Description
Author: Ian Irwin, Hardbound, 386 Pages, ISBN: 0959552537 - LIMITED NUMBERED (227/350) ** SECOND-HAND BOOK IN UNREAD CONDITION** SLIGHT TEAR ON DUST JACKET**
SILVER GHOSTS OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
The pre-Armistice 40/50 HP Silver Ghost was the model which enabled Rolls-Royce to proudly claim that their product was The Best Car in the World. Each Silver Ghost was individually hand crafted and the coachwork was commissioned to the requirements of the client by his / her personally chosen coachbuilder. Every car was unique. Every car had a distinct personality. And every car has its own story to tell..
This book, the work of many years of research, relates the cameo histories of more than one hundred pre-Armistice Silver Ghosts which were acquired by Australian and New Zealand owners. While many of these were imported new, others were purchased as used cars in the UK and Europe after the Great War.
Typically Silver Ghosts served treasured early lives, being meticulously cared for by chauffeurs and fastidiously maintained by owners with no expense spared.
Age and fashion however, dictated that outmoded coachwork be replaced and this heralded the beginning of their demise. Some were converted to utilities, others were made into hearses, farm carts or tractors. Still others were reduced to serving as motors to drive pumps.
With advancing years, the impacts of the Great Depression and later the Second World War reduced these once stately cars to anachronistic relics of the past. Neglect and abandonment commonly followed. Due to the ravages of exposure and souvenir-hunters many of these cars became unrecognisable assemblages of mechanical components.
While a number remain unaccounted for, happily many chassis have now been recovered and lovingly restored to their former grandeur. Supported profusely by period and current photographs, Silver Ghosts of Australia and New Zealand breathes new life into these glorious, timeless and significant vehicles.
Front Cover Photo: The 1911 40/50 HP Silver Ghost, Chassis 1606 on a Victorian country road before the Great War.
IAN IRWIN O.A.M.
As a youth the author attended historic motoring events in his home state of New South Wales, long before the Veteran Car Club was formed. His fascination with the engineering excellence of the 40/50 HP Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost stems from those days nearly half a century ago.
Ian has served variously as Federal Secretary and Federal President of the Veteran Car Club of Australia, and is the Immediate Past-President of the Rolls-Royce Owners Club of Australia, ACT Branch (Inc). In 1990 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his administration of the 1988 FIVA Bicentennial World Rally.
He is currently well advanced with the restoration of his 1910 Silver Ghost, Chassis 1404, the actual car which conceived the legendary Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy mascot.
(Endpaper detail) The author (left) inspects the 'as found' engine of Chassis 1404 in his workshop along with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, the son of the original owner of the car (centre) and H.R.H. Prince Michael of Kent.
(Photo reproduced with permission from The Canberra Times.)
