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ROLLS ROYCE ROADSTER WORLD'S RAREST.EXOCTIC FRENCH STYLING.MAJOR CONCOURS AWARDS

Sale price: $1,650,000.00 make an offer

Pending offers

Date: 2022-04-28

Andrew Martin (from Los Angeles/U.S.A) offered 2,000,000 usd

Seller's notes: "AS MUCH AS WE LOOK WE CANNOT FIND A FLAW FROM THE INCREDIBLY DETAILED (MONTHS WITH A CREW) ON THE CHASSIS TO THE TOP OF THE TOP"

Sale type: Fixed price listing

Technical specifications, photos and description:

Year:
1950
Mileage:
45,000
Transmission:
4 SPEED
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ROLLS ROYCE ROADSTER WORLD'S RAREST.EXOCTIC FRENCH STYLING.MAJOR CONCOURS AWARDS for sale

Current customer rating: current rating for this car(2.15) based on 292 votes

 The World's rarest of all Rolls Royces.

 one off Silver Wraith Roadster

Over 5000 hours of  a nut and bolt restoration to Pebble Beach standards starting with an excellent 'driver'.
Hundreds of photos
 
Proceeds from any completed sale will go to owner's family charity.
(please do not request donations )
.

Numerous National Concours Awards


This one-off example was designed and bodied by H. J. Mulliner for Mrs. Sybil Rhodes. an American married to British industrialist Frank E. Rhodes. In the prewar years. and for many years after. Rhodes made his fortune in concrete. paving the motorways crisscrossing Great Britain. It is believed that Sybil owned a French sports car when she lived in the United States; however. it was never shipped to the Rhodes estate in England. One person suggested that Frank Rhodes was not happy with the French after the war and would not permit anything French on his property (thus we would assume his wine cellar was stocked with bottles from the White Cliffs of Dover). With Sybil's affection for French styling one can see the influence of esteemed Paris salons such as Franay and Saoutchik in the H. J. Mulliner design. particularly the rear deck (boot) with its beautiful chrome fin. The entire body is aluminum under which is the early. whisper-silent. Rolls-Royce straight six coupled to a four-speed manual transmission. A close-coupled design. the rear is taken up by a wonderfully British traveling cocktail bar. The Long Road to Restoration Owned today by a renowned Pennsylvania collector . the car has been restored to its original H. J. Mulliner design and color scheme. The owner. who is known for his meticulous restorations had spent years and over 5000 hours producing a most magnificent car to it glory. admitted that he had not intended this car to be quite such a project. “I got it from Florida and started working on it. cleaning it up; I figured I would just turn it into a nice driver. he recalls. But as is often the case with a restoration. one thing led to another. There was more to this car than originally met the eye. “Along the way. I acquired original plans and other documents that made me more and more interested in this new project. A lot of times with coach built cars changes are made that never get noted in the original plans. This car was originally supposed to have a dickey seat (rumble seat) behind the passenger compartment. At some point this was changed and a full length trunk was put in its place. Also. they had designed the spare tire to be inserted through the license plate door. but that would never have worked based on the size of the spare. so that design was changed as well. But the most significant factors about the car were masked under years of old paint and restoration work. ” As the restoration team began prepping the car they discovered original details that may have been covered over for as long as 30 years. While stripping the paint (many layers including the visible coats of blue. yellow and then the original black) they found holes running down the center of the trunk. as well as along the trailing edges of the rear fenders. “These were details that had been removed and the holes filled. says the owner. “At about the same time we discovered a few rusty pieces of metal in a box in the trunk. We didn't even know that there was a built in box in the trunk. but found it recessed far forward of the rear axle and covered over. It was then that we started to realize maybe we had something even more special than we already knew. ” Those rusty pieces of metal turned out to be parts of an original deck lid fin. There were also a couple of threaded bolts that matched the uncovered holes. By placing advertisements on the Internet. and in British newspapers both in and around the area of the old Rhodes Estate. letters started coming in. “During our research we found out that there were more than the one set of plans at Hunt House (storage of Rolls-Royce records). The second plan showed the elimination of the Dickey seat and a different arrangement of the refreshment (liquor and wine) cabinet. Later there was a note that was in conflict with the original plans. The note called for the placement of the spare tire forward in the boot behind the passenger seat. The prior plan shows its placement to the aft of the trunk. in a well. The measurement for the opening to house the spare was actually several inches shorter than the spare tire!” The owner managed to contact the son of the Rhodes family chauffeur who had lived at Thorpe Underwood Hall. the Rhodes' palatial country estate. Further letters and calls noted that sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s Mrs. Rhodes had an accident with WGC48 that damaged the left front fender. left rear fender and rear of the boot. The car was disposed of shortly thereafter. It is believe that the damaged Silver Wraith was sold to Myers- Brunell. which handled Rolls-Royces and had an extensive fabricating shop. The car was repaired; however. the side trim and center boot molding were not replaced. The holes were filled in and the sections sprayed in black. It was shipped to the United States where it found a new owner. Since then this French influenced Silver Wraith has remained in the U. S. . the country where its original owner was born.
 
Below are the Rhodes family with friends and their Castle/Country Estate Thorpe Underwood Hall with 119 rooms. Family of three.




MAJOR AWARDS
Amelia Island Concours
‘Best in Class'
Greenwich Concours European
‘Most Distinguished Rolls Royce'
Eastern United States Concours
'Best Open Car'
POSTER CAR
New Hope Auto Show 50th
 ' Best in Show '
Wm. Vanderbilt Concours
‘Best in Class' plus Major 
 ‘Chairman's Award'
Radnor Hunt Concours
Best in Class
 Buckingham Concours d'Elegance
' Best in Show ' also
POSTER CAR
AACA National
First Place
Plus; Major National AACA Presentation “Foo Dog” Grand National Award
2012 Rolls Royce Regional Meet NHAS
        ‘ Best in Show ' plus
Queen Elizabeth 11  Trophy
‘ Best in Show'
2013 Bratwyn Concours Best in Show











Also published at eBay.com

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