AutoPuzzles - The Internet's Museum of Rare Cars!
Puzzles, Games and Name That Car => Solved AutoPuzzles => 2012 => Topic started by: bentleybob on October 29, 2011, 08:34:21 PM
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No prizes for guessing the make ;D, but what I'd like is the story behind it, the year, the coachbuilder, why it is special etc., for one point
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Up to the experts, I'd say!
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pro stuff, then?
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I've got a photo of what I think may be the same car, but there's no useful caption. It may be one of the 1922 40/50 ("Silver Ghost") Rolls-Royce cars bodied by the Grosvenor Carriage Company for the Nawab of Rampur.
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Yes, it is a Rolls Royce 40/50 hp 'Silver Ghost', but not Grosvenor or India bound..
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Is the coachbuilder British?
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Certainly.
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Stating the obvious (in order to eliminate them) is it a Barker barrel-shaped RR 40/50 tourer of c.1920?
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Barker no barrel-shaped tourer noof c.1920 sure
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Coachwork by Jenkins of Enfield, Middlesex c.1920?
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Never heard about those, but no. Since there are literally hundreds of coachbuilders it could become rather tiresome have them guessed. Let me just say, that this body was constructed by the owner's company...(not sure this will help you a great deal... 8)
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Was it known primarily for its Rolls-Royce bodies?
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Not one of the big names...
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Was it based in London?
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Slightly out of it, but not too far away
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I thought at first it might have been built by London Improved but as that was located in central London I have ruled that out.
Perhaps it was by Chamberlain & Sons, Aylesbury, Bucks.?
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No. To my knowledge this coachbuilder was only producing in very small numbers, and mostly to the advantage of the owner of the car as a promotinal activity...Out of business by the mid twenties, I'd say..In other words, you need to find the proud owner...
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Harris&Others?
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nope
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PW Jenkins?
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Nope
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Was the owner active in other types of businesses as well?
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Very active in many branches of the automotive branch
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Any connection to Grahame-White?
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Not that I am awarre of, no.
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Very active in many branches of the automotive branch
When you say active in many branches of the motor industry do you mean motor dealers/spare parts/accessories or builders of bus/commercial vehicle bodywork?
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I will leave it to you to sort that out ;)
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I will leave it to you to sort that out ;)
Okay, I'll have another guess soon...... ;)
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W.H. Arnold of London W1?
The dates tend to fit with what has been revealed so far and the company also built bodies on Rolls-Royce.
He became bankrupt in 1924 - he blamed the McKenna duties on imported cars for his plight.
Sadly these duties were abolished a few months later, too late to save his situation.
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If not WH Arnold, was this company also a dealer?
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Nope.
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Could the person be Sir William Angus of the Angus-Sanderson car manufacturing company?
Apart from building cars they were also involved in coachbuilding.
Apparently in 1920 they bodied a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (chassis 138BW).
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No it isn't. The story is about a much louder man than the car he had build...
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It sounds like a car with a Silent Knight engine...
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A Rolls Royce never had a Silent Knight engine... :-[
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Tottering towards extinction? :o
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Was the owner an opera singer?
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As I said before: active in many branches of the motor industry. Prolific. Loud. Think parts, accessoires etc. Other than in the bathroom, I don't think he qualified as an opera singer :lmao:
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Member of the Lucas family?
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or a member of the Halfords family?
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or one of the Brown Brothers?
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Nope ;) The success did not last...
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C.A. Vandervell?
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Think marketing genius, good accessoiries and tyres, but collapse integrated into the the very fabric of the system...
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Ah I think it may be Lionel Rapson, although one associates him more with Lanchester products than Royce's
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;D Yes, Allan has got it. Mr Rapson was a producer od all sorts of gizmo's he thought of or which he bought from inventors, as well as of apparently a successful production system of tyres which he promoted relentlessly, and in the relatively new automotive market he quickly elbowed his way in to the the top of society including the Royal family. His financial base was unstable though, and he was always busy obtaining finance without caring too much whence it came from. In the end many of his claimed inventions were either replaced by improved versions of others or did not work in the first place, the Rolls-Royce he had built was widely publisiced both in England and outside, but his brash behavior resulted it him being snubbed increasingly by
society, and his companies folded and went bankrupt. Mr Rapson travelled Europe, financed by a wealthy Swiss lady, whose family were not very happy with the way he spend their money.