1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost Salamanca

• One of very few private cars bodied by Frederick R Wood
• First owned by the Rothschild family
• In storage for many years
• In a famous private collection for some 40 years
• Recent Maintenance work carried out by Marque experts Kenworthy & Co. in 2021

"The directors were obviously as impressed with the car as the public were when they first saw it displayed... the company's future, based upon Royce's intuitive design genius and the uncompromising standards of workmanship he set, clearly lay in the rapidly expanding area of luxury cars..." – Edward Eves, Rolls-Royce, 75 Years of Motoring Excellence.

Although the 40/50hp model would in any event have earned its 'The Best Car in the World' sobriquet (actually first used by the Pall Mall Gazette in November 1911), Rolls-Royce's decision to drop all other types only served to focus attention on what would become known as the 'Silver Ghost'. Prior to 1908, when it relocated to a new factory in Derby, the company founded by engineer Frederick Henry Royce and entrepreneur the Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls had manufactured a variety of models at its Manchester premises. Cars with two, three, four and six cylinders were made, and even an abortive V8, before Managing Director Claude Johnson's decision to concentrate on the range-topping 40/50hp. The latter had first appeared at the 1906 London Motor Show and became known as the Silver Ghost the following year when chassis number '60551' was exhibited wearing silver-painted tourer coachwork by Barker & Co.

The heart of the Silver Ghost was its magnificent engine, a 7,036cc (later 7,428cc) sidevalve six equipped with seven-bearing crankshaft and pressure lubrication. A sturdy chassis comprised of channel-section side members and tubular cross members was suspended on semi-elliptic springs at the front and a 'platform' leaf spring arrangement at the rear, though the latter soon came in for revision. The transmission too was soon changed, a three-speed gearbox with direct-drive top gear replacing the original four-speed/overdrive top unit in 1909. In the course of its 20-year production life there would be countless other improvements to the car, one of the most important being the adoption of servo-assisted four-wheel brakes towards the end of 1923.

After a successful 2,000-mile trial under RAC supervision, the factory demonstrator - chassis '60551', 'The Silver Ghost' - was entered in the Scottish Reliability Trial, completing the 15,000-mile run with flying colours to set a new World Record. From then on the car's reputation was assured, not the least in North America where the wide-open spaces placed a premium on reliability and comfort. Another reliability trail resulted in the introduction of the improved London-Edinburgh model, so called after a factory-modified car ('1701') was driven non-stop over a 400-mile course between those two cities using top gear only. '1701' returned a remarkable 24.32 miles per gallon and went on to achieve a top speed at Brooklands of 78.26mph without the benefit of any adjustments. Fitted with streamlined coachwork, this same car later attained a top speed of 101.8mph at the Surrey track. Torpedo-type open bodies were a popular choice for the sporting 'London to Edinburgh' model, which nowadays is among the most sought after of all Rolls-Royces.

Royce's uncompromising engineering standards demanded only excellence of his staff in Manchester and later Derby, and no chassis was delivered until it had been rigorously tested. The Silver Ghost remained in production in England until 1925, 6,173 being completed at the Manchester and Derby factories, and until 1926 at Rolls-Royce's Springfield plant in the USA where a further 1,703 were made, the longest production run of any model from this celebrated company.

Rolls- Royce chassis records show that 'LB14' was originally intended to be the 1914 Olympia show car with coachwork by Barker & Co, but instead was sent to New York and bodied by Frederick R Wood. The Wood company's first involvement with powered transport was as a manufacturer of electrically powered commercial vehicles, and when this proved insufficiently profitable they turned to bodying commercial chassis, with only the occasional foray into car bodies.

The Silver Ghost was duly completed on 20th November 1914, and on on 14th February 1915 was tested by Rolls-Royce tester Mr Caswell tested in New York after it had covered a couple of hundred miles. The chassis records show that 'LB14' was to be fitted with a 'London to Edinburgh'-style dashboard, a 'B' rake steering column, and Warland wooden dual-rim wheels, which it retains today. The first owners were the Rothschild family. 'LB14' was stored for many years before returning to the UK where it was registered in 1979 by T L Roberts as 'CY 18'. In the 1980s 'CY 18' appeared in a film (as yet unidentified) starring John Alderton and Pauline Collins (see photograph on file).

This car's original coachwork is the highly versatile Salamanca 'Collapsible Cabriolet', the rear roof of which folds down in its entirety or fully open driving when required. Trimmed in black leather and retaining its buttoned upholstery, the front compartment may be open or enclosed with a japanned leather roof covering, which unrolls from the rear forwards affording the driver some degree of protection.

The opulent rear compartment is trimmed in buttoned cloth with brocade window pulls and other luxury fittings, while the tiny porthole rear window affords the occupants a measure of privacy. Twin occasional seats fold out of the bulkhead enabling seven persons to be accommodated.

This Silver Ghost has been in the current ownership for four decades, forming part of the vendor's famous private collection while seeing relatively little use. Maintenance work was carried out by Marque experts Kenworthy & Co. in 2021.