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Did you know about Rolls-Royce



Did you know about Rolls-Royce Photos and Stories.

Story provided by Geoff Wheatley Contact for Information.





Did you know?

As you may know Rolls-Royce is now part of B.M.W. But they did not manage to purchase either the RR symbol or the Lady who graces the front of the car...These two items now belongs to VW. It seems that when the financial vultures were pulling Rolls apart to sell off the company to the highest bidder, they did not do their homework and did not realize that several patents for Rolls-Royce existed, or rather parts of Rolls-Royce, including the name and of course the famous lady.

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Rolls-Royce

It's like buying a Rolex watch but not being able to use the name either on the watch or in your advertising. Its one thing to know that you are wearing a special watch but another not to be able to show it off to your friends or others who you wish to impress. If you take it a step further you can't even have a few Baseball Hats made with the Rolex name on the front. If you don't like hats how about shirts where the same restriction would apply. I'm sorry to say that the quotation..."A rose by any other name" etc would not resolve the situation simply because we don't buy Rolex watches to tell the time.

We buy to be seen and noticed which is much the same as owning a Rolls-Royce, but that joy is severely reduced if you can't feature the RR symbol or the equally important Lady. Back in the so-called good old days certain owners had the standard Lay removed to be replaced with a solid gold version. A couple of very rich owners went a step further and had gold with diamonds featured as well. (My guess is that such cars were never parked on a busy street without serious security).

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Rolls-Royce Phantom III Freestone-Webb Sedanca 1937

In the 1920's you could have the total radiator in gold and of course in interior was created to your requirements like walnut panels, silk drapes that could be pulled down if you did not want the public to see you sipping expensive Champaign from silver goblets.

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Rolls-Royce Phantom II Thrupp-Maberly Sedanca De Ville 1934

Today the use of a telephone in your car is quite a common feature however, the first phone to be installed in a car was in a 1923 Rolls-Royce and from all account It worked. (How I have no idea!) I have not seen this but I am told that to test the stability of the car a coin was placed upright on a serving table and if it fell before the car had reached twenty MPH, the car went back for suspension work until this standard was achieved.

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Rolls-Royce Phantom I Riviera Brewster Town Car 1928

It always seemed strange to me that the driver of certain models was expected to get wet when it rained. By that I mean that the front driving section had a light weight top that hardly kept out the morning dew, and was usually rolled up, while the passengers sat in the rear cabin dry warm and oblivious to the weather conditions. If you could not fork out the funds for a Roller you could always purchase its junior brother the Daimler. Strange to report Queen Elizabeth Second chose Daimler over the Rolls for her private transport which must have stirred a few comments in the Board Rooms of commerce where the Rolls was certainly the car of choice.

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Queen Marys 1935 Daimler

Queen Marys 1935 Daimler

In later years many of the Pop Stars followed in their footsteps and sported a Rolls-Royce or even two, some in not the standard livery!

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Rolls-Royce PB 60th anniversary Phantom Drophead Coupe 2011

I live in a retirement location in South Carolina where from time to time you can see a Rolls parked outside the local Supermarket, to say they look a touch out of place is the understatement of the year but who am I to be critical. As a proud owner would I do the same thing? Well it's a great way to get noticed if only by the female parking warden. At my age that's about the best you could hope for!
Geoff Wheatley © 2016






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