1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

This is a photograph I took before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1973.

It's the 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost of Kenneth Neve and the programme of the event had this note about the vehicle:

'35. Mr Kenneth Neve, Aston-by-Budworth, Cheshire

       1911 Rolls-Royce "London-Edinburgh" Silver Ghost, 45 h.p.

In 1911 Rolls-Royce won a Challenge from Napier. The late Lord Hives, at that time Mr. Hives and the company's chief tester, drove a Silver Ghost with underslung cantilever rear springs, enlarged carburettor and higher compression ratio from London to Edinburgh in top gear. The journey was completed at a fuel consumption of 24.3 m.p.g. and then to prove that the axle ratio was not absurd, the car was taken to Brooklands where it clocked 78.3 m.p.h. Thus did the first sporting Rolls-Royce get the name "Type London-Edinburgh", and R1075 was the car that made the historic journey. In 1963 Mr. Kenneth Neve recognised a dejected chassis in Hampshire for what it was. Now, some 5,000 working hours later, the first "London-Edinburgh" is just as it might have been seen more than 60 years ago, serenely whispering its way on the Great North Road in top gear and heading for the Scottish capital.'

Kenneth Neve was at one time President of the Vintage Sports Car Club.