1938 Phantom III (3DL76) Thrupp & Maberly Saloon with Division

 Model                                                             Phantom III

Year of Manufacture                                      1938

Engine No                                                      B88C

Coachbuilder                                                 Thrupp & Maberly

Registration No                                             ANV-688

Chassis No                                                     3DL76

Body name/type                                            Saloon with Division

Body colours                                                 Green

Main colour                                                   Green

History

3DL76 was ‘On Test’ on 27^th April 1938 and ‘Off Test’ on 6^th August 1938 and, with ‘E’ rake steering suitable for both an owner driven, and chauffeur driven car, delivered to Thrupp & Maberly for construction of coachwork described as Saloon with division of the close coupled type (design number SLE1414 and body number 6831). The mascot was specified to be a kneeling lady type. The livery was described as maroon in colour with a gold line and, inside, beige light leather upholstery. There were many additional items specified in the sales card. Rolls-Royce cards record that the customer’s RAC and AA badges should be fixed to the front of the car. One pair of suitcases were specified ‘with nicely finished straps’ as well as a Clayton heater and a Motorola radio. The sales price of the chassis amounted to £1,900 and the body £1,060. The completed car was displayed on the Rolls-Royce stand at the 38^th International Motor Exhibition at Earls Court from 13^th to 22^nd October 1938 with a dummy number plate: R-R 40-50. See photo below. On the second day of the Show, 14^th October, 3DL76 was sold to Messrs Grose Ltd, Automobile Engineers of Northampton. Arthur Mulliner Ltd were given a commission of 5% of the chassis price for their part in the sale. After the Show, the car was delivered on 1^st November 1938 by the Rolls-Royce depot, Lillie Hall to Messrs Grose Ltd for their customer, Mrs C Sears of The Grange, Collingtree, Northamptonshire. The actual total price charged to Mrs Sears amounted to £3,216. 3DL76 was first registered on 31^st October 1938 and the guarantee (number P661) was issued on 1^st November 1938.

Thrupp & Maberly arranged for the commercial photographer Chas K Bowers to take at least one photo of the car in October 1938, and this was neg. no. 27166. The car was pictured on the Rolls-Royce stand in The Autocar of 14^th October 1938. [Photo and extract of the Show catalogue (below) were supplied by Steve Stuckey, author of The Spectre Arises: The Story of the Phantom III].

On collecting the Phantom III from Messrs Grose Ltd, Mrs Sears was driven away by her chauffeur as she never drove. Mrs Sears arranged for two chauffeurs to attend the Rolls-Royce School of Instruction: D Dunkeld on 11^th February 1939 and G J Playford on 26^th August 1939. In the school’s records, they were both recorded as just having commenced in her employment as chauffeurs.  Caroline Sears, nee Wooding (1875-1952) married John George (Jack) Sears (1870-1916), a shoe and boot manufacturer of Northampton. Jack Sears opened his first retail outlet in 1897 and by 1900 he had established his first shop in London, on Fleet Street. The shops were branded as TrueForm. He expanded his business, J Sears & Co, rapidly, particularly on the retail side. In 1912, J Sears & Co went public with a capital of £350,000.

In 1913 Jack acquired a large house with extensive grounds, known as Collingtree Grange. At his death in 1916, his net worth was £356,287, leaving his widow, Caroline, a wealthy lady – thus enabling her to live in style and afford a Rolls-Royce motor car. After his death his brother, William Thomas Sears, became chairman and managing director of J Sears & Co which expanded further in 1928 by acquiring Freeman, Hardy & Willis in 1928. By 1934 the company operated eight factories and 800 retail outlets, employing approximately 10,000. It became one of the largest retail businesses in the UK and the largest shoe manufacturer and distributor in the world.

3DL76 was laid up for the duration of WWII while petrol was rationed, and when Mrs Sears died in 1952 it had covered only 6,150 miles. On the death of Mrs Sears, 3DL76 was then acquired from her estate by her son, Stanley Sears of Bolney Place, Bolney, Sussex.

The funds from his father’s and mother’s estates, together with the success of the family business, enabled their elder son, Stanley Edward Sears (1903-1988) to acquire a very large collection of important motor cars some of which were illustrated in 1973 in Peter Hugo’s Private Motor Car Collections of Great Britain, from which the biography on the next page was taken. Stanley Sears was a founder of The 20-Ghost Club, subsequently its President (1950-1966) and finally Master (1966-1988).

He is seen on the left driving his 1905 Light Twenty (26350) Isle of Man TT Tourer at London Airport, May 1954 on a 20-Ghost Club Tour.

In 1958 Stanley Sears arranged for 3DL76 to be repainted in green (from the original maroon colour). Not deterred by the Phantom’s formal coachwork, Stanley took advantage of an invitation to The 20-Ghost Club and entered the BDC’s Firle Hill Climb in September 1954, setting a time of 38.08 seconds. Photos of this event are reproduced on the next page, courtesy of the Sears Family Archive. He competed again in 1955, as shown by an extract (at the foot of the next page) from Motor Sport.

The car enjoyed careful maintenance over the years by Rolls-Royce’s London service depot in the 1950s and 1960s and most recently from marque specialists Blackmore Engineering Co of Shoreham-by-Sea.

At The 20-Ghost Club Concours d’Elegance at Stanford Park, Leicestershire in 1959 and again at the Shuttleworth Concours d’Etat at the Old Warden Aerodrome, Biggleswade in 1963, 3DL76 was awarded First Place in Class 3. The car was pictured in DB Tubbs’s The Rolls-Royce Phantom in 1964, Ken Ullyett’s The Book of the Phantoms in 1964 (with its photo on the cover) and, as mentioned earlier, in Peter Hugo’s Private Motor Car Collections of Great Britain in 1973. The photo below is taken from Stanley Sears’ own collection of interesting cars (courtesy of Tom Clarke)

After Stanley Sears retired to Bermuda in 1966 and then to the Algarve in Portugal, a few of his cars were sold at auction by Christie’s on 22^nd October 1983. 3DL76 was listed for sale, but did not sell, reaching a top bid of £65,000. See catalogue entry below (courtesy of Steve Stuckey).

Following this sale, he gave 3DL76, among others, to his son, John George Stanley (Jack) Sears (1930-2016).

The above photo was taken in 1986 at the RREC Annual Rally and the photo on the next page at the RREC East Anglian Section, also in 1986.

Stanley Sears died in 1988. His obituary is reproduced below, taken from The 20-Ghost Club Record (Volume 29, Issue Number 57, 1988), showing 3DL76:

Jack Sears died in 2016 and an obituary appeared in the RREC’s Bulletin (issue number B340, dated February 2017):

After Jack’s death, 3DL76 was auctioned by Bonhams at Goodwood on 9^th September 2017, when it was sold for £171,740, including premium. It was acquired by Henry Pearman.

With grateful thanks to Steve Stuckey for his help in compiling this description, including many photographs and illustrations, and also to Tom Clarke.