1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
The Best Car in the World!
The Silver Ghost was the origin of Rolls-Royce's claim of making the "best car in the world" – a phrase coined not by themselves, but by the prestigious publication Autocar in 1907. The chassis and engine were also used as the basis of a range of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars.
In 1906, Rolls-Royce produced four chassis to be shown at the Olympia car show, two existing models, a four-cylinder 20 hp and a six- cylinder 30 hp, and two examples of a new car designated the 40/50 hp. The 40/50 hp was so new that the show cars were not fully finished, and examples were not provided to the press for testing until March 1907.
Development of the Silver Ghost was suspended during World War l, although the chassis and engine were supplied for use in Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. A blue 1909 Silver Ghost known as Blue Mist, previously owned by an Irish lord, was used by Lawrence of Arabia as his personal staff car during the Arab Revolt.
The chassis had rigid front and rear axles and leaf springs all round. Early cars only had brakes on the rear wheels operated by a hand lever, with a pedal-operated transmission brake acting on the propellor shaft. The footbrake system moved to drums on the rear axle in 1913. Four-wheel servo-assisted brakes became optional in 1923.
A total of 7874 Silver Ghost cars were produced from 1907 to 1926, and many of them still run today.
In 2005 an early year Silver Ghost was noted to be the world's most valuable car, with an insured value of US$35 million.
Syndicate Car
This car us a matching numbers car sold into Melbourne to Mr Solomon Green.
It was designated the “Golden Ghost as it was ordered new with brass plating rather than the standard nickel, and hence was quickly mistaken as being made from gold rather than brass.
Over the years the car passed through 8 owners with the last owner commenced a full restoration.
Restored to an utterly superb standard, the finished Ghost paid homage to its slightly miss-guided history, with its brass plating replaced by genuine gold (with the Exception of the radiator surround, in marine grade brass), once and for all earning its title as the ‘Gold Ghost’!
Never happy with anything other than perfection, the current owner expenditure on the ‘Gold Ghost’ includes the fitment of hidden power steering, a bare metal repaint in 2016, a rebuilt radiator in 2018, as well as service maintenance by ‘The Derby Works’ of Mount Waverly, Victoria.
With 99 years of history and provenance, chassis 58TM is wonderfully supported by a dedicated website (to be confirmed), covering its history, owners, restoration, and full specification.
There is really nothing more that can be said, as this is will the opportunity to purchase history!
Before the car is purchased the car will be independently inspected by a recognized Rolls Royce model expert.