Bentleybob 3 solved Lionel Rapson Rolls Royce 1920

woodinsight · December 19, 2011, 09:53:57 AM

Quote from: bentleybob on December 18, 2011, 11:18:52 AM
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?

bentleybob · December 19, 2011, 12:19:16 PM

I will leave it to you to sort that out

woodinsight · December 19, 2011, 12:38:37 PM

Quote from: bentleybob on December 19, 2011, 12:19:16 PM
I will leave it to you to sort that out

Okay, I'll have another guess soon......

woodinsight · December 29, 2011, 04:15:16 AM

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.

pnegyesi · December 29, 2011, 04:17:50 AM

If not WH Arnold, was this company also a dealer?

bentleybob · December 29, 2011, 01:59:13 PM

Nope.

woodinsight · December 30, 2011, 05:50:57 AM

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).

bentleybob · December 30, 2011, 06:56:37 AM

No it isn't. The story is about a much louder man than the car he had build...

pnegyesi · December 30, 2011, 07:10:24 AM

It sounds like a car with a Silent Knight engine...

bentleybob · December 30, 2011, 10:23:06 AM

A Rolls Royce never had a Silent Knight engine...

bentleybob · January 11, 2012, 05:16:21 PM

Tottering towards extinction?

woodinsight · January 26, 2012, 02:15:37 AM

Was the owner an opera singer?

bentleybob · January 26, 2012, 05:19:50 AM

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

pnegyesi · January 26, 2012, 06:31:11 AM

Member of the Lucas family?

woodinsight · January 26, 2012, 06:32:54 AM

or a member of the Halfords family?

Allan L · January 26, 2012, 06:59:15 AM

or one of the Brown Brothers?

bentleybob · January 26, 2012, 07:03:44 AM

Nope

The success did not last...

pnegyesi · January 28, 2012, 11:47:38 AM

C.A. Vandervell?

bentleybob · January 28, 2012, 06:52:14 PM

Think marketing genius, good accessoiries and tyres, but collapse integrated into the the very fabric of the system...

Allan L · January 29, 2012, 04:27:25 AM

Ah I think it may be Lionel Rapson, although one associates him more with Lanchester products than Royce's

bentleybob · January 30, 2012, 05:55:06 AM

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.

News:

Bentleybob 3 solved Lionel Rapson Rolls Royce 1920