After the week-long megabucks madness of the Monterey auction extravaganza, it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure to preview a sale with some good honest Brit classics that you don’t have to be a billionaire to buy.

As well as the rather charming 1934 Wolseley 9 Tourer (above, estimate £8-10,000) Richard Edmonds’ 15 October fixture at Castle Combe racetrack in Wiltshire showcases two collections of Humbers.



The first, an Irish collection of four cars from a deceased estate, includes a 1928 Humber 14/40 Saloon (above), a 1928 14/40 Tourer (below), a 1955 Hawk Saloon and the luxury model from 1966, the Snipe Saloon. The value of these cars combined is estimated to be a heady £45,000 and the highest-priced car on the day should be the 14/40 Tourer.



The second collection, sourced from Amesbury-based Andrew Booth, includes a 1926 12/25 Tourer at £16-£18,000, a 1925 9/20 at £6-£8000 and a 1926 9/20 Tourer also at £6-£8,000.



There is also a rather splendid 1928 Riley 9 MkIV Tourer that will be sure to attract plenty of interest in at £20-£25,000.

Austins are also prominent in the auction and there are four lots all together. They are a 1923 Austin 12/4 Tourer (below), again from the Andrew Booth collection, two Austin Seven Chummy’s, a 1929 version and a 1928 (two below), plus a 1922 Austin 16/6.

25 Aug 2011

To celebrate the centenary of the famous Rolls-Royce London to Edinbugh endurance drive, 17 Silver Ghosts will set off from the RAC Club on Pall Mall on Sunday 11 September – 100 years to the day after the original run – to recreate the epic adventure.

The original stunt – taking up a challenge from rival Napier – was part of Rolls-Royce’s bid to stack up its claim to produce the best car in the world by disptaching chassis 1701 to drive nearly 800 miles from London to Edinburgh and back, in top gear, with performance and fuel consumption figures that trounced its rivals.

Chassic 1701 will be one of the cars taking part in the recreation organised by 20-Ghost and Royal Automobile Club member Nick Naismith, and will be on display at the Royal Automobile Club until 5 September before being prepared for the event.

Naismith said: “1911 was a very important year for Rolls-Royce. The Prince Henry Tour and the London to Edinburgh trial helped create the Silver Ghost’s reputation as ‘the best car in the world’. As the oldest Rolls-Royce club in the world, the 20-Ghost Club has been planning the re-enactment of the Prince Henry Tour and the London to Edinburgh trials for the past two years. The Royal Automobile Club has been very helpful with organisation for the start of the London to Edinburgh event and kind enough to allow us the use of the Pall Mall clubhouse for the night before the trial.”

The Silver Ghosts taking part in the recreation will do so under similar conditions – carrying passengers, measuring fuel consumption and reliability and only using the direct top gear. They will use as much of the original Great North Road Route (now mostly the A1) as possible.

They will leave at 6am Sunday morning to avoid the worst of the traffic in London, but should face challenges no greater than those overcome by their forebears. As Naismith said: “The 1911 trial nearly came to grief when a donkey and cart got in the way when climbing the hill at the Archway, I think that in 2011 traffic lights rather than donkeys will be the problem.”

Here is some background info:

On July 7 1910, Claude Johnson, General Managing-Director of Rolls-Royce accepted a challenge laid down by rivals Napier to drive the 799 miles from London to Edinburgh and back in top gear only, with four passengers and luggage, under RAC observation. The 65bhp Napier ‘Silver Bullet’ managed the feat with an average of fuel consumption of 19.3 mpg and a top speed of 76.42 mph at Brooklands.

Johnson saw the opportunity to top this performance and create the first line of sporting Silver Ghosts. The 45bhp, six-cylinder Rolls-Royce covered the route (which travelled via Grantham, Doncaster, Newcastle, Alnwick and Bedford) without any mechanical failures, dashing Napier’s figures with an average fuel consumption of 24.3mpg and a top speed of 78.26mph over the flying half-mile.

Driving the whole journey in top gear was only achievable because of the huge 7.5-litre, low-compression ratio engine allowing drivers to slip the oil lubricated, leather-lined clutch enough for the car to pull away smoothly from standstill or even on a slight incline. Chassis 1701 later returned to Brooklands with more streamlined bodywork and secured an astonishing speed of 101.816mph, making it the fastest Rolls-Royce built at the time.