Beschreibung:

Formerly the property of the late J.T.R. Lewis O.B.E., same family ownership for 70 years. 1926 ROLLS-ROYCE 20HP DUAL COWL TOURER COACHWORK BY MELHUISH & CO. OF CAMDEN Registration No. YR 4768 Chassis No. GYK 68 Engine No. Q6L Nile green with green leather interior Engine: six cylinder in-line, pushrod overhead valve, 3,127cc; Gearbox: four-speed manual with right-hand lever; Suspension: beam axle to front, live axle to rear, half elliptic springs all round; Brakes: servo-assisted, mechanically operated four-wheel drum. Right hand drive. This 20hp Rolls-Royce has an intriguing history. It was sold by Rolls-Royce in August 1926, to London based car agents 'The Car Mart Limited' for F.E. Sidney of Hampstead. The original records note specifically that the owner or the Car Mart were 'providing own coachwork' and it would seem that this was to be fitted by H.J. Mulliner for the owner. A specific note is made to confirm the style of bodywork when referring to the springs that were required being 'Springs for a Torpedo Body - Seating 4 - Usually 2'. There are also references to a necessity for the car to be passed by 'P.N.' and later 'Customer is a personal friend of Mr. Northey - special attention to be given to the chassis'. Both referring to Rolls-Royce trails driver Percy Northey. Additional identifying notes are made of a spare wheel carrier to be fitted to the nearside of the car. Later annotations remove Mr Sidney as owner and indicate that the car was the property of C.P. Wayne. While none of this early history is entirely precise, it is the informed opinion of Rolls-Royce guru John Fasal that the car was indeed a Mulliner Torpedo when new. GYK 68 was bought back by Rolls-Royce on 7th December 1933 from J. Crewe-Wood, in part payment for his new 20/25hp chassis GGA 74. A side matter of interest but no consequence is that at this time its coachwork, which is recorded as 'All Weather' was almost certainly transferred to the 20/25hp chassis and, as verified by its existence today, was a Salmons body. 8 days later the rolling chassis GYK 68 was sold to Captain Stewart Burt of Conduit Street. Fortunately further records note much mechanical work to have been carried out in this period by the works, which seems to have concluded with a newly re-plated radiator fitted on 25th January 1934. While the original coachwork for GYK 68 appears either to have been a Mulliner and then a Salmons body, or indeed perhaps just the latter, its next body confirms just how prevalent a change of coachwork was in this period. The bodywork that the car wears today has its own story to tell, much of which is made more easy by the fact that the coachbuilder Melhuish of Camden Town, built only 6 bodies on Rolls-Royce 20hp chassis, of which half were tourers. As recorded in John Fasal's book The Rolls-Royce Twenty , of these three cars, two were supplied to C.L. Hampton, his first chassis was GNK 32 and the second GTM 28. The latter is illustrated in Mr Fasal's book with a photograph dating from 1929 of the car wearing its Melhuish coachwork. The story and this image in particular is of specific interest to the history of GYK 68, for GTM 28 was also returned to the factory for substantial mechanical work in the Winter of 1933, by which time it had covered more than 20,000 miles. It was subsequently sent to James Young to be rebodied with a period drophead coupé body. Mr Lewis purchased this car GYK 68 from Jack Barclay Ltd. when aged 18, after some remonstration with his father from whom he borrowed the money to do so! The price was apparently £52, which was to be paid back at £1 per week. Although Mr Lewis sadly died some 18 years ago, he would today have been approximately 88 years old according to his widow, which places his time of acquisition of this car as being in the mid-1930s. The car was by this time in the form that it is today. Close examination of the Melhuish dual cowl tourer that GYK 68 wears today provides a number of compari