1922 Silver Ghost (40PG) HJ Mulliner Torpedo Tourer

Chassis 40PG was on ‘On Test’ at Derby on 1^st September 1922 and ‘Off Test’ on 5^th October 1922. The long wheelbase chassis, with nickel fittings, engine number P282 and ‘D’ rake steering, suitable for an owner-driven car, and polished bonnet, was delivered to the Rolls-Royce depot at Lillie Hall on 5^th October by Midland Railways goods train. From there, it was delivered on 10^th October by road to HJ Mulliner & Co Ltd of Bedford Park, Chiswick, London W4 for the construction of a four-seater Torpedo Tourer body (number 2863). The completed car was inspected on 19^th November 1922 by Rolls-Royce Ltd who issued their guarantee (number 4688) on 12^th January 1923. The chassis had been sold to HJ Mulliner on 4^th September 1922 for their customer, FE Sidney, who took delivery on 20^th November 1922. The car was registered XM-3560 by the London County Council in 1922. For many years 40PG was maintained by Rolls-Royce Ltd, including repairs after an accident in 1925 – see further below.

40PG seen with its original British registration, XM-3560

Fred Edward Sidney (1855-1932) was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire and became a successful wine merchant in London and director of Gordon Hotels, a global hotel chain. He lived at Moreton House, Holly Place, Hampstead, London NW3, shown below.

A recent photo of Moreton House, Holly Place, Hampstead, London NW3; Credit: On the Market

On 20^th April 1926, Rolls-Royce Ltd recorded the second owner of 40PG as RGW Berkeley of Spetchley Park, Worcestershire (pictured below). Captain Robert George Wilmot Berkeley (1898-1969) inherited the Spetchley Estate and arms (shown right) from his father, who died in 1940. At the time, the Captain was serving as an officer in the Worcestershire Yeomanry, and Spetchley Park was reserved for possible use by the Government in the event of invasion. Since it was happily never needed for this role, the mansion was later used as a rest home for American Air Force personnel.

A recent photo of Spetchley Park, Worcestershire; Credit: Sotheby’s

In 1942, Captain Berkeley also inherited Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, the seat of the senior branch of the family, on the death of the 8^th and last Earl of Berkeley. Robert Berkeley served as High Sheriff of Worcestershire (1933/34), and from 1952 as a Deputy Lieutenant for the county. He also played first-class cricket for Worcestershire County Cricket Club and served as Master of the Berkeley Hunt from 1928 until his death.

In the winter of 1926 40PG, then owned by Captain Berkeley, was involved in a serious accident and was returned to the Works for a complete rebuild. The engine was removed, and the chassis was stripped to the main frame before this was straightened and re-riveted. The chassis was then rebuilt. The effect of the accident can be felt today by running the back of one’s hand on the right front spring horn where there is a slight ripple. The rebuild was completed on 20^th April 1927, with a new front right hub and wheel, a new radiator, induction pipe, and a rebuilt distributor governor-oil pump, along with a ‘modern’ cooling thermostat.

Robert Berkeley did not keep 40PG for long. On 21^st March 1927, the car was recorded as being ‘In Cricklewood to test and report upon Condition of Car’. It may already have been sold to Major John Bond, as described overleaf.

On 3^rd October 1927 the car is recorded in the ownership of Major John AM Bond of Little Quarme, Wheddon Cross, near Taunton and later of Cothelstone Manor, Bishops Lydeard, shown below. Major Bond was a London member of The Ceylon Tea Growers’ Association, Limited, founded in 1929, and shipped 40PG to a tea plantation in Ceylon. Bond was the Manager of the Wariapolla Estate in Matale, Central Ceylon in the 1920s.

A recent photo of Cothelstone Manor, Bishops Lydeard; Credit: Cothelstone Manor 2023

40PG at the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa) in Kandy, Ceylon.

Credit: Autocar, 11^th May 1928

On 30^th January 1931 the car, whose Ceylonese registration number is unknown, was recorded in the hands of MP Fraser of the Pooprassie Group, Galaha, Ceylon. Rolls-Royce service sheets reveal that in 1933 new battery cables were dispatched from Rolls-Royce in India to MP Fraser.

In 1949, 40PG was purchased by Major Sir Ralph Hugo Anstruther of that Ilk, the 7^th Baronet of Balcaskie and later the 12^th Baronet of Anstruther, GCVO, MC DL (1921-2002), who had been educated at Eton and then Magdalene College, Cambridge, before joining the Army in the Coldstream Guards in 1941. The second of these baronetcies came with the title of ‘Grand Carver to the Queen’, an honour which had been in the family since 1585. He served in Malaya (during the Malayan Emergency), in Germany and then at London’s Wellington Barracks. On retirement from the Army in 1959, Major Anstruther joined Clarence House, as Equerry to Her Majesty The Queen Mother until 1998, and was her Treasurer from 1961 to 1998.

In August 1982, he wrote: ‘I found the Ghost in Kandy, Ceylon and shipped it to Malaya, where I had it rewired, and drove it until I returned to this country (the UK). On return, I took it to Crewe to be overhauled, and they were obliged to replace the original honeycomb radiator. I then drove it here (the UK) and in Germany until I sold it in 1953 to a garage for £35 – not something I like to think about!’

40PG photographed in Edinburgh in early 1952; Credit: GA Oliver

In November 1982 Roger Thiedeman wrote to Sir Ralph seeking information about where and from whom he purchased 40PG in Ceylon, as well as the Ceylonese registration number. Sir Ralph provided some previously unknown information, but not, as he regretfully said, the original registration number. On its return to Great Britain, 40PG was recorded at the Wellington Barracks in December 1951 and was registered JSP-454 by Fife County Council. Major Anstruther added small oval, raised medallions to the rear doors, and had his unit’s insignia painted onto them: the Highland Regiment of the Coldstream Guards.

Sir Ralph never married, yet during his Army days he cut a dash when out of uniform, dressed in a white planter’s suit and a Panama hat, driving his Rolls-Royce. He was always in demand as a dancing partner, and his name was linked romantically with many eligible ladies of the time. He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers, the Monarch’s Body Guard for Scotland, as well as being an active member of the Worshipful Company of Bowyers, of which he was Master in 1966/68. Sir Ralph always maintained strict sartorial standards, whatever the climate. In summer 1990 he joined The Queen Mother at a private view of mosaics in Sicily; he emerged from a Rolls-Royce car (not his own which had earlier been sold) in a three-piece suit, bowler hat in place, and clutching a tightly furled umbrella – despite the soaring temperature.

Major Anstruther advised that in 1953, after he sold 40PG, it was acquired by a resident of the United States, a Mr Lago. After this, the car had several US owners.

• Charles Lowe of Newington, Connecticut acquired 40PG in the mid-fifties after seeing an advert in The New York Times. He was last listed as the owner in the RROC’s 1962 Membership List
• After a very brief period, Stephen Fuller, MD of Moore’s Hill Road, Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York owned the car and began disassembling it prior to renovation but did not complete this before he died
• 40PG was then acquired by Duane Dennis of 380 East Union Street, Newark, New Jersey where it was photographed in a disheveled state (see right, credit: Duane Dennis). Some rewiring and other renovations were undertaken, so that the car could be driven
• In 1968/69, 40PG was acquired by Sidney and Ruthanne Wells of 739 Greenleaf Avenue, Glencoe, Chicago North Shore, Illinois. By that time the car could be driven. It had been registered P-282, which was the car’s engine number. The Wells had it painted white (or perhaps light dove-grey) with black wings and red wheels. The car was re-registered RR-29.

40PG, freshly painted in 1969/70 at New Trier, north Chicago suburbs; Credit: Sidney Wells

• After Sidney died in 1979, Ruthanne Wells kept the car for a few years before selling it, in October 1984, via an agent Mark J Smith of The Old Philadelphia Motor Co, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, for US$50,000. Rudy & Elaine Rosales of 4086 East 71^st Street, Cleveland, Ohio were the purchasers. By this stage, the livery of the car had been changed to a darker shade of grey.

40PG in 1984; Credit: The Old Philadelphia Motor Co

Under Rudy’s ownership, together with his wife Elaine, 40PG participated in many RROC tours and National Meets and in SGA tours between 1984 to 2002, winning many awards including the Harding-Rolls trophy for best annual all-round performance at the National Meet in Monterey, California in August 1991. In the same year, a photo (reproduced right, credit: Elaine Rosales) of Rudy appeared in The SGA’s The Silver Ghost Tourer (issue 91-4). The Rosales were renowned for driving to every event they attended and would never use truck transport or a trailer.

The photo below was taken at The RROC’s Annual Meet at Hot Springs, Virginia in July 1997 and reproduced in The Flying Lady (issue number 97-6).

In 2002, Rudy and Elaine Rosales transferred 40PG into a charitable foundation and then in Marsh 2003 sold the car for US$130,000 to Alexis (known as Alex) Joyce of 4419 Chickering Lane (since moved to 1404 Chickering Road), Nashville, Tennessee.

For the next 25 years, 40PG has been toured widely by Alex Joyce in events in North America, organised by the SGA and the RROC, as well as in Australia, and with The 20-GC in Europe. In 2013, the car participated in The 20-GC’s Centenary Alpine Trial (see photo right). Ten years later, 40PG car participated in the SGA’s 2023 Colorado Alpine Tour. The registration number has been AA-04060, a US number.

40PG seen photo taken in Utah on an SGA Tour, 4^th August 2004; Credit: Gil Fuqua

In 2023, 40PG featured on the front cover of The SGA’s The Silver Ghost Tourer (issue number 23-3), registered AA-04060 in the United States:

 

EXTRACT FROM “20-Ghost Club, the First 70 years 1949-2019”

1922 Silver Ghost (40PG) HJ Mulliner Tourer owned by Alexis Joyce

On 4^th September 1922, FE Sydney of Moreton House, Holly Place, Hampstead, London NW3 ordered a 1922, long chassis, D-rake steering column Silver Ghost. 40PG with engine no P193 was in inventory and had been tested and passed on 7^th July. Engine P193 was removed and P282 was fitted and tested on 9^th September. White faced instruments were changed to black faced instruments and 40PG was dispatched to HJ Mulliner on 10^th October 1922 for a four-passenger touring body, number 2863, which it still carries. When new it had a polished bonnet and black, aggressive looking, head and sidelights with nickel lens bezels.

In the winter of 1926, 40PG, now owned by RGW Berkley of Worcestershire, was involved in an accident and, being a wreck was sent back to the works on for a complete rebuild. It was stripped to the chassis and then the chassis straightened, re-riveted, and built back up. One can feel the effect of the accident by running the back of one’s hand on the right front spring horn where there is a slight ripple. In the rebuild, completed on 20^th April, a new front right hub and wheel, new radiator, induction pipe, and rebuilt distributor-governor-oil pump were fitted along with a modern cooling thermostat.

In March 1927 the car was purchased by Major JAM Bond and sent to one of his tea plantations in Ceylon where the car remained until 1949. Major Sir Ralph Hugo Anstruther of the Coldstream Guards acquired 40PG in Ceylon and used the car as his staff car while serving in Malaysia, Germany and the UK, hence the small raised oval medallions on the rear doors, once decorated with his unit’s insignia. On returning to the UK in 1952, Major Anstruther had 40PG rewired and fitted with a new radiator.

After this, 40PG was sold to owners in the United States, initially Charles Lowe of Connecticut, then Stephen Fuller of New York, Duane Dennis also of New York, Sidney& Ruthanne Wells of Illinois and, from 1984 to 2003, Rudy & Elaine Rosalis, after which Alex Joyce of Nashville, Tennessee purchased the car.

Never restored, this 400,000+ mile car has had much mechanical work under the present owner and has toured Norway, England, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Australia, Poland, Germany, The Netherlands and most of America. 40PG is usually driven between 3,000 and 5,000 miles each year. The car currently carries the registration number AA-04060.

END OF EXTRACT

Owned by Alexis Joyce in 2007. Previous owner E Rosales. Was UK registered
XM-3560.