1927 Rolls-Royce 20hp Southern Motors Saloon GHJ30

Re-bodied by the Southern Motor Co when about ten years old. giving an up-to-date appearance at the time. as was Southern's speciality. The car is in very sound. clean condition. nicely presented. with a particularly appealing deep Burgundy leather interior. a lovely set of instruments. sliding sunroof. and various attractive touches besides. All-in-all. a good looking saloon. all correct mechanically. in good running order. driving well. and MoT tested. Very good value for money when compared to the equivalent 20/25 or 25/30.

Chassis No. GHJ30. Reg No. BF 6214. £29. 00.

Snippets: Cranes & Buffalos

Initially registered with H James of Church Lane. Handsworth; photographs from this era show Church Lane as a quiet. leafy road with large houses either side of the lane hidden behind tall walls. By Christmas of 1928 GHJ30 was with Frank William Reed OBE. an engineer. industrialist & designer of some note whose employers were Craven Bros (1853/1970). manufacturers of travelling steam breakdown cranes. When William H S Craven died in 1923 F. W. Reed was named as an executor of his will. Between 1924 & 1929 F. W. Reed registered a total of 8 patents ranging from self centring chucks for wheel axles to improvements relating to hydraulic transmission gears. In 1911 F. W Reed. a keen golfer. was hitting some golf balls with his friend J W Dudley on a piece of land named “Wilcock Eye” just behind Frank's house & the pair of them were so taken with their surroundings that they. together with other wealthy families (including the Greg's) acquired the land which in due course formed part of Reddish Vale Golf Club. In 1916 Mr & Mrs Reed held a garden party at their home “The Grange”. Reddish with their guests numbering some 260! The next address shown on the chassis cards is also called “The Grange” this time in Cheadle Hulme. just 5 miles down the road - did the Reeds move here? After WWII GHJ30 was with a Mr H C Wright whose address is unknown. after several moves the car finally found itself America - South Bend. Indiana with Homer W Fitterling. he had a large collection of cars & was particularly well-known for his Dusenbergs. which he often lent out to Museums as show pieces. One of these Dusenbergs. commissioned by the actor Tom Mix. had longhorn steel horns mounted above the grill & the door pulls were pistol holsters! Homer's other love was Buffalos of which he had a small herd of at his appropriately named farm “Old Buffalo Farm”! He was the owner of Clay Utilities & several haulage firms – Superior Freight Lines. Lake Motor Freight & of course Fitterlings. After his death in 1989 his entire collection of some 300 cars & ranch was acquired by Ed Weaver of the Diamond Carpet Mill who himself died in 1993 aged only 48.

Also published at eBay.co.uk

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