1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
One of the rarest Rolls-Royce cars in the world. This is a rare opportunity to see one of the first cars ever made by the Rolls-Royce company and one that gave birth to the ‘best car in the world’ moniker used by the Brits ever since.
This very car won the gold medal in its class at 1907’s 750-mile, four-day Scottish Reliability Trials, before Claude Johnson, Rolls-Royce’s managing director, decided to use it to attempt to break the record for non-stop motoring. With an observer from the Royal Automobile Club, ‘AX201’ was run continuously for two weeks, reaching 15,000 miles on 8 August, smashing the previous 7098-mile record.
While it may not seem like it today, this was an exceptional car in that period. Painted silver with silver-plated fittings, it was showcased at the 1907 Scottish Reliability Trials, where it achieved overall victory and subsequently covered 14,371 miles without issue under RAC scrutiny, double the contemporary record. Following this event the car was nicknamed ‘The Silver Ghost’ due to its appearance and uncanny silence. Subsequently, all 40/50 HP chassis cars adopted the Silver Ghost name.
1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost equipped with a 3.1-liter 6-cylinder engine. It has six cylinders (formed by two blocks of 3 cylinders, one after the other), cooled by water, with side valves, two plugs per cylinder, and is just over seven liters in capacity propelling the more reckless of drivers to speeds of around 65 miles an hour. At the time, that was an incredible speed.
The Silver Ghost got its name because it was largely unpainted, revealing it polished aluminum body, and was ‘quiet as a ghost,’ a often noted sentiment by passer-byers who were amazed by who silent the car was. The name became so famous, in fact, that every Rolls-Royce 40/50 came to include the tag ‘Silver Ghost’ despite the fact that there is only one real Silver Ghost.
‘AX201’ will be joined at Hampton Court Palace this September by a 1922 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost ‘Twenty’ with Indian provenance, as well as the only surviving Silver Ghost with bodywork by the Belgian coachbuilders Van den Plas, and a Phantom III once owned by Field Marshal Montgomery that transported dignitaries including Sir Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower.
Status, what is and how is it attained? There’s contemporary status, the kind that comes quickly and is associated with fashion popular culture, and fads. Then there’s enduring status, the kind that has stood the test of time, a kind of status that is earned by delivering exceptional products over and over. This is the kind of status that turned Rolls-Royce into the benchmark of quality. To understand how Rolls-Royce achieved this reputation we need to go back to the beginning.
The value of classic cars has increased several times over the last decade. You should have noticed this, but does it discourage those looking for a rare, exclusive ride? Of course not.
“The Best Car in the World”, that was what Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost reputed for in its time.
