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Car of the Month - February 2019 |
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At this time of the year weather conditions in the Northern hemisphere do not entirely ban any idea of a tour with a classic car. Despite cold winter weather in Germany this 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental has been driven on the road. The car is the property of a collector from Switzerland who didn’t hesitate to employ her in considerably harsher conditions. A few days ago the Phantom II Continental had returned from a 5,000-kilometre-rallye through Indochina; that had been a tour from Northern Vietnam via Laos and Cambodia to Southern Vietnam. At tropical temperatures the car had run absolutely perfect without missing a single beat and maintenance over the whole distance had merely been to top up some 3 litres of engine-oil. Even stop-an-go-traffic in Saigon had not been any obstacle – although with monsoon pouring down (just for the sake of it spark plugs became changed).
After the car had been shipped back and loaded from its container in Rotterdam it took its way to Germany. In January 2019 with temperatures of more than 10 degrees Celsius below zero (whatever that is in Fahrenheit – it was cold!) the car did start on the first push to the button and immediately idled smoothly. Should there have been need to pave the way a considerable amount of sand and grit and dust could have "been wiped off the car" because it still was covered with what it had brought from the Far East. Not even the fact of no heater on this model did spoil the fun of the winter tour.
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In 1932 the Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental had been bodied in the form of a 4-door Allweather by Carlton to the order of its first owner, the 5th Duke of Sutherland. Having changed hands the original coachwork in 1957 became modified by Panelcraft into a 2-door 2-seater drophead coupé. The front portion including front doors of Carlton's body remained more or less unaltered. The rear wings were kept in their position, too, though were partially re-shaped by Panelcraft. In the literature frequently the information is to be found the car from the start of its life had carried drophead coachwork by Thrupp & Maberly. Although research showed proof that is an error the incorrect information as regards this car's coachwork from time to time is repeated. In the 1990s some further modification of the coachwork's rear panels had been executed. Over all the years though there neither neglectance of technical components had been permitted nor any compromise as regards quality of maintenance and service. No wonder this Phantom II Continental is capable to withstand any stress from exotic conditions in the Far East as formidable as demands from freezing cold weather in good old Europe.
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