Estimate: €200.000-€280.000 40/50 hp, 7,428 cc side-valve six-cylinder engine, four-speed manual gearbox, solid front axle and with semi-elliptic leaf springs, live rear axle with cantilever leaf spring platform suspension, four-wheel mechanical brakes. Wheelbase: 3,645 mm (143.5")
When Henry Royce set out to design a six-cylinder engine in 1906, he was embarking on largely uncharted territory. In Britain, only Napier espoused the concept, and the vitality of longer crankshafts was of concern. Royce went back to basics and placed two sets of three cylinders on a common crankcase, set back-to-back such that the third and fourth pistons rose and fell together. Pressure lubrication was a forward-looking feature. Production began in 1907, the most famous of the genre being a silver Barker-bodied tourer built for Managing Director Claude Johnson. Christened “Silver Ghost,” its name was later appropriated for the entire 19-year model run.
Changes to the Silver Ghost over its lifetime were modest: platform cantilever rear suspension replaced three-quarter elliptic springs in 1912, electric lighting and starting became standard in 1919, and likewise four-wheel brakes in 1924.
Delivered to France in chassis form, 24AE was consigned to Mulbacher et Fils of Puteaux, Seine for a coupe de ville body, the only one of its type to emanate from those workshops. The original carriage shops were established in the rue de Varenne in Paris in 1780 by the Mühlbacher family from western Germany. Their first automobile body was a huge mail coach on a steam carriage of Amédée Bollée in 1885 for the Marquis de Broc. Mulbacher continued to serve the carriage trade in the automobile era up until the Great War. Thereafter, their clientele tended more toward celebrities and sports heroes. Chassis were typically Panhard, Voisin, Farman, Isotta-Frachini and the like. Few and far between were Mulbacher commissions on Rolls-Royce.
When completed by Mulbacher, the car was delivered to Jean Patrick Hennessy, a French politician and scion of the cognac family. Hennessy, who was left a considerable fortune by his father, was elected a deputy of the Department of Charente in western France. A member of the Cartel des gauche, he was considered a progressive and founded the Parti Social-National in 1933. The car is later reported to have been in the care of the Baron de Rothschild, but this is not documented.
It is currently in very nice condition, with a lovely patina evident. The black velvet fabric interior of the rear compartment appears original, as does the wood, which has been entirely restored. The body fittings, including the rear doors, are in good condition. The engine has been restored and runs very smoothly, and while the compartment is clean, it has not been detailed. It has been fitted with front-wheel brakes for better operation on the road, an upgrade not uncommon after Rolls-Royce adopted four-wheel braking.
Entirely usable in its current condition, including good paint that has been partly redone, this car could benefit from very little selective upgrading in order to attain high-point status. A rare example of a French-bodied Rolls-Royce from a little-known coachbuilder, it is, in a word, nonpareil.
Now, if someone could provide me with some general info about Muhlbacher, I'll add this company to the gallery along with this car. I have some more interior and detail shots to go into the gallery.
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Mulbacher_Rolls-Royce_40-50_HP_Silver_Ghost_Coupe_de_Ville_AE24_1920_02.jpg [ 1.16 MiB | Viewed 3273 times ]
Mulbacher_Rolls-Royce_40-50_HP_Silver_Ghost_Coupe_de_Ville_AE24_1920_01.jpg [ 1.38 MiB | Viewed 3273 times ]
Mulbacher_Rolls-Royce_40-50_HP_Silver_Ghost_Coupe_de_Ville_AE24_1920_21.jpg [ 828.71 KiB | Viewed 3273 times ]
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Mühlbacher has also bodied the following pre-1916 Silver Ghosts:
#1484, Landaulette, 1910 for André Lazard, Paris, later rebodied Barker Ambulance #1781, Brougham, 1911 for M. de Saint Alany, Paris #1784, Double Limousine, 1911 for Count Alvarez de Penteado, Paris #1858, Landaulette, 1911 for Baron Eugene de Rothschild, Vienna, Austria #1916, Landaulette, 1912 for Otto Hermann Kahn, New York #1925, Cabriolet, 1912 for Ignacio de Penteado, Paris #2023, Limousine, Paris Show 1912, commandeered by the English Military Authorities from the Paris office. #2100, Landaulette, 1912 for L. D. Shoenberg, New York #2169, Landaulette, 1912 for Mrs. Henry Smith, New York #2193, Limousine, 1912 for Mrs. Margaret Larson, Paris #2288, Brougham, 1913 for Messrs. N. & W. Ponisowkine, Moscow, Russia #2307, Cabriolet, 1913 for Mr. Aspiazu #2315, Limousine, 1913 for E. Schmakoff, St.Petersburg, Russia #2379, Limousine, 1913 for C. Raoul Duval, Paris #2383, Landaulette, 1913 for Sir Lucas Ralli, London #2543, Brougham, 1913 for C. F. Williamson, Paris #2651, Limousine, 1913 for S. M. Sternbach, New York, leter rebodied Ley & Sons Tourer #2665, Brougham, 1913 for P. Charpentier & Co., Paris #21NA, Landaulette, 1913 for Messrs. Neubauer & Farman, Paris #7AB, Torpedo, 1913 for W. Viau, New York #62AB, Limousine, 1914 for Mrs. Walter Burns, London #35EB, Limousine, 1914 for Neubauer & Farman, Paris #55EB, Limousine, 1914 for Charpentier & Co., Paris #61RB, Limousine, 1914 for Mr. Hoff, Paris, 1926 rebodied by Binder #11PB, Brougham, 1914 for Mr. L. Mantacheff #15PB, Limousine, 1914 for Edward Tuck, Paris #29PB, Landaulette, 1914 for Mrs. Kate Davis Pulitzer, New York #38YB, Tourer, 1914 for Paul Goldschmidt, Paris #44UB, Torpedo, 1914 for Dr. Clarence Fahnestock, New York #20CB, Brougham, 1915 for Mr. L. Mantacheff #26CB, Brougham, 1915 for Capt. J. D. Cohn, Paris
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