1922 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost Boat Tail Tourer | Bonhams | Goodwood Revival | 19 Sept 2026

Registration no. XK 9235

Chassis no. 41SG

• Ordered by Sir Dhunjibhoy Bombanji

• Originally bodied by Hooper as a limousine

• Re-bodied as a boat tail tourer

• Some work required to finish the restoration

"The directors were obviously as impressed with the car as the public were when they first saw it displayed... the company's future, based upon Royce's intuitive design genius and the uncompromising standards of workmanship he set, clearly lay in the rapidly expanding area of luxury cars..." – Edward Eves, Rolls-Royce, 75 Years of Motoring Excellence.

Although the 40/50hp model would in any event have earned its 'The Best Car in the World' sobriquet (actually first used by the Pall Mall Gazette in November 1911), Rolls-Royce's decision to drop all other types only served to focus attention on what would become known as the 'Silver Ghost'. Prior to 1908, when it relocated to a new factory in Derby, the company founded by engineer Frederick Henry Royce and entrepreneur the Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls had manufactured a variety of models at its Manchester premises. Cars with two, three, four and six cylinders were made, and even an abortive V8, before Managing Director Claude Johnson's decision to concentrate on the range-topping 40/50hp. The latter had first appeared at the 1906 London Motor Show and became known as the 'Silver Ghost' the following year when chassis number '60551' was exhibited wearing silver-painted tourer coachwork by Barker & Co.

The heart of the Silver Ghost was its magnificent engine, a 7,036cc (later 7,428cc) sidevalve six equipped with seven-bearing crankshaft and pressure lubrication. A sturdy chassis comprised of channel-section side members and tubular cross members was suspended on semi-elliptic springs at the front and a 'platform' leaf spring arrangement at the rear, though the latter soon came in for revision. The transmission too was soon changed, a three-speed gearbox with direct-drive top gear replacing the original four-speed/overdrive top unit in 1909. In the course of its 20-year production life there would be countless other improvements to the car, one of the most important being the adoption of servo-assisted four-wheel brakes towards the end of 1923.

After a successful 2,000-mile trial under RAC supervision, the factory demonstrator - chassis '60551', 'The Silver Ghost' - was entered in the Scottish Reliability Trial, completing the 15,000-mile run with flying colours to set a new World Record. From then on the car's reputation was assured, not the least in North America where the wide-open spaces placed a premium on reliability and comfort. Royce's uncompromising engineering standards demanded only excellence of his staff in Manchester and later Derby, and no chassis was delivered until it had been rigorously tested. The Silver Ghost remained in production in England until 1925, 6,173 being completed at the Manchester and Derby factories, and until 1926 at Rolls-Royce's Springfield plant in the USA where a further 1,703 were made, the longest production run of any model from this celebrated company.

Copy chassis cards on file show that '41SG' was ordered by Sir Dhunjibhoy Bombanji and was off test on 23rd December 1921. Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji (1862-1937) was a Paris shipping magnate, socialite and philanthropist. He was a member of a wealthy family based in Bombay (now Mumbai), who eventually settled in England, becoming a pillar of British society. He divided his time between India and a house in Windsor and estate in Harrogate. The Ghost's chassis cards are marked 'India', though given that Sir Dhunjibhoy owned homes in England, it may well have remained in this country. This supposition is supported by service notes recording works at Rolls-Royce's Cricklewood depot in 1926 and 1929, and at the factory in 1931. Intriguingly, the next owner identifiable from the chassis cards is listed as 'The Windsor Corporation, Air Raids Precautions Dept', which shows that the Silver Ghost was in the UK during WW2.

At time of cataloguing no information regarding the Ghost's subsequent history was to hand; it is hoped that further information will have emerged by time of sale. We are advised by the vendor that the replica boat tail tourer body has been completed, though some work remains to be done to finish the car's restoration. Offered with a V5C Registration Certificate.