enthusiast Richard Raynsford, 64, spent 23 years tracking down and restoring it, Richard set out to find it in 1987 after hearing his mother-in-law describe the car once driven by her husband, ten years later, he had almost given up when he spotted an ad asking for info about a derelict Rolls. It had spent 34 years in a garage in Seattle,
he paid £11,000 and shipped it home, experts found the engine was in good shape - but the body had to be rebuilt from scratch, it was only then that the car started to give up it's history, He discovered that Rev George Irving, a director of British Troops Welfare, bought it in Rome in 1945 for £550, and a newspaper clipping from 1939 showed another owner, Afghan prince Wali Khan, drove it into Lake Geneva, He also survived a head-on crash with a juggernaut in the Alps,
but the restoration did not come cheap, Richard, of Towcester, Northants, spent more than half a million pounds on restoring the car, Richard said: "Since then I've been contacted by several wealthy car lovers who want to buy her, but I'd be just as pleased to keep her",
for me a great story about keeping some of our motoring heritage on the road, I just hope he regularly uses it rather than keep it on loan in a museum.
Sunday 4 July 2010
For Me This Is A Nice Story,
about a 1932 Drophead Coupe Rolls-Royce - the only one ever built,
enthusiast Richard Raynsford, 64, spent 23 years tracking down and restoring it, Richard set out to find it in 1987 after hearing his mother-in-law describe the car once driven by her husband, ten years later, he had almost given up when he spotted an ad asking for info about a derelict Rolls. It had spent 34 years in a garage in Seattle,
he paid £11,000 and shipped it home, experts found the engine was in good shape - but the body had to be rebuilt from scratch, it was only then that the car started to give up it's history, He discovered that Rev George Irving, a director of British Troops Welfare, bought it in Rome in 1945 for £550, and a newspaper clipping from 1939 showed another owner, Afghan prince Wali Khan, drove it into Lake Geneva, He also survived a head-on crash with a juggernaut in the Alps,
but the restoration did not come cheap, Richard, of Towcester, Northants, spent more than half a million pounds on restoring the car, Richard said: "Since then I've been contacted by several wealthy car lovers who want to buy her, but I'd be just as pleased to keep her",
for me a great story about keeping some of our motoring heritage on the road, I just hope he regularly uses it rather than keep it on loan in a museum.
enthusiast Richard Raynsford, 64, spent 23 years tracking down and restoring it, Richard set out to find it in 1987 after hearing his mother-in-law describe the car once driven by her husband, ten years later, he had almost given up when he spotted an ad asking for info about a derelict Rolls. It had spent 34 years in a garage in Seattle,
he paid £11,000 and shipped it home, experts found the engine was in good shape - but the body had to be rebuilt from scratch, it was only then that the car started to give up it's history, He discovered that Rev George Irving, a director of British Troops Welfare, bought it in Rome in 1945 for £550, and a newspaper clipping from 1939 showed another owner, Afghan prince Wali Khan, drove it into Lake Geneva, He also survived a head-on crash with a juggernaut in the Alps,
but the restoration did not come cheap, Richard, of Towcester, Northants, spent more than half a million pounds on restoring the car, Richard said: "Since then I've been contacted by several wealthy car lovers who want to buy her, but I'd be just as pleased to keep her",
for me a great story about keeping some of our motoring heritage on the road, I just hope he regularly uses it rather than keep it on loan in a museum.
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