Last April, the good guys over at Broom in Norway shared the incredible story of a Rolls Royce that had been found in a barn in Molde, Norway. After featuring it, I never heard anything more about the car or if the owner ever found a home for it. Well it seems it has been cleaned up, made to run and stop and has hit the market again. You can now find it here on eBay, but it is still in Molde and has a current bid over $38k.
Man, this machine really cleaned up great! It looked to be in pretty great shape when we first featured it, but pulling it into the light and giving it a good bath really makes the two tone color scheme really pop. The seller doesn’t offer much information about what has been done to it in the last few months, but they claim it starts, the brakes work and the front seat has been redone by a specialist in the UK. I think with some chrome polish, a little elbow grease and lots of patience, you could really make this Rolls look incredible!
There were a ton of great comments about this car when we first featured it. At the time, I really didn’t know much about the various models of Rolls Royces, but thankfully many of you do! The general consensus was that this is a model 20/25 with a custom body. No one was too sure about the rear half of the body, some felt it was coachbuilt, others believed it was built by an amatuer. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it was built by a local shop rather than a large coachbuilder.
It’s really great to see that this Rolls has been cleaned up and that it is being put on the worldwide market. I really would love to know more of the story behind the body and how it ended up parked in the first place, but what is really important is that it ends up back on the road where it can be enjoyed! So do any of you happen to know more about this Rolls Royce? If so, we would all love to hear about it!
the rolls royce clubs may have the history on this car. sure looks great fix up.
What a GREAT project! Add a 502 Chev with a turbo, decent suspension, brakes & power R&P steering plus all mod cons – you get my dream car!
I’m sure that there are purists out there who’d love to buy the mechanicals out of it for their “never to-be-driven for fear of hurting it” museum pieces (and are having heart failure due to my comments) but if I could afford it…….
The ‘never driven for fear of hurting it’ crowd is not really largely populated by Bentley and Rolls-Royce guys – we DRIVE our cars frequently and regularly, even the RROC and Bentley Drivers Clubs do what they can to encourage use – they’re cars doggone it, not book ends or religious icons like some Porsches or Corvettes seem to be regarded. Whenever I’ve got to go someplace far and if I don’t need to fly – it’s via my 65 year old Bentley and 80 – 85+ mph whenever and wherever I can get away with it!! Uh, sometimes I get caught though!
Yes, the speedo is fairly accurate! The shakiness in the photo is due to . . . well you try to drive a 65 year old car at 100 mph with just one hand and operate a camera with the other!
I doubt it left the RR factory with that body. Rolls of this era had extremely well built bodies but the structure was all wood, so they often rotted out, leaving mechanicals/chassis with lots of miles left in them. Unlike many early 30’s GM cars that suffered the same fate for the same reason, these often got rebodied with many made into “shooting brakes”, or woodies used for hunting trips on the estate. Shades of Downton Abbey. The unfortunate GM cars just got junked. Annual model year styling changes didn’t help. This 1934 RR didn’t look a whole lot different from those built decades later.
It was my understanding that there weren’t any “factory” bodies from Rolls Royce until the Silver Dawn of the early fifties (up through 1955) that was based on the Bentley Mk. VI and R-Type. (Like the one getting a citation in “brakeservo’s” photo, above.) Anybody?
You’re technically correct, the first factory built body was the Mark VI of 1946 and it’s Rolls-Royce equivalent, the Silver Dawn of 1949 ( I used to own the second one built) but even in the 1930’s the primary coach builders such as Park Ward, Hooper, James Young etc. had catalogued bodies which they built many examples of, so much so that they can be considered as semi-standard bodies. But rebodying staid limousines and saloons into sporty convertibles like this car was pretty common before the war so perhaps this car was born a limo or saloon. The records will tell.
While the body looks like a ‘Southern’ replica to me, it’s easy enough to determine – the RREC in UK will have all the original records which will include the coachwork, original owner, sometimes subsequent owners as well. Buying one of these long distance is akin to Russian Roulette if the seller is less than forthcoming, cylinder heads are notoriously weak on these, cracks common and usually not fixable and while a new head can be found, be prepared to part with the cash equivalent of a small new Hyundai or Kia just for that one part. Considering that a proper engine rebuild can swallow up fifty large if enough things are wrong, I’d never ever consider one of these without a personal inspection. Even a “running” engine can be so screwed up yet still run that you can easily acquire a nightmare you’ll always regret. This is coming from a guy who’s owned 232 Bentley & Rolls-Royce motorcars so far in my life, the earliest being a 1932 Rolls 20/25 similar to this, the latest a 1965 Cloud III.
Hi my friend,
I am seriously considering buying this RR but since you have been in the field so many years, I want your advice.
The car was built as a 4 door saloon. This I have confirmed with owner. No one knows the coach builder. Does it make sense to buy it at the range of €60.000 or is too much for a car that has been sitting for 20 years or so and has electrical issues and an engine that just fired up. It’s not a confirmed running car. Does it worth flying over to Norway to have a look or the price is too high?
As I suspected, this is a re-body. But it’s quite attractive but will always be known as a re-body but considering the potential horrendous mechanical issues – as I stated before, these are known for cracking heads and new ones are about $15,000 US I would never ever consider buying this without a first hand inspection. Even though the body is probably primarily aluminum so rust is not an issue – there’s the potential for something worse than rust – and that is rotted wood framing. If you open the doors and they drop a bit – it’s going to need expensive framing work. And once you spend all that money, it may never really appreciate financially as there will always be those who consider it to be less than a legitimate car. As far as being an unknown coachbuilder, chances are better than not that it’s by Southern who built a whole business plan around re-bodying ugly four-door saloons and limousines. I think however it’s potentially a very attractive car and will be lots of fun for whoever spends whatever it takes to resurrect it – and I suspect it will be a lot! If you really want as close to perfect a car as you can get – this is a shameless plug – here is my personal Bentley R Type on Bring-A-Trailer Auctions right now – http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1953-bentley-r-type/
It will be less costly to own, and can be used immediately and comes with a substantial stock of spare parts.
Thank you for the elaborate email. Your car is awesome but I don’t like 4 door cars. The point for this red RR is the inspection you are right. But how much you believe this car may fetch if done properly knowing that it is an earlier body car?
I like the shape but I am not romantic to spent a fortune on a vehicle that does not worth it and will not worth it.
I would also propose to you, if you have time, to go check the car together if you believe this might bring some more light into the purchase. Of course expenses on me.
Take care
Vassilis
Rolls-Royce motor cars were bodied by various Coachbuilders. The Lemay collection has a very similar Rolls; http://www.lemaymarymount.org/vehicle.php?vID=413
Both cars appear to be 3-Position Drop Head Coupes (convertible coupe to us Yanks).
Google images, while far from definitive, shows nearly every RR from that period and body style does not have a trunk, but a trunk. :-) The full coaches may not have a trunk though.
The Brits refer to the luggage compartment as a boot, and many Rolls were built with integral boots, whether the car was a limo, saloon, drophead etc.