Trio of pre-war exotics to be sold by Henderson Auctions

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Earlier this year, eyebrows were raised when news broke that a bank had seized two Bugattis and a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. While the circumstances surrounding their seizure have not been disclosed, you now have an opportunity to give them a good home as they are to be sold by Henderson Auctions at the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday 29th October.

Rarity and provenance

The oldest of the three cars offered is a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle, chassis 34LB, which was bought new by Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster and one of the world's wealthiest men. The duke resided at his imposing ancestral home of Eaton Hall in Cheshire, its Victorian Gothic walls hung with Old Masters, and owned no fewer than 17 Rolls-Royces.

A keen sportsman with a penchant for motorboat racing, when the curtain of war fell across Europe, he was cut from just the right cloth for dashing acts of heroism.  As a capable driver and mechanic, he was involved with the development of a prototype Rolls-Royce armoured car for the Cheshire Yeomanry. Most prominently, in March 1916, he led nine Rolls-Royce armoured cars, three armed but unarmoured cars, and a further 28 cars and ambulances on a 120-mile charge across the desert to rescue the crews of HMT Moorina and HMS Tara, who were being held in dreadful conditions by their Senussi captors. Westminster's forces overcame them, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

In 1916, 34LB was returned to Rolls-Royce to be armoured and shipped to Egypt and Palestine for war service, and was converted back to civilian specification in 1920.

The Bugattis are 1927 Type 40 with four-seat tourer bodywork, and a 1937 Type 57C cabriolet by Vanvooren. The Type 40, introduced in 1926 as a replacement for the Brescia, is one of around 745 built, and looks especially pretty on aluminium disc wheels. The 57C is rarer still, being just one of just 20 to receive the Vanvooren cabriolet body, and presents well as an older restoration which has previously been shown at Pebble Beach.

Speedy Essex and lazy Indian

Another highlight is a 1919 Essex speedster, another older restoration and a real rarity, its bodywork apparently being original rather than the contrivance of an enthusiast of recent times. Enthusiasts for prewar motorcycling may also appreciate the 1938 Indian Chief which, with its big, lazy V-twin and relaxed riding position, is so different in character from its European co-temporaries.

Words: Zack Stiling; Pictures: Henderson Auctions

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