Rolls-Royce 20HP

THE BABY ROLLER

THE MODEL

• Unveiled in October 1922, the Rolls-Royce 20hp, or ‘Twenty’, was introduced by the company as a smaller, lighter and more affordable alternative to their flagship 40/50hp ‘Silver Ghost’.
• Aimed at the growing community of ‘owner-drivers’, the 20hp quickly found success amongst the professional classes, offering doctors, lawyers, and the generally well-to-do access to the Rolls-Royce name at a price that was within reach.
• Powered by the company’s first ever six-cylinder OHV engine displacing 3,127cc and featuring a unique horizontally slatted radiator grill, the 20hp stayed in production until 1929 when it was succeeded by the more powerful 20/25hp.
• Between 1922-1929, some2,885 examples of the 20hp left the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, with some notable first owner’s, including:
  • Sir Phillip Sassoon
  • Lord Mountbatten
  • H. M. The King of Afghanistan
  • Maharaja of Patiala
  • H.R.H. Prince of Wales
  • King of Sweden
  • Mary Pickford
  • Queen of Siam
  • Sir Thomas Beecham
  • Lady Beaverbrook
  • Lord Cowdray
  • Douglas Fairbanks
  • Selwyn F. Edge
  • Sir Edward Lutyens

This Car

• Delivered to the Elkington Carriage Co. Ltd of the King’s Road, Chelsea, on the 26th October 1925, chassis no. GPK41 was among the first batch of ‘Twenties’ to leave the factory with the new right-hand operated 4-speed gearbox and all-round servo-assisted brakes.
• Later converted to Landaulette specification by Hooper some time before July 1970, GPK41 was originally fitted with full Limousine coachwork – as can be seen from an original picture of the car taken for Elkington’s records:

• The car’s first owner, Harry Tyrrell-Gray, was a Harley Street medical superintendent and Great Ormond Street surgeon famed for his contributions to infantile disease:

• In October 1931, GPK41 was re-registered under a “Mrs. Tyrrell-Gray” of Harley House, Marylebone Road – presumably the wife of Harry? – who proceeded to sell the car to its third owner, Mr P. P. Rilott of Nottinghamshire (date unknown).
• The next owner, F. Thornley of Retford, Nottinghamshire, purchased the car on the 8^th November 1956, at which point our knowledge of the car’s whereabouts, sadly, drops off for some time.
• Old V5 documents indicate, however, that GPK41 later moved to Manchester under the ownership of the late Robert Gresty, past President of The British Institute of Funeral Directors and noted Rolls-Royce enthusiast.
• We can’t say for sure how long GPK41 stayed in Robert’s possession, but we do know that in August 2016, the car was acquired by the head of an engineering firm just south of Crewe, where it was kept for the next several months.
• Since then, GPK41 has changed hands on two more occasions, being kept for the last couple of years in a storage facility as part of a large Italian collection.