interior. Aside from one area, the paintwork is excellent, as is the chrome plating. Very importantly, the body, chassis and underside are lovely and sound, with none of the corrosion problems often associated with these cars. Good mechanically, with a bundle of invoices for work carried out in the USA, just fitted with five new radial tyres, soon to be UK registered and newly MoT tested.


Chassis No. LSLE35 Reg. No. 260 XVB

Snippets: America in a Car
The families of LSLE35 encapsulate the America nation - an Industrialist, a Presidential connection, Bootlegging & a Sweepstake Winner!. The 1st owner was Edwin Barbey, his grandfather John Barbey (banker & Glove manufacturer) who expanded into silk underwear production with Vanity Fair Silk Mills; in 1939 Edwin’s father John Barbey Jnr became VP and due to the embargo on silk during WWII the company became known as Vanity Fair. The firm became known as the “Tiffany” of Lingerie & ladies that modelled for them included Carmen & Maud Adam. Today the Barbey family retain some 20% interest in the company which now has more than 30 brands under its umbrella including Wrangler jeans, Dickies workwear & Bulwark Protective Apparel for law enforcement. The Presidential connection comes with the 2nd owner Peter van Buren Hoes of Old Kinderhook whose great-great-great Aunt Hannah was the wife of the 8th President of the United States Martin van Buren who has the distinction of being the 1st President to have been born an American citizen! The Bootlegging connection comes with the 3rd owner Bob Publicker - in 1912 his father Harry built a distillery on the Philadelphia waterfront and during the prohibition (1919/1933) Max Hoff took over the running of the Publicker and when Hoff was investigated it was revealed that he used to move the alcohol in drums labelled tar or asphaltum to another company under his control, reprocess it into drinking liquor with the bottles labelled as perfume or hair oil!! Harry Publicker’s side of the business was the production of industrial alcohol (cleansers, antifreeze, etc) upon which there was no ban, after prohibition Publickers had smaller distillery for the production of gin, bourbon, rye, rum & brandy with names such as Inver House Scotch, Diplomat and Old Hickory. With the family wealth Bob Publicker was able to enjoy his hobby of both owning and racing cars and his stable included Ferrari 250s, Aston Martin, Siata 300BC, MGs and an OSCA. In the late 1960s LSLE35 was owned by Kenneth Householder, an architect & film set designer whose home of 827 Waller Street, San Francisco was built in 1911 on the street named after Royal Hiram Waller (1802/66) – a gentleman from Vermont who became a San Francisco lawyer & City Recorder, his wife Elizabeth was a board member of the San Francisco Orphan Asylum. In 1976 Kenneth Householder bought a ticket for the Irish Sweepstakes and was woken up by a phone call telling him that he had won the $800,000 super prize!

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