Lot Ended
Description
Recent full restoration and little use since; gorgeous red
leather interior; in our vendor's family for 30+ years
Launched in
1946, the Silver Wraith was Rolls-Royce's first new post-war car and was one of
the last cars to be supplied in the traditional way as a separate chassis to be
fitted with a coachbuilt body of the customer's choice. Mechanically the Silver
Wraith shared the same 4,257cc straight-six engine as the Bentley MkVI, driving
through a four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh as standard.
For 1951 the Silver Wraith received the
revised 4,566cc 'Big Bore' engine used by the rest of the Rolls/Bentley range
and automatic transmission was made available as was a long wheelbase version
(133-inch). The Silver Wraith short wheelbase cars (127-inch) remained in
production until 1953, LWB cars lasted until 1959 and were among the finest cars
of their era, available only to an elite handful of high society
clientele.
Just 1,883 Silver Wraith chassis
were produced in total (639 in LWB form) before it was replaced by the larger
Silver Cloud in 1958.
As copies of the factory
build sheets confirm, this Wraith was built in 1951 with HJ Mulliner Touring
Limousine coachwork, leaving the works in February 1952 destined for a C Dickson
Esq of Cragdale House, Dalkeith. Nothing is known of the early history of the
car, but our vendor’s godfather acquired it over 30 years ago and bequeathed it
to him when he died about 10 years ago, on condition that he get it restored. A
double-edged sword if ever there was one!
True
to his word, our vendor sent the car to Beacon Classics of Burton for a full
restoration. Although there are no invoices to show exactly what was done,
there is a CD of images showing that it was a thorough job. The
chassis was restored, the ash frame was repaired as necessary, all the
brightwork was rechromed and all mechanical aspects were attended to.
Unfortunately, three years into the job the restorer, a chap called Vernon, then
suffered an accident and was unable to finish the car off so it was sold to a
gentleman in Tyne-and-Wear in 2016.
Two years
later, our vendor was idly scanning through Classic Car Weekly when an advert
for a Silver Wraith caught his eye. Thinking that the car looked familiar, he
called the seller and sure enough it was his godfather’s old car, now fully
restored. A deal was soon struck and our vendor had it back in the family by
2018.
As you can see in the photos, the car
now looks to be in good order (bar a few minor bodywork blemishes) and whoever
retrimmed the interior has done a superb job – the red leather upholstery is
gorgeous. The vendor has also had the clock rebuilt and has replaced a couple of
the interior knobs and switches.
Apart
from regularly moving it in and out of his garage (which also houses a Silver
Cloud), our vendor has barely driven the car since he got it back so it will
doubtless benefit from a thorough check-over before any long journeys are
undertaken. Despite this lack of activity, it has been starting instantly and
running beautifully as we have moved it around on site, with notably light
steering.
Supplied with a few minor invoices
for recent parts, it also has an owner’s handbook and a copy of a period
maintenace manual.
For more information
contact James on 07970 309907 or email [email protected]