The story of the bricked-in Silver Ghost

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What car could go better with a bit of a ghost story involving mystery, a baron and his castle than a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost? We found out about a most remarkable story via a 1964 newspaper clipping and were greatly surprised there seemed to be no further information available whatsoever.

1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

This is it in a nutshell: a 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost with impressive Roi de Belges body by Bakers of London was, in medieval style, bricked into the walls of Beldringe Castle in Denmark and forgotten for some 32 years. Back in ’64, somebody contacted the Danish Veteran Car Club about a Silver Ghost that had previously been owned by Baron Frederik Christopher Otto Raben-Levetzau. Where was it? The baron’s son didn’t know anything about it, but they did find out that his dad had made attempts to sell the car in around 1930, not long before his son was born and before he passed away. Further research came to nothing until somebody drew the conclusion that it was most likely still hidden in the castle or its carriage houses. Nothing was found until it turned out that a basement garage was concealed in the castle premises, bricked in behind later-built walls. Upon knocking these down, the mighty Rolls-Royce came out - unharmed! The original invoice was supposedly still with it too, stating that Raben-Levetzau had paid a thousand pounds for the car back in 1911.

According to the article, there were just a few parts needing replacement. Dunlop was found to be kind enough to supply the current baron with new tyres, made for the occasion on their old moulds, while Asprey’s of London came up with a special polishing paste to get rid of the stains on the radiator. After this remarkable find, the Aalholm motor museum was born where the Rolls-Royce would star in the display for a number of decades.

We found that the whole collection (181 lots) was auctioned in 2012, when the Silver Ghost sold for over 700,000 euros, almost tripling its estimated price. But remarkably, there was no mention whatsoever of this fantastic story. Did you know about it? We would love to see some pictures of the mighty Ghost in its hiding place.

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.

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