Rolls-Royce 25/30HP 'Limousine'

Once the greatest sat on these seats

THE MODEL

The Rolls Royce 25/30hp was the third generation of “Baby Rolls”, launched in 1936 as a slightly enlarged, slightly more powerful version of its predecessors: the 20/25hp and the original 20hp.

Forever burdened by heavy and over-sized coachwork, the junior line of Rolls-Royces were often criticised for their sedentary and lacklustre performance, leaving Royce’s team with no option other than to keep increasing power: 20hp –> 20/25hp –> 25/30hp…

By the time the 25/30hp was introduced, the original 3.1L OHV six cylinder unit that first appears in the ‘Twenty’ had been bored out to almost 4.3L, and the early Rolls-Royce designed carburettor replaced by a more effective Stromberg unit.

Drive was transmitted through a 4-Speed Manual gearbox with overdrive fitted to 3rd and 4th.

Production lasted from 1936-1938, during which time only 1,201 examples were built.

This Car

Delivered new to a Mrs C. L. Bourne of 42 Redington Road, London, on the 5th March 1938, chassis no. GGR15 featured Enclosed Limousine coachwork by Park Ward Ltd.

After passing through the hands of London car dealers Jack Barclay and Chissick & Kirshenstein in late 1941, GGR15’s next private owner is recorded as Lt. Col. Arthur Tisdale-Jones of Niarobi, Kenya, who acquired the car on the 16th October 1962.

However, recent contact with a former owner’s daughter has uncovered an old newspaper article from it’s time in South Africa (see below), which suggests that GGR15 was in fact purchased by the British Government at the end of the Second World War, shortly before being sent to Kenya as the official car of the then Governor General, Sir Phillip Mitchell:

What’s more, the article goes on to suggest that during its time as an official government vehicle, GGR15 was used for a number of high-status Royal visits and occasions, having had the privilege of transporting at one time or another:

Queen Elizabeth
Princess Margaret
Lord Louis Mountbatten
Field Marshall J. C. Smuts
Field Marshall Montgomery
President Franklin D. Roosevelt

At the time the article was published, Mr Ron le Roux of the Department of Mines is listed as the car’s owner, having purchased it directly from Lt. Col. Tisdale-Jones.

We can’t say for sure how long either Ron le Roux or Arthur Tisdale-Jones owned the car, but from recent correspondence with an ex-Fiennes Restoration specialist, it would appear as though GGR15 remained in South Africa until at least 1986, at which time it was under the ownership of a great vintage car enthusiast and collector, Jacob Kat.

We have documentation proving that Jacob Kat then sold the car to a Johannesburg based dealer, Mike Braude, who subsequently sold GGR15 to a British businessman in the summer of 1986.

After being shipped back to the UK aboard the Simona I, GGR15 spent the next few decades living a quiet life, being regularly serviced and maintained by a variety of different specialists and restorers.

The car’s current owner acquired GGR15 in October 2016, since which time it has been carefully stored in an Italian facility as part of his large collection.