1923 Rolls Royce 20 HP

1923 Rolls Royce 20 hp

This special vehicle has spent most of its life in Canterbury .The car was purchased new in London by Mr George Humphreys of Daresbury, 67 Fendalton Road Christchurch. The Humphreys were abroad on holiday in the United Kingdom where they travelled in the car and returned with the vehicle to Christchurch after touring.

The vehicle then graced the motor house of their substantial Hurst Seager designed residence “Daresbury” which sat imposingly on the banks of the Avon River in Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand.

In  the 1950’s, the motor was fully reconditioned, but due to the owner’s circumstances the car barely covered 1000 miles before being put in a garage and up on blocks. The car was recommissioned back in 2005, re-registered and warranted.

The coachwork on this vehicle is by the renowned firm Windovers, whose brass plates are mounted below all four doors of the coach-built body. The car features split opening windscreen, town and country horns and original 1920’s batteries for the “Dictaphone” still in a battery box under the driver’s seat. Linen domed covers for the cloth seats were specified when the car was ordered new, and still remain today although we have carefully removed them for photographing of the interior of the vehicle. Mounting for a third wheel due to the car coming out to the colonies with the doubtful metal roads was optioned, however we believe a third spare was never actually fitted.

The 20 hp was an extremely popular car in its day, intended to provide a smaller car for owner drivers as an alternative to the Silver Ghost which was in production at the time. Many coach builders mounted coachwork on this chassis from coupes to formal cars by builders such as Hooper and Windovers who were both considered to be the best at the time. Many large Downton Abbey type country houses kept a 20 hp in the motor house for collecting house guests from the station or to be taken to another residence on occasions when the family travelled.

It is a pleasure for BAINS CLASSIC MOTOR HOUSE to offer this truly remarkable preservation class vehicle to the open market. Do not miss this once in a life time opportunity of purchasing such a special vehicle.

Copies of original build and test cards for the car when new accompany a very historic file of invoices, ownership papers etc that are a priceless part of the cars history.

A previous owner of the car used to take the car out to the lakes (Sumner and Taylor) fishing on account of the wheels to get through the terrain. Interior was converted by a firm in Christchurch specialising in these converstion to enable the seats to fold down providing sleeping space for fishing trips.