Rolls-Royce 25/30 HP (1936)

SALE AGREED

.An interestingly unusual car, incorporating several 'out of the ordinary' features, such as steps which fold down when the doors are opened (and raise when the doors are closed), in lieu of running boards, opening rear window, dummy louvred bonnet & scuttle, ‘trouser crease’ wings, Marchal headlamps, and twin side-mounted spare wheels, all original to the car when new. Also equipped with a boot-mounted luggage rack, 'Owl Eye' rear light and a sunroof. Running and driving well, full of appeal, and intriguingly different.

Chassis Nr. GHL20 Reg No. MJK 377 £32,500

Snippets: Bertie Bassett to Buffalo
The 1st owner - William Johnson – was the step-grandson of George Bassett who started his first confectionery & wine business in 1835 aged just 17. In 1851 George took on an apprentice by the name of Samuel Johnson & in 1868 Samuel married George’s oldest daughter Mary, sadly Mary died giving birth to a daughter – Mary – in 1870. It wasn’t long before Samuel remarried and had 3 sons – Samuel, William & Percy. Not much is known about Samuel Jnr. but Percy married Clarice Flack & upon Percy’s death in 1936 he disinherited both his sons & left his estate (£15m today) to charity to punish his ex-wife for her affair with the family chauffeur! William on the other hand would have appeared to have been happily married but little is known of his wife whom he predeased. When William Johnson took delivery of GHL20 he registered the car at 3 locations – Grosvenor Square (neighbours included the Duchess of Westminster, Earl Beatty & J P Morgan); Mansfield Street & his country home of Rashleighs in Berkshire where he bred Guernsey Cattle on his self-sufficient estate. In 1951 GHL20 was with the accountant & Liberal MP Lawrence Robson who in 1927 had founded the firm of Robson Rhodes & Co. In 1950 Robson & his Swedish wife Inga-Stina who in 1968 was President of the Liberal Party (Lawrence held the same post in 1953/4) moved into Kiddington Hall which dates from 1673 & was rebuilt in 1850 by Charles Barry with Capability Brown laying out a fresh garden. From 1954/62 Norman Bennett registered GHL20 at 120 Wigmore Street (named after Wigmore Castle which was granted to the Mortimer family by William the Conqueror in 1086). The 4th owner was Paul Cave-Brown-Cave, Journalist, MP, Theatre Impresario, Publisher of Hampshire County Magazine & MD of the Waterlow & Sons who printed Bank Notes! During the 1970s GHL20 was in South Bend, Indiana with Homer W Fitterling; a car enthusiastic was well-known for his Dusenbergs, one of which had been commissioned by the actor Tom Mix & had a pair of longhorn steel horns mounted above the grill with the door pulls being pistol holsters! Homer’s other love was Buffalos of which he had a small herd of at his appropriately named farm “Old Buffalo Farm”! Homer’s various business enterprises included Clay Utilities & several haulage firms – Superior Freight Lines, Lake Motor Freight & Fitterlings. By 1979 GLH20 had returned to the UK and later owners included the exotically named Darwish Abdullah Darwish.

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