Wind the clock back 110 years and automotive history was made when a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost drove from London to Edinburgh and helped cement the motor car’s future.
Designed as an ‘Experimental Speed Car’, the Silver Ghost won the 1911 trial of speed, reliability and endurance locked in top gear for the entire 799-mile return trip.
Last month the same car repeated half that feat over two days from the Royal Automobile Club in London’s Pall Mall (which oversaw the original trial) to Edinburgh, replicating as much of the original route as possible.
Historic racer: A Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was driven from Edinburgh to London last month repeating a trip from 110 years ago when the same car won the 1911 trial of speed
And this week Rolls-Royce is making history again. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a sleek coupe-like limousine — called ‘Spectre’ in a cheeky nod to the release of the new 007 film — that will launch at the end of 2023 as the first fully-electric Rolls-Royce.
Spectre will cost between £400,000 and £500,000, and the company has said all its cars will be electric by 2030.
Bosses believe it’s the most significant moment in Rolls-Royce’s history since the Honourable Charles Rolls and engineer Sir Henry Royce were introduced.
The Rolls-Royce partnership began in 1904 — but can trace its origins back to the business founded by Sir Henry Royce in 1884 (one of the first electrical engineers).
Rolls-Royce’s first electric car the Spectre will cost between £400,000 and £500,000, and the company has said all its cars will be electric by 2030
Place in history
Royce built his first motor car in 1904 and in May of that year met his new partner.They reached a deal for Rolls to sell the Royce cars exclusively under the name of Rolls-Royce.
Rolls championed and owned an early electric car. He also had a charging station at his showroom in Fulham for Brougham electric cars.
In 1904, he even agreed to become an agent for the Contal Electromobile electric car but, on seeing Royce’s motor car, he cancelled the agreement.And so the internal combustion engine went on to dominate motoring.
Lawrence of Arabia, the British Army and the Maharajas of India were all fans of Rolls-Royce’s off-road prowess, as demonstrated in the Reliability Trials of 1907.
Also in 1907, businessman Frank Norbury brought the brand into India by driving a Silver Ghost 620 miles to Kolhapur in Maharashtra, through mountainous terrain.
In World War I, British commanders armoured Rolls-Royces to drive across crater-marked landscapes.They were also taken to China, Russia and the Middle East.
A Tank Corps Journal from October 1922 noted: ‘The most outstanding incident since the war has been the trip of three Rolls-Royce armoured cars from Jerusalem to Baghdad.’
Beatle John Lennon owned a yellow psychedelic patterned Rolls-Royce.
And Russian revolutionary communist leader Vladimir Lenin couldn’t help but be seduced — enjoying a specially-adapted half-track Silver Ghost with skis for winters.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox money" data-version="2" id="mol-d4841c30-2218-11ec-8937-5f2ce74b87a4" website goes on a roll: Luxury brand to produce a fleet of electric cars
When you beloved this short article in addition to you desire to acquire more details about kindly stop by our own web-site.
If you want to see more information regarding Next review our own web-site.
