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Car of the Month - May 98
Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith 1947, #WTA72,
Sedanca de Ville by H.J. Mulliner

This Rolls-Royce is a "Sleeping Beauty". Though registered and licensed it isn't employed very often and over the period of the recent twenty years less than 1,000 miles have been added to its modest overall mileage.

H.J. Mulliner's first post-war design on Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith chassis was a Sedanca De Ville to their Design No. 7019. Not only for H.J. Mulliner this was a new start into the post-war period but to a certain degree for Rolls-Royce motor cars too. It was the body actually, which did grace the first chassis at all from the Crewe company's new model series: #WTA1.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith was powered by six-cylinder in-line engine set into a very sturdy parallel girder chassis with channel crossmembers and crucirom bracing. Engine capacity was 4 ¼ litre and thus identical to the pre-war Rolls-Royce Wraith. However the Silver Wraith engine was a completely new development and couldn't be traced back to the Wraith's engine but to Rolls-Royce's B60 engine with its characteristic i.o.e. (= inlet over exhaust) design.

No more than thirteen bodies to Design No. 7019 are listed in H.J. Mulliner's Body Books. The one shown here is the last coachwork built to this design; H.J. Mulliner's Body No. 4761 on chassis #WTA72. Rolls-Royce sales brochure (original catalogues from 1905 to 1998 are part of Roßfeldt-Archives) informed: "The principles which underlie the production of Rolls-Royce cars remain always the same. Engineering to standards as close as pssible to the ideal has always been Rolls-Royce tradition." How far Rolls-Royce had succeeded in the pursuit of this ideal is clearly evident in every detail of this fine motor car which does offer a most impressive sort of transport and is a joy to drive.

In its day the price for Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith chassis was given at some £ 2,000, complete with H.J. Mulliner Sedanca de Ville coachwork it was slightly less than £ 4,000. In the United Kingdom however even having invested this princely sum wouldn't have made you the owner of a new Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, because a tremendous amount had to be added for purchase tax.

The luggage compartment's dimensions are somewhat limited; additional luggage can be stored, when the bootlid is fixed in a horizontal position to be used as luggage grid.