1933 Rolls Royce Phantom 2 Tourer.

1933 Rolls Royce Phantom 2 Tourer.

Chassis Number: 152MY

Registration Number: 825XUT

A simply superb car owned for the last couple of decades by an octogenarian lady who now finds access difficult & has decided to relinquish this wonderful car to the next generation. During her tenure the car has been maintaind wihout regard to expense. The bills are simply eye watering & cover a full engine rebuilt & total some £150k of mechanical & cosmetic work.

Needless to say the car mechanically is one of the best I have driven. The engine is completely silent in operation & very powerful. Being overdrive equipped it runs effortlessly in modern traffic at motorway speeds with 70 MPH curuising easily attainable. The brake servo has recently been rebuilt resulting in pin sharp brakes. When warm it starts almost every time solely off the advance/retard lever.

The Coachwork was done in the 1970's in the USA & is simlar in appearance to an Ascot tourer from Rolls Royce of America. It is very rakish in appearance with a very Gatsbyesque look to it. The car as a whole has a light patina to the leather & is a car that gets used for sojourns to France & UK events giving one an idea of its reliability. It runs equally well on magneto, coil or both with no discernable difference.

New blockley tyres are fitted all round including the spare. A hood cover & tonneau coveres & side secreens come with the car although we did not put the hood bag on when we photographed it. A useful motoring trunk is fitted to the rear to house said items. A simply massive history folder comes with the car detailing minutely the extensive works done to it.

To sum up; this is a car that wants for nothing & is ready for immediate extended use.

History

152MY was 'Off Test' on 21" April 1933 and delivered on 8* May 1933 to Hooper & Co Ltd of 54, St James's Stroet, London SWI, for the fitting of a Sedanca de Ville body. The long wheelbase chassis, with "E' rake steering, had been sold to Hoopers on 8th February 1933 for their customer, The Lady Gomer Berry of Famham Chase, Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire. The car was finally tested by Rolls-Royce at Hoopers on 17* July 1933 and was first registered as ALY.727. The car was used by Lady Gomer Berry and by her husband, Lord Kemsley. In September 1934, the car was recorded by Rolls-Royce in the name of The Rt Hon Lord Kemsley, Daily Telegraph Buildings, Fleet Street, London EC4.

The Lady Gomer Berry was the second wife of James Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley (1883-1968), who was a Welsh colliery owner and a newspaper publisher. His wife had died in February 1928 and, on 30th April 1931, he married Marie Edith Merandon du Plessis (1888-1976), daughter of EN Merandon du Plessis. She was a French Mauritian who was descended from Pico della Mirandola, the Renaissance poet. She persuaded her husband not to sell the Sunday Times, which proved to be very smart. Her later activities for the Daily Sketch War Relief Fund and for Mauritius and Greece were recognised with the OBE, Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and Commander of the Royal Order of the Phoenix of Greece.

James Gomer Berry originally co-owned the Daily Telegraph with his brother, Lord Camrose, and Lord Burnham. He founded Kemsley Newspapers, which owned the Sunday Times, the Daily Sketch and the Sunday Graphic amongst its titles. Berry was created a baronet in 1928 and was appointed as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 1931. In 1936, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kemsley of Famham Royal in the County of Buckingham. He was advanced to Viscount Kemsley of Dropmore in the County of Buckingham, in 1945. In 1929 he had been appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and, in 1959, a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for 'political and public service'

Rolls-Royce records show that, in April 1937, 152MY was acquired by CN Maskell of 19, Ovington Square, London, SW3.

The history of the car is not known after this. Probably it was garaged during WWII due to petrol rationing and a shortage of fuel.

As with many pre-War Rolls-Royce motor cars, in the 1960s or 1970s 152MY crossed the Atlantic and was given a replacement Tourer body by Wilkinson & Sharp of Feasterville, Pennsylvania. In 1979, 152MY is recorded in the ownership of Edgar H Clarke of Manchester, Connecticut who joined the RROC in that year. Carrying a 'Wilkinson Derby Phaeton',

', he offered it for sale for US$51,000 in 1981 in the club's Flying Lady.

152MY retured to the UK in 1992. The car has been registered at different times as WSK-123, LOR-8 and currently 825-XUT.

Delphine Gray-Fisk acquired 152MY in 2009 and arranged a complete engine rebuild in 2009/10. She became a member of the RREC in 2010 (Bulletin B300, dated May/June 2010) and a member of the 20-Ghost Club in 2014. Over the last few years 152MY has attended several events with both clubs and the Fougères Rallye on three occasions (2010, 2015 and 2017).

Strangely enough the car now resides in Farnham Royal very close to where it was delivered when new.

Call Richard Biddulph. Mobile ++44 (0) 7967 260673

Simone Della Corte Mobile ++44 (0) 7377070943

Sales & Valuations

Vintage & Prestige of Northampton Ltd.

richard@vandp.net

www.vandp.net

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