GOODWOOD, WEST SUSSEX, 29 OCTOBER – Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is celebrating the 120th anniversary of the 40/50 HP., also known as the Silver Ghost. It established the marque’s reputation for engineering excellence, refinement and reliability. It’s well-documented achievements in endurance trials and international competitions, as well as numerous positive accounts offer the perspective as an admired, trusted and memorable motor car explain why the Silver Ghost became so closely identified with Rolls-Royce itself.
An Enduring Reputation
Long after production ended, the Silver Ghost’s qualities continue to be recognised.
Writing in The Edwardian Rolls-Royce (Fasal & Goodman, 1994), the third Lord Montagu of Beaulieu reflected on what had differentiated the Silver Ghost from other motor cars of its era. He observed that it “offered technical sophistication without appearing too adventurous”, together with an extraordinary choice of coachwork, describing it as “light in appearance without being weak, fashionable without wild excess”, concluding: “The era of the Silver Ghost has now vanished, but it was one which set standards about quality and luxury that persist to this day.”
In 2013, 47 Silver Ghosts retraced the 1,800-mile route of the 1913 Alpine Trial, including chassis 1701, “The Sluggard”, and one of the original team cars. In 2021, The Sluggard once again completed the London-Edinburgh journey, with its gearbox locked in top gear, just as it had 110 years earlier. Built by Rolls-Royce experimental test driver Ernest Hives, it completed its trial with its gearbox locked at top gear throughout and an average speed of 19.59mph and achieved fuel consumption exceeding 24mpg. Later that year, fitted with streamlined coachwork, it achieved 101.8 mph at Brooklands, becoming the first Rolls-Royce to exceed 100 mph.
These journeys demonstrate the durability of Henry Royce’s engineering and the continued enjoyment of motor cars built more than a century ago.
The Making of A Legend
First presented at London’s Olympia Motor Show in November 1906, the 40/50 H.P. was among the most advanced motor cars of its era. Its smooth-running six-cylinder engine and exceptional dependability reflected Henry Royce’s determination to overcome the mechanical limitations of early motoring. His meticulous attention extended to every aspect of the motor car, from mechanical components to refinement and handling.
Claude Johnson, or CJ, the company’s first Commercial Managing Director, recognised the importance of publicly demonstrating these qualities. He gave individual motor cars distinctive names, most famously chassis 60551, which he christened “The Silver Ghost”. Finished in silver paint with silver-plated fittings, this particular example became so celebrated that other owners began referring to their 40/50 H.P. cars as Silver Ghosts. Eventually, the name referred to all Rolls-Royces of this type. Under CJ’s direction, the Silver Ghost undertook demanding trials and competitions; from the Scottish Reliability Trial and the celebrated London-Edinburghe run to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix and the Austrian Alpine Trail. These achievements provided compelling evidence of its engineering excellence.
One of the most celebrated examples is currently displayed at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood; Chassis 1701, “The Sluggard”. It successfully completed the 1911 London-Edinburgh Trial with its gearbox deliberately locked in top gear, surpassing the fuel economy and speed figures previously achieved by Napier. Later that year, it became the first Rolls-Royce to exceed 100mph.
At a time when motoring was still a relatively new pursuit, these public demonstrations of reliability helped establish confidence in Rolls-Royce among clients making a substantial investment in a motor car.
A More Personal Connection
Beyond its public achievements, the Silver Ghost became a part of the personal lives of its owners, whose experiences offer a more intimate perspective on its qualities. Among them was the celebrated opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, who took delivery of her 1911 Silver Ghost, chassis 1500, at the Ritz Hotel in London. She then used the motor car in Britain, France, and Australia, where its comfort and dependability were particularly well suited to her extensive travels.
In Australia, Charles H. Angas gave his Silver Ghost the affectionate name ‘The Dreamer’, because his wife would regularly fall asleep while travelling in it. The name was a personal tribute to the smoothness and comfort for which the motor car had become renowned.
The Silver Ghost also played a part in the creation of another enduring Rolls-Royce symbol. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu’s Silver Ghost was the first motor car to carry the Spirit of Ecstasy, created by sculptor Charles Sykes and introduced as the official Rolls-Royce mascot in 1911.
Press coverage from the period reveals the esteem in which the Silver Ghost was held. The Dundee Chronicle described Rolls-Royce as “a standard of design that is in a class of its own”, while Country Life called it “The quintessence of all that a car ought to be”. Owners were equally emphatic; one client who covered 30,000 miles on French roads without engine trouble remarked in an account reproduced in Punch: “To send praise to Derby I suppose is tantamount to sending coals to Newcastle, but I should like to put on record my high appreciation of the car.”
The Silver Ghost attracted owners from across the worlds of business, politics and culture. Among them were aviation pioneer and yachtsmanTommy Sopwith; Paris Singer, one of the sewing machine magnate’s 27 children; financier Baron Alfred de Rothschild; Lord Pirrie, chairman of the renowned shipbuilding firm Harland & Wolff; composer Sir Hubert Parry; Sir Winston Churchill; and American aviator and film producer Howard Hughes. The marque also earned the confidence of royal households. In 1911, the Government of India ordered eight landaulette-bodied Silver Ghosts for use during the celebrations associated with King George V and Queen Mary’s visit to India. Rolls-Royce provided drivers for the occasion, displaying the confidence placed in the marque to fulfil its duties with the utmost reliability and discretion at an event of exceptional national significance.
The acclaim of the express and testimony of owners helped establish the Silver Ghost as the ‘best car in the world’ – a description first associated with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu that would become synonymous with Rolls-Royce itself.
