Lot Ended
Description
Large and interesting history file from new; formerly owned by a
member of the Rolls family; engine rebuilt by Brunt's in the early 1990s
and under 33k miles since; well-maintained and always in regular use; just
how we like them
Launched in
1929, the Rolls-Royce 20/25 was the successor to the 20hp and, although based
around the same leaf-sprung, drum braked chassis design, it enjoyed notably
sharper acceleration, a higher top speed and better fuel economy thanks to its
enlarged 3.7-litre straight-six OHV engine.
Produced concurrently with the Phantom II and built to the same
exacting standards, the 20/25 benefited from many of the larger model's
improvements (such as synchromesh gears, servo-assisted brakes, centralised
chassis lubrication and thermostatically controlled radiator shutters), becoming
the best-selling Rolls-Royce of the inter-war period, with some 3,827 leaving
Crewe before the more powerful 25/30 came along in late
1936.
Indeed the basic layout was to form the
basis for the superb 3.5-Litre Bentley which the firm unveiled in 1933,
contemporary road tests praising the exquisite precision of all the controls,
the entire absence of mechanical noise and the uncanny smoothness of the ride.
This particular 20/25 comes with a large
and fascinating history file which will keep the next owner happily engrossed
for hours. Copies of the factory build sheets show that GRW5 was a long chassis
ordered in September 1932 and was originally destined to have Barker Limousine
De Ville coachwork, but the order was subsequently changed in favour of
Park Ward saloon coachwork finished in black with white coachlines, a luggage
rack at the rear and a spare wheel mounted on the offside front
wing.
First registered in London in February
1933, RREC records show that JJ 6447 was originally owned by the Reverend Philip
Sidney of Hampstead, a descendant of the famous Elizabethan scholar, soldier and
poet, Sir Philip Sidney. It was subsequently owned by Christopher Harding-Rolls,
a close relative of Rolls-Royce founder, Charles Rolls.
A letter from Mr Harding-Rolls dated February 2000, recalls how he
was a newly-wed army officer when he first spotted GRW5 in a showroom window and
succeeded in bartering the dealer down to £250, using haggling skills that he
had learned in North Africa. The letter relates that: “He [the Rolls] was named
Jacoboski after a very senior Russian General. I remember that he was owned by a
parson and was bought and sold by a construction company as a tax fiddle”.
Posted to Germany, Harding-Rolls
took Jacoboski with him and developed great respect for the car: “In the
deepest of German winters all one had to do was loosen the top of the
carburettor and pull him up three times on the handle and away he went, leaving
all the modern cars floundering with flat batteries. My wife and
I drove him to England and back many times and he only let us down once,
running his big ends in Brussels when we were on our way home. However, we could
still drive him in top gear at 24mph which made for a long and slow journey, but
we made it home 24 hours late at 3am.”
Harding-Rolls included a grainy photocopy with his letter showing JJ
6447 in 1965 outside the gates of his father’s house, The Hendre in
Monmouthshire, where the great Charles Rolls had been born in 1877 (see last
photo). His letter concluded: “Jacoboski was very thirsty and my wife found him
heavy to drive in the narrow lanes where we lived so he eventually had to go. I
sold him to a rather strange man for £5,000 who turned up with a plastic bag
stuffed full of pound notes”.
That ‘strange man’
was almost certainly Brian Adams of Gloucestershire who became the
owner of Jacoboski in 1978. An eccentric character well-known to Brightwells, he
was the owner of an ever-changing fleet of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces and was one
of our most fondly-regarded customers until he sadly passed away only recently,
following injuries he sustained after falling off one of his horses (these
dangerous four-legged creatures being the other passion of his life).
In 1980 GRW5 moved to America where it was owned
until 1988 by a Mary Ann Younger of Annapolis, Maryland, dozens of invoices
showing that she used the car regularly and looked after it
well.
Imported back to the UK in October 1988 by
a Mr D Willis of Crewe, it shared a container with two other Vintage
Rolls-Royces and sustained some damage to the wings during the voyage which was
subsequently repaired by the ship’s insurers at a cost of
£718.
In 1989 it was acquired by a VSCC member,
Mr McGarel-Groves of Princes Risborough, who was to keep it for eight years and
spent much money bringing it up to the standard he required. This included a
full engine rebuild by renowned Rolls-Royce specialist Brunt’s of Silverdale,
with new pistons, bearings, reground crank etc, the indicated mileage at this
point being just over 57,000.
They also carried
out much other work to the car, with invoices totalling well over £10,000 – a
substantial sum at a time when you could buy a brand new Ford Escort for under
£7,000. In 1992 it was sent to Unit 4 Restorations of Towcester for a tidy-up of
the bodywork and the interior and a new radiator which cost another £3,000.
The next owner was a Mr A Ansell who acquired
the car from a dealer in June 1997 (now with 63,300 miles on the clock) for
£16,250 and was to keep it for 10 years. The owner of a country house hotel in
Essex, he also ran a company called Chauffeur Link and invoices show that he
spent around £9,000 on the car to keep it in tip-top running order, most of the
work being carried out by Overton Vehicle Overhauls of Leigh-on-Sea.
In May
2007 when it was showing 74,600 miles, it was acquired by a Mr R Antley of
Sutton Coldfield from Aristocars of Billericay, the invoice showing that he paid
£21,000. Aristocars also provided a formal letter which stated that it was worth
“around the £25,000 mark” and gave the following information about the car:
“This vehicle is a standard 20/25 saloon with
Weymann roof. Unusual features include a heating system ducted from the exhaust
into the front footwells. The car is closely associated with the Rolls family,
with a letter of authentication from Charles Harding-Rolls. This is a fine
example of a small horsepower Rolls-Royce having had extensive renovation works
carried out to the mechanics of the vehicle. While the interior trim is mainly
unoriginal, this does not detract from the overall soundness of the car [which]
drives and handles as a 20/25 should.”
Mr Antley
owned Celebration Wedding Cars and used JJ 6447 as part of his fleet, as shown
by photos on file (some of them reproduced here). He was to keep it for the next
17 years, adding another 10,000 miles or so to the odometer, and although there
are no invoices to cover this period, one presumes that he kept it in good
running order, any ‘failure to proceed’ being unforgivable in the wedding trade
when the blushing bride’s biggest day is at stake…
Our vendor acquired JJ 6447 in March 2021, the invoice showing that
it cost him £26,500. In November 2021 he sent it to Castec Motor Services of
Wolverhampton for an 'annual service' and check-over which cost £2,084 and it
has barely been driven since, the odometer currently showing 89,813
miles. Tucked away in a large dry garage for the last few years,
latterly alongside an Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire
that he also owns, it was driven onto the transporter that brought it
to Brightwells.
Sadly a recent knee operation
means that our vendor can no longer comfortably drive either of them, hence
their appearance in this sale (the Sapphire is Lot 42).
As you can see in the photos, this imposing and well-historied
Rolls-Royce is in great shape for a 93-year-old and has only covered some 32,800
miles since the engine was rebuilt by Brunt's in the early 1990s. Retaining its
original (transferable) London-issue number plate, JJ 6447 is on offer here at a
modest guide price and now seeks a caring new owner who can add their own
chapter to its interesting life to date.
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com