Most folks (me included) often think of a Rolls-Royce as a chauffeur-driven automobile. But that wasn’t the case with the R-R 20/25 built from 1929 to 1936. It was targeted at the owner-driver segment of the market and was successful by the standards of the custom-build market. In fact, the car enabled the company to survive the aftermath of the Great Depression when others did not. This ’34 edition of the 20/25 looks like a luxury sedan that was forgotten about years ago. Needing a restoration, this old Rolls is in Mundelein, Illinois, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $20,000. Thanks for making our day with this find and tip, T.J.!
The Rolls-Royce 20/25 was the company’s second pre-war entry-level model. It followed the Twenty which had been in production since 1922. Rolls-Royce’s goal for the car was to increase power and performance, which it did by increasing the size of the inline-6 engine from 3,128cc to 3,675cc, netting a change in horsepower from 22 to 25. The cars used a 4-speed manual gearbox which gained a synchromesh in gearing in 1932. 3,827 of the fine automobiles were built in eight years and we’re told that 70% are still on the road today (71% when this one gets restored?).
No details or history about this 88-year-old car are provided by the seller, leaving the photos to tell the story. The only real comment is that everything is there to complete a reconstruction i.e., “there is no need to hunt down parts.” But if you had to find some pieces, where might they be? Surely there’s not a plethora of old Rolls parts in the U.S., so the UK would have the answers.
Everything here looks rough, though fairly solid as opposed to a rust bucket (but that’s a guess). The body will need loads of TLC and the interior is a wipe-out. Note the right-hand drive as it’s doubtful many of these cars were fitted for sale specifically in the U.S. This looks like a neat but costly project to undertake. The big question is – once you’re done – would you drive it yourself or outsource those duties to a guy named Jeeves?
I think 70% on the road is a good round number, especially for the 20K asking price for this one. Does anyone know if any of the drive train works?
Mr. Burns death car,,
Without digging out my old paperbacks this could be a candidate to be a restomod tribute to Travis McGee’s “Miss Agnes.” I am not sure if it’s the right year and model but pretty close.
A little bit of internet digging tells me Miss Agnes was a 1936. Close enough. I lost my paperbacks after a hurricane damaged my roof and soaked my attic. Travis would understand.
electric blue
US Rolls Royce parts, heck back in the day they were built here! https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1131003_100-years-ago-rolls-royce-rolls-along-assembly-line-in-massachusetts
Superb link!
Larry,
Only the larger Rolls-Royce cars like the Silver Ghost were built in the USA, This is the smaller 20/25, and all were built in England.
For me the easiest way to tell the difference between the UK and American cars, besides the obvious driving positions, is that the UK cars had dome shaped P100 headlights and the US cars had cylindrical headlights.
Great link Thanks
Yep, Springfield Massachusetts
Resto mod with a Jeep in-line 6, auto trans. Fake custom RR valve cover. Go all out with paint, interior, vintage air and sound system. $10,000 and a bunch more $$.
Put a RR Merlin in it with open exhaust through the hood sides, God that would be sweet music to the ears!
The MGTD brake lights are a bonus . Is there any other car that has a higher percentage of on the road that made that many model copies over time? Just the fact they were a Rolls kept them rolling.
A family friend bought one of these in the 60’s and drove around in it until the early 80’s.
I have pictures of me as a 3 year old with it in the 70’s.
He sold it recently for restoration. I nearly bought it but thought better of the commitment.
It starred in a film back in the day too.
Perhaps worth mentioning that the 25hp isn’t horsepower in the traditional sense. The engines were around 60 hp if I remember correctly.
I was always under the impression RR did not state their horsepower rating, instead, citing it was “adequate”.
I once owned a 1929 20 25 Rolls. Bought it from a dealer who thought he was going to jail for some problems with is importing Ferraris with messy titles. Anyway, the car was original except a repaint about 20 years before I bought it, and the leather was glove soft in excellent condition. The car ran like a clock but was a hand full on the highway. In the early 80s I traded it for a Mercedes 600 and last I hear the guy still has the Rolls down in Florida.
I drove one of these which was on loan from TNT pest control. They had a bunch of antique autos for adv. purposes. We used to move it around the Atlantic Station where I was asst. mgr. to catch peoples attn. Quiet running car!!!!
Looks like an expensive adventure. But I do love these old cars, most of them have a character than our modern cars do not have.
I have a 1936 RR 25/30 which looks very like this although in better shape and driveable. Each car was custom made to order so no two are identical. You didn’t buy a car from RR, you bought it from the body manufacturer and ordered features from their catalogues, they bought the RR frame and engine for you. The owners manual had instructions where to send your chauffeur for 2 weeks training. No problem for any parts, http://www.fiennes.co.uk/ (new) and http://theluxuryjunkyard.com/ (used) amongst others.
I’ve owned several Rolls-Royce 20/25 cars and ran a shop specializing in their repair and restoration. While this car is said to be complete, that is only part of the equation. Anyone contemplating the purchase of this car [who is not familiar with the needs of a pre-war Rolls-Royce] should first join the Rolls-Royce Owners Club, and contact club members in Illinois to see who they suggest to check over the car before buying it or making an offer. If possible, make arrangements to visit the car and have that expert join you to check over the car.
No mention of the coachbuilder in the ad, and that can make a difference in price [that said, I suspect it may have been built by Hooper & Co.]. What is fairly unusual on this car is the twin sidemount wheels, as most came only with one mounted on the “offside” [left] fender.
The problem with this car is it’s a 4-door body, and the costs to restore will far exceed the car’s value when done. If it’s been sitting long, I can pretty much guarantee the engine will need rebuilding, a very costly endeavor. That said, I do have a Rolls-Royce 20/25 factory [not repro] engine overhaul gasket set that should fit this engine, but I would need the engine # to know for sure.
Of worry is the way the rear door sticks out at the bottom. While the body is skinned in aluminum, the door frames and main body shell are structural wood. The gap at the bottom of the door suggests a lot of wood rot, and unlike many cars of that vintage, there are no patterns or replacement wood parts, as each car’s body was unique and built to order.
Note that the RROC club has all the original “chassis cards” rom the factory, detailing such things as special specifications, the coachbuilder, and even the original purchaser. The owner of the car can request a copy of the chassis cards from the club [a small fee is charged for this service].
It is surmised that this car “was forgotten about years ago”. I always find it hard to ubnderstand how a car of this calibre could be forgotten thereby seriously deteriorating. Has nobody noticed long before now? Or was it really locked away in a garage and the person who put it there died or went to jail or whatever?
Peter,
As someone who specialized in sales, parts, & repairs of older Rolls-Royce cars, I might be able to answer your question. I’ve bought & sold [and parted them out when the body is too far gone] more than a couple of these cars. It’s important to understand that the majority of these spent most of their life in the UK where in the 1950s & 1960s their value had dropped about 90% or more due to things like taxes, fuel & repair costs, and they were seen as simply old vehicles, much like we saw pre-war Cadillacs and Packards.
Many of these cars were bought by Americans who didn’t really understand what they were buying, either during a visit to the UK, or thru ads in car magazines. This situation hit it’s zenith in the late 1980s when the US Dollar almost equaled the GB Pound, and hundreds of older 20/25 and 25/30 Rolls-Royces came to the USA.
Owners often realized too late what it took to care for the car was often far more than what they paid for it, so the car was either sold off cheap or put away. A perfect example of this situation was a 1935 Rolls-Royce 20/25 James Young [A prestigious coachbuilder] limousine that I found languishing in a driveway not 10 miles from my shop. About 1985 the owner called me about his car, wanting to sell it. On arrival I found a derelict car, all 4 doors had fallen off the car it was that bad. He had bought it in the late 1970s while on a business trip to London, and shipped it home. Unable to afford to keep it running he simply parked it. His wife wanted it gone, and I bought it [his price, not mine] for $500.
Well said, Mr. McCoskey. People, right or wrong, form an emotional attachment to automobiles as they (cars) represent a new-found freedom to explore the world. The automobile is responsible for many cherished memories from family vacations, dating, or simply a Sunday afternoon drive. For others, the automobile represents the means by which they (people) wish to be perceived–elegant, powerful, exotic, etc.
But first we must understand the purpose of the automobile–transportation–to and from Point A to Point B in a safe and comfortable manner. Most “rational” folks look at the car as simply a tool or appliance. To them a rusty Rolls is simply that…something unsightly which should be discarded/recycled. Those of us who read and comment on Barn Finds are not of this ilk, rather, we appreciate the efforts of the men and women who conceived, designed, engineered, manufactured, raced, and restore our ideas of moving art.
Some of us remember today’s classic cars when they were new and long to relive our youth. For others, we dislike today’s cars as they lack “soul” (electric cars in particular) or the endless stream of squished jellybean designs which one cannot differentiate one marque from another.
I want to publicly thank the Barn Finds staff for presenting interesting cars to us “dreamers” on a daily basis, as well as the countless folk out there who spend their time and resources upon preserving automobile history and unique form of “rolling art”. To the individual who purchases this Rolls to restore, may you be patient, put your heart and soul into the restoration of each part, and enjoy the process no matter how many years it may take!
Thank you Bill, and thank you Steve.
Yes, we Barn Find followers are of a different “ilk”. Not like other men. But I still it find it hard to understand how a car like this could escape notice for so long. Even if it was not spotted by a car person who appreciated its intrinsic worth, then by a non-car person who saw it as having potential investment value.
I am reminded of seeing, a long time ago — either on Barn Finds or some other site — a picture of a Triumph TRX roadster in absolutely terrible condition. I just couldn’t understand how that could have happened. If I recall correctly, the car was in Belgium, but so what? Belgium has lots of car savvy people.
For those who don’t recognise the TRX name, it was one of only three prototypes built by Triumph — ahead of the TR1/TR2. It was very futuristic for its time – with lots of power equipment — and it was concluded that its body would be way too expensive for production. Nevertheless, just the name Triumph should have been enough for any car person who spotted it to take notice. Yet clearly that didn’t happen and it was left to deteriorate. I still find it hard to understand how such can happen.
Incidentally, I believe the other two TRX prototypes have survived. Since the time when I saw the picture of this third one in deplorable shape, does anyone know if someone has rescued it?
Would make a great electric conversion for a wealthy enthusiast but it’s difficult to see it as a profitable business opportunity.
@Cobra Steve. I would say that your wonderful comment covers just about everything that us Barn Find followers feel about the older automobiles, thanks for putting it so eloquently.
solosolo,
You said it before I could, thanks to you and Cobra Steve.
@peter badenoch. Is this the one?
Yes Soloso, that’s one of the three.
This is “totally” ripe for a hemi drive train…lowered and drive it !