1923 Rolls-Royce 20hp Barrel-Sided Tourer

Coachwork by Barker Registration no. G299 Chassis no. 54 S9 Engine no. G286

Footnotes

As had been the case since the earliest days of the partnership of Rolls with Royce to build motorcars, Barker & Co. had been in tune with their products as they evolved and while some renditions by other coachbuilders may have been more extrovert or outlandish depending on the customers wishes, Royce clearly favoured the designs that Barker penned, and they unquestionably always matched the design of the chassis without peer. With the arrival of the owner driver 20hp in the post-WW1 era, Barker achieved perfection again presenting a shapely torpedo touring car design of unique charm, commonly referred to as a 'barrel-sided' tourer. The oldest of any of these cars to survive, 42G0 also wore one, today that car is owned by renowned historian John Fasal, author of The Rolls-Royce Twenty.

Peter Blond had long coveted the open touring cars on the 20hp chassis, and prior to the passing of his wife Virginia in 2017, she guided him that he would find himself with more time upon his hands. 'What you'll need is a project...'. Something that had eclipsed his collecting over the years was one of these archetypal Barker 20hps and he set about looking for one.

The car that he found was this, chassis 54S9, a textbook example of the model and mirror image of the Fasal car. As new, from factory records, we know that it arrived with Barker & Co. on 29th March 1923, and was built over the next couple of months, being finally delivered to one Fred Rist Esq. Being a relatively early example in the series, it carried the original format of centre change gearbox, a feature which avoided the inevitable perennial 'gearlever up the trouser leg' issue, however, the customers were not wedded to the idea and it wasn't long before the reverted to right hand change again. In addition to the protection of trousers, it also allowed for fully accessible four door coachwork, another distinct advantage to its users.

It would appear that Mr. Rist's tenure was brief, for there are prompt updates of owners to R. Lander of Newburn Saw Mills in West Hartlepool in November 1923, and then A. Hogarth of Pollokshields in Glasgow on 21st March 1925. No further ownerships are recorded on the factory records, but its maintenance continues through to 1936, with various parts supplied to Croalls latterly, suggesting that it was in Scotland up until the War. After the war, the car is known to have taken a sojourn to the USA by at least 1958, passing through Nyack, New York where it was recorded by John Webb de Campi. Rolls-Royce Foundation notes list the car as then being owned by a Bill Dawn of Knoxville, Tennessee from 1961 until April 1970, then Glen VanSlyke Jr, also in Tennessee until 1979 and after that Pembroke S. Huckins, of Easton, Maryland from May 1979. The Rolls returned from the USA in 1989.

Its next chapter of British life began with ownership by an A. Pearson of Tenterten in Kent, in whose hands the car received a lot of work including an engine rebuild by Ristes, and work by Goudhurst Service Station also, for which bills are on file. It then passed through Andrew Booth's Orchid Cars to Gordon Willetts in 1997. Peter Blond acquired the '20' from Willetts in 2018, and immediately had it thoroughly checked over and mechanical work carried out including the fitting of a Paynes supplied overdrive. Reading through the file it would seem that the mileage since the 1990s engine rebuild is approximately 3,000.

In keeping with Peter's taste and eye for detail, this is an authentic and honest example of the model with all the hallmarks of these elegant early 20hps. Recently checked over by Nigel Sandell, and receiving a new MOT, it is ready to continue in Peter's tradition of using and touring his cars.