Page 120 - Cool Britannia

120In the early sixties the iconic classic car to own was the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, preferably a pre-war one (that is pre world war 1). In all over 5,000 Silver Ghosts were manufactured, roughly 2,5000 prior to the war and 2,500 post 1914. I had been fortunate to be able to have access to three very important sources of data. The original Rolls-Royce commission sheets, the guarantee sheets, as in some cases the original purchaser had died prior to taking delivery, and most useful the information of the present owners buying spare parts for the respective cars showing me that the car was still in existence.Possibly the earliest totally original Silver Ghost in existence is Chassis number 60551 Registration AX 201. First registered in 1907 and used as a factory trials car The car photographed here. The car was subsequently purchased by a Mr Dan Hanbury. Upon his death in 1931 the car was inherited by Air Marshal Sir Alec Coryton. In 1948 Rolls Royce Ltd realizing the signifcance of the earliest original Silver Ghost known managed to purchase the car from the Hanbury family. With the sale of Rolls Royce to Volkswagen the car now resides in the VW museum.Snobs that we all seem to be it appeared that cars commissioned or owned by important personages were to become more valuable than than cars originating from lesser members of society. To attempt to proft from this insight I went through all the commission sheets with a view to chasing down the cars possibly still in existence. It soon became apparent that the ravages of two world wars had committed most of the cars in Europe to the scrap heaps however cars purchased by Indian Maharajas or eastern potentates had a fairer chance of surviving.Having fxated on these two cars the next step was to fnd a way to get to the present owners. In the case of the Siam car it was still with the royal family, the Patiala car I had no idea., however the spare parts order had come from a garage in Calcutta.At this time I was buying cars for the Hon Patrick Lindsey, then chairman of Christies the auctioneers. Both Christies and Sotherbys had realized that collectable cars were to become a recognized area of auction interest. The key to successful auctions was the content of the auction. Patrick took the stance that if his company was to succeed stock was imperative. To this end he commissioned me to purchase important cars and to then enter them in forthcoming Christies sales.In the thirty’s a very talented, a playboy Siamese Prince Bira came upon the automobile racing scene racing two ERA grandprix cars. Named Romulas and Remus. Patrick also raced an ERA so it was a short hop of imagination to ask him if by any chance he knew Prince Bira. Of course he did and was only to happy to arrange for me to meet him should I be in Bangkok.At this time I had home in Kathmandu (in order to chase the great cars in India) so it was to be a short hop to Bangkok. Tracking down Prince Bira was easy, his phone numbers were to be that of Bira Air, his very small airline comprising of two aeroplanes, Romulas and Remus as with his beloved ERAs,. He was in his ffty,s more English in mannerisms than than I perceived Siamese. How enlightened I was to be shortly. He was aghast at my choice of hotels, his offer to lend me one of his apartments, his second to lend me his third of fourth wife. I was to realize that a Siamese gentleman had three or maybe four wives. Number 1 too be the offcial one to manage his life, Number 2 to be his social escort, Number three to satisfy his sexual desires and number 4 to be his sexual protege, soon to be lent to me?Needless to say we did eventually get to the Silver Ghost. It belonged to his uncle or great uncle who appeared to be the uncle or brother of the present King. Upon visiting the royal palace I was to come across a number of cars, some belonging to the present King others belonging to various members of the extensive royal family. The Ghost unfortunately had been rebodied at some point however as a 1910 chassis it was still quite valuable. In the palace was an attractive Delahay 135 MC which apparently belonged to Prince Bira which I also purchased.Having purchased the car in Thailand for if I remember correctly around £10,000 I airfreighted it back to England. I sold the Silver Ghost to Charles Howard who commissioned a Roi-des-Belges body by Wilkinson to be ftted to the chassis and the car METAL GURUChris Renwick tells Royal Ghost Stories