Rolls Royce and Bentley Tribute Rally
Saturday 27th April 2002

AX 201 The first Silver Ghost

AX 201 The first Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

AX 201, the original Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, is worth an astronomical amount of money by all accounts, many millions of pounds, but it is not for sale! It did however come to Windsor as the star exhibit of The Rolls Royce and Bentley Celebration in honour of the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
 The car was built in 1907 and was originally used by the company's managing director Claude Johnston. The car won a Gold Medal in the 1907 Scottish Reliability Trials and almost immediately thereafter on the longer RAC reliability test where it covered 14,371 miles in five weeks with no mechanical failures.
 It is stories such as this which gave rise to the Rolls Royce legend which lives on to this day, and is why this event in Windsor was such a spectacle.
 Starting in the Home Park at 10.00am the assembled cars, some 500 of them, set off for the Castle. Roads were closed as the cars paraded through the town and into Windsor Castle where they were viewed by HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
 Afterwards the cars drove out of the Castle and down The Long Walk where cars, motorbikes and bicycles are not normally permitted. A selected 200 or so cars then entered the grounds of Frogmore while the rest travelled out to Smiths Lawn for a mass Rolls Royce and Bentley picnic!
 We have included here a selection of photos of the event as it is a rare treat indeed for lovers of these spectacular examples of British engineering and style at its best!
  A similar meet took place in 1977 on the occasion of the Queen's Silver Jubilee and on that day a Rolls-Royce Merlin engined Spitfire flew over the castle as the cars processed down the Long Walk. Sadly no such guest appearance was made on this occasion.
  The event, organised by The Prince Philip Trust Fund in association with The Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club and the Rotary Clubs of Windsor and Eton and Windsor St George, raised £52,000 for local good causes in Windsor. The money was presented to Prince Philip on behalf of the Trust at Legoland by Andrew Panter, chairman of the organising committee.
 If the owners or any others 'in the know' can provide captions for the following pictures, it would be appreciated!

Rolls Royce cars stream from the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle headed by a Cloud III from the early 1960s with a Silver Shadow following.

YE 2216 is of a 1926 Phantom 1 Sedanca deVille by Barker. The car was first owned by Rolls-Royce and was their demonstration car in the South of France from 1926 until 1930. The car was then modified and sold to Lord Howard of Glossop in 1930 with whom it remained until 1937. It then entered into the 'carriage' trade and was requisitioned at the outbreak of World War II as a headquarters car for the London Fire Brigade.
  At the end of the War, the car 'entered' the RAF where it had 12 owners over a period of 9 years. In the early 1960s, the car was purchased by Richard Lake who spent a number of years restoring the car to something like its present condition. The present owners, Wendy and David Evans acquired the car in 1990, and have enjoyed using it and touring with it ever since. They just wish it had power steering!

With thanks to DCE

Edwardian cars in Long Walk

96 years earlier and cars park in the Long Walk duirng a Garden Party at Windsor Castle. 1908

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