A Nice Ghost: The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

In trying to stick with the theme of the season, Halloween, one car came to mind: the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.  Boo!

Barker Seven Passenger Tourer

As a youngster I would scour the pages of my dad’s Hemmings Motor News reading about the Rolls-Royce cars for sale.  I was captured by the stories, what was built & for whom, the customization involved and of course the glorious details of a car built without repeat.  The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was and still is one of my dream cars.  Built between 1906-7 (nobody can agree on the start date) and 1926 these were the beginning of our affair with a true luxury automobile.  FYI: the roof/tops of the car were indeed quite high to fit a gentleman’s top hat.

1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Hooper Limousine1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Labourdette Torpedo

Labourdette is the name of the French coachbuilder who built bodies for many car manufacturers: Panhard, Renault, Bugatti, Delage, Peugeot and more.  They are also known as the company who first created the skiff (boat inspired) body style – coming up further down the page. Torpedo became a relatively generic term for a car with the bonnet (hood) height dictating a straight line (low doors and windows) front to rear of the car giving it a streamlined effect.  They were detachable or folding open top cars without B pillars to hold the top up.

1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Barker Style Tourer

This car traveled to all the way to Pebble Beach from Australia.  For more on how some of the cars traveled to Pebble Beach click here.

1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Shapira-Schebera Skiff1915 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Maythorn Torpedo with original coachwork.1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Oxford Tourer

Why the name Silver Ghost?  Marketing.  Originally knows as the 40/50, as in horsepower, the 12th built was an early demonstrator model painted with aluminum paint and sporting silver fittings.  The term Ghost was used to emphasize the quietness of the vehicle.  Personally, this is exactly the kind of ghost I want hanging around. 🙂