Description
An absolutely delightful, sweet car, beautifully designed and in excellent condition all round. A major restoration in the 2000s still gives the car a fresh feel, and the standard of the work and attention to detail is just fabulous. Paintwork, nickel plating, and upholstery are all lovely, correct and 'just right', as is the car as a whole. The engine bay is presented just as we like to see them, with all the right equipment and finishes, clean and tidy, but not over restored as is sometimes the case. Equipped with correct 23” split-rim wheels, divided windscreen, lovely set of lamps, including a scuttle-mounted spotlight and an excellent fitted tool kit. As you may have gathered from this description, we like this car very much! We sold it in 1994, prior to its restoration, at that time in bare aluminium, but greatly admired then as well. Offered serviced, prepared and newly MoT tested
Chassis No. GCK35 Reg No. YO 5990
Snippets: Road Racing and Yacht Racing
GCK35 was owned by Henry Leeson (1889/ 1932) for just 1 month before he sold it back to Rolls-Royce at the full retail price! Why he did so is not known, he had previously owned GA11 & after GCK365 went on to buy two other 20hps namely GMJ74 and GRJ78. Henry Leeson was a successful farmer, pig breeder & butcher with some 8 shops in the Eastbourne area. He learnt to drive in 1906 & during his life he owned & flew a Gypsy Moth (G-ABBX), owned & raced a 1930 Aston Martin LM4 team car & in 1926 he ordered a Bentley Super Sport which he had bodied by Surbico in the style of a boat-tail tourer. In 1932 whilst racing his MG at Brooklands he careered down the banking, over the into the paddock approach road just missing another car and he was killed on impact leaving a widow & 7year old son. The next owner of GCK35 was a wealthy Argentinian gentleman Santiago E. Soulas, chairman of Sansinena Co of Buenos Aires (import & export of frozen meats, transport, laundry & more). Soulas owner of Blue Red an 8metre racing yacht which in 1924 was entered for the Olympic regattas at Le Harve. Soulas was a keen yachtsman and in 1928 he commissioned Camper & Nicholson to build M. Y. Monica (named after his daughter) – the yacht had a steel hull of some 147ft long and her later owners included Sir G. Tilley, 1939 she was requisition by the Royal Navy, renamed HMS Rion and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation and even participated in the capture & sinking of a submarine! After Sir Tilley’s death in 1948 she was sold to Aristotle Onassis who renamed her “Arion”, after himself & in 1956 he gave Arion as a wedding gift to Grace Kelly & Prince Rainer who kept the yacht until 1958, these days Arion is known as M. Y. Grace after HRH. The 3rd owner of GCK35 was John Goold Dorn a partner in the auctioneering firm of Mallam, Payne & Dorn of Oxford, his father had held the position Sherrif of Oxford in 1900. After only 3 years GCK35 was sold to W. J. Egerton of Ulverston whose family connections include the Pocklingtons, Fitzwilliams, Duke of Leeds & the Knaresboroughs.
