Rolls-Royce 20/25 Park Ward Limousine

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Rolls-Royce had been very successful with the beautifully made 'Twenty' model, a car which had been introduced in 1922 to appeal specifically to the owner-driver who still demanded mechanical perfection.

Many of them (along with succeeding and slightly larger 20/25 model) ended up being coachbuilt for more formal use, the chauffeur sitting up front separated from the passengers by a wind-up division, their owners appreciating the more modest proportions (and running costs) when compared with its much larger sibling, the seven-litre Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The company’s dictum of “make everything as beautifully as possible and charge accordingly” was maintained in the new 20/25 model which carried over its predecessor’s conventional chassis layout. The engine was bored out to 3,669cc, the straight six being remarkably smooth and quiet as was to be expected of a Rolls-Royce. The performance was markedly improved however, the basic engine and gearbox configuration forming the basis for the superb ‘Derby’ Bentley which the firm unveiled in 1933.

Produced alongside the Phantom II and built to the same exacting standards, the 20/25 benefited from many of the larger model's developments (such as synchromesh on 3rd and 4th from 1933, mechanically servo-assisted brakes, centralised chassis lubrication and thermostatically controlled radiator shutters), becoming the best-selling Rolls-Royce of the inter-war period with some 3,827 leaving Crewe before the more powerful 25/30 came along.

As with the other 1935 20/25 earlier in this catalogue, this particular 20/25 was bodied by Park Ward with their formal six-light limousine coachwork. The factory records indicate that it was delivered new in 1935 to Lord Whitburgh. Born Thomas Borthwick, Whitburgh's father had been given the hereditary title for services to the Liberal Party north of the border, but the family's wealth had been created from the import of frozen meat from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in their own refrigerated ships. The transport of frozen carcasses was far more efficient than trying to keep animals fit and healthy on the sea voyage and they made millions of pounds from the meat trade, their company having offices in Smithfield Market, London.

This Park Ward Limousine was delivered directly from the coachbuilders to the Connaught Hotel, the vehicle migrating at some point later in its life to the Southampton area before coming into the vendor’s hands in 2008. Since acquisition, he has enjoyed spending time sorting out many finer details, improving the paintwork, interior trim, woodwork and underbonnet detailing.

This very nicely turned-out example has been regularly exercised and proven extremely reliable and is only on offer due to a reduction in storage space which has prompted a re-think of the family collection.