Description
*** PRICE IS NZD89990. 00 (New Zealand Dollars)***
The Rolls-Royce Twenty built between 1922 and 1929 was Rolls-Royce's "small car" for the 1920s and was produced alongside the 40/ 50 Silver Ghost and the successor to the 40/ 50, the Phantom.
Quickly nicknamed the Baby Rolls Royce, it was designed to allow the company’s customers to drive their own cars, particularly in city traffic, where the compact car was certainly more at ease than the huge Silver Ghost cars. It was truly the first production Rolls Royce compact car and was also perfectly suited to long journeys.
The first generations of the Twenty are identifiable by the radiator flaps being placed horizontally rather than vertically, as was then the norm at Rolls Royce.
As for the engine, although the brand remained faithful to the six-cylinder engine, it decided to study a new engine, the first with overhead valves, with a displacement of 3, 127 cm3, consisting of a single cylinder block with a detachable cylinder head and a single ignition.
The chassis was shorter than traditional Rolls Royce cars and had rigid front and rear axles suspended by semi-elliptical springs.
Braking on this model was provided only on the rear wheels before the introduction of drum brakes with mechanical servo on all four wheels in 1925. The Twenty was later equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers.
The driver, not the chauffeur anymore, has a three-speed gearbox with the gear change initially placed in the centre of the passenger compartment, before being replaced in 1925 by a four-speed gearbox with the traditional gear change to the right of the driver. The driver could expect to reach a maximum speed of 97 km/ h.
As was customary at the time, Rolls Royce manufactured only the chassis and mechanics of the Twenty. Indeed, customers had the choice of commissioning the UK’s most famous coachbuilders to build a dedicated body. At the time, the big names were Barker, Park Ward, Thrupp & Maberly, Mulliner, Hopper, Kellner and Gurney Nutting.
The Twenty was produced in 2, 940 units between 1922 and 1929. It became a mainstay of the company and was replaced by the 20/ 25 and then the 25/ 30 4. 3 litre in 1936.
ABOUT THIS CAR
Chassis#: GF41
Engine: G693
Original Certificate Of Registration Available
NZ New - First Owner HW White
This car is in very nice condition with just the right amount of patina. Its truly beautiful inside out.
4-door saloon body type
RWD (rear-wheel drive), manual 3-speed gearbox
Length 4521mm
Top Speed: 105km/ h (65mph) (declared by factory)
Aimed at the professional segment of the middle-class owner-drivers such as doctors, dentists, solicitors and moderately successful businessmen, the Twenty cost about 40% less than a Ghost, yet still met the same exacting standards of design, materials and workmanship.
In the year of its launch in 1922, it had a chassis price of 1, 100 (pounds). The Twenty was conceived and executed with typical attention to detail, object, being as stated by Royce: 'to spend as much money in the construction as can be done wisely, but not unnecessarily'.
The Twenty had been built to carry open and enclosed bodies with up to six seats, but with a light body it was capable of what Royce called a high road speed. In 1922 40 mph was considered a fast cruising speed, yet the Twenty was capable of just over 60 mph.
Ongoing development of the car, a process the company used on most models, eventually upped the top speed to over 70 mph.
Henry Royce's biographer, Sir Max Pemberton, raved about his Twenty. 'The late Lord Northcliffe once said to me that as an instrument of advertising British efficiency in industry, the Rolls-Royce car was unique. When I reflect upon the performance of the 'Twenty' I have driven now for six years, I am wholly in accord with this opinion. It is surely one of the world's two great cars. The other is the 'Phantom'.
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