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1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost rear

The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost refers both to a car model and to one specific car from that series.

Originally named the "40/50 h.p." the chassis was originally produced at Royce's Manchester works moving to Derby in July 1908 and between 1921 and 1926 at Springfield, Massachusetts factories. Chassis no. 60551, registered AX 201, was the car that was originally given the name "Silver Ghost." Other 40/50 hp cars were also given names but the Silver Ghost title was taken up by the press and soon all 40/50s were called by the name, a fact not officially recognised by Rolls-Royce until 1925 when the Phantom range was launched.

The Silver Ghost was the origin of Rolls-Royce's claim of making the "Best car in the world" – a phrase coined not by themselves, but by the prestigious publication Autocar in 1907.

The chassis and engine were also used as the basis of a range of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars.

In 1906, Rolls-Royce produced four chassis to be shown at the Olympia car show, two existing models, a four cylinder 20hp and a six cylinder 30hp, and two examples of a new car designated the 40/50 hp. The 40/50 hp was so new that the show cars were not fully finished and examples were not provided to the press for testing until March 1907.

The car at first had a new side-valve, six-cylinder, 7036 cc engine (7428 cc from 1910) with the cylinders cast in two units of three cylinders each as opposed to the triple two cylinder units on the earlier six.

 

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Uploaded on March 6, 2010
Taken on November 17, 2006