When the Rolls-Royce 25/30 was hand-built between 1936 and 1938, the engineers involved in designing and building this wonderful car had no idea that it was going to be popular with brides across the world nearly 90 years later.
Rolls-Royce only made 1201 of the 25/30, with many of those now used for weddings and official engagements being superbly restored and well-maintained. The 25/30 is a more powerful successor to the popular 20/25 model, offering increased performance to better handle the heavier, custom coachwork often fitted to Rolls-Royce chassis.
The wheelbase is a massive 3.4m and the huge body is carried along by a 4,257 cc 6-cylinder engine. Above the grill stands The Spirit of Ecstasy, one of the most recognisable car badges on the planet.
The Rolls-Royce 25/30 shown in the photographs has a natural beige interior and the trim is French polished walnut. As with many Rolls-Royce cars of the time, only the chassis and mechanical parts were made in-house. The bodywork was produced by London-based Thrupp & Maberly.
Smiths Instruments have a long tradition of designing and supplying gauges for Rolls-Royce cars, dating back to the very first cars produced in the early 1900s. In the 25/30, the dashboard is also walnut and features an array of Smiths gauges. All the gauges are positioned centrally in the car, to the left of the steering wheel, and each has the Rolls-Royce logo.
In the Rolls-Royce 25/30, there are six SMITHS gauges in all:
The Rolls-Royce 25/30 has made several starring appearances in the movies including The Naked Truth (1957) and Death on the Nile (1978). More recently a 1937 25/30 appears in the BBC television series Father Brown, driven by character Sid Carter, the chauffeur of Lady Felicia.
The model 25/30 was succeeded by the Rolls-Royce Wraith in 1938. In today’s classic car market, models of the Rolls-Royce 25/30 can be acquired from £65,000 with the ultimate value very much dependent on the condition.
Caerbont Automotive Instruments continue to manufacture replacement classic Smiths gauges at their facility in South Wales for classic cars built by Aston Martin, Jaguar, Austin-Healey and many more.
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