1929 Rolls-Royce 20hp Barker 2 Door Saloon Coupe GFN10

An attractive and unusual 20hp. with features such as rear-mounted spare wheel. small back window. tubular bumpers. external windscreen visor. etc. and an interesting folding rear seat arrangement. The car is running well. and offered re-commissioned after a period of storage in Canada. now UK registered on its original London number. serviced. fitted with a new stainless steel exhaust system and MoT tested. A good-looking car. in some ways more of a coupe than a saloon. in sound condition. scruffy in some ways. but nevertheless appealing and interesting.

Chassis No. GFN10. Reg No. UL 4154. £39. 00.

Snippets: Property Developer to an Irish Hussar:

Ordered by Arthur Donn who initially registered the car in the name of his wife Ethel Donn at their London home 52 Northgate Mansions. Regent's Park. (Previously occupied by Lt. S. C. Welinkar. the only Indian Pilot to have been awarded the MC during WWI. he died of wounds sustained in action in June 1918). Within 12 months of owning GFN10 Arthur had transferred the car back to his own name. Arthur & his brother Albert were property developers with land both in London and in the Eastbourne area. It would appear from the logbook that Arthur & Ethel relocated to Eastbourne in the early 1930s and by 1936 GFN10 had been sold to Arthur Isaac Phillips of Tunbridge Wells. In February 1937 GFN10 is shown on the chassis cards as being with Frederick Alfred Gatty of Overwater Hall; the Hall was built circa 1811 for a Mr Gaff and was originally called “Whitefield House”; it was renamed in the early 1900s - Overwater translates as “The Tarn where the Black Grouse are found”. Mr Gatty purchased the estate in 1929 (he made the family fortune through the development of Khaki dye which the Army adopted) and upon his death in 1951 the estate & contents were auctioned off; the contents numbered over 2. 00 items & included 12 bottles of 1878 Vintage Cognac. 2 cannons & a chair carved from the timbers of “Foudroyant” (Nelson's flagship). From the chassis cards it would appear that Mr. Gatty only kept GFN10 for a short time & in May 1937 the car is shown to have been taken over by the Hon W. R. McClintock-Bunbury who at the time was serving with the 15/19 Hussars in York a few months before he became the 4th Baron Rathdonnell. His son. the 5th Baron has been in touch with us & he remembers learning to drive in GFN10 – which was slightly awkward but not as bad as the Alvis he had at Dartmouth which had a centre accelerator!. GFN10 was with the Rathdonnell family until after the death of the 4th Baron in 1959. By 1964 the little 20hp is shown as having moved to Woodbridge. Ontario where she remained with D. McColl until 2004. Woodbridge took its name from the wooden bridge that crossed the Humber. in 1910 a concrete replica of the bridge was built & is sadly in disrepair. Notable people from Woodbridge include Elizabeth Arden & the band “Stuck on Planet Earth”.

Also published at eBay.co.uk

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