Classics, passion for the past

1936 Rolls-Royce 25-30 Barker Owen Sedanca de Ville GUL41

£ 49500

Body Sedanca de Ville
Odometer miles
Fuel type Petrol
Transmission Manual
Exterior Color Red and black
Interior Color Brown
Upholstery Leather
Steering Rhd
VIN GUL41
This car is a really lovely example, very handsome & well proportioned, being designed by H. R. Owen, through whom the car was sold when new. The same design was also used by Gurney Nutting at the time. Wonderfully sound & very smart cosmetically, with excellent paint, chrome work & appealing brown leather interior. The dashboard, instruments & switching are lovely, as well as the impressive set of lamps, including correct, rare and desirable Lucas QK596 headlights. Driving very nicely indeed, with a particularly smooth, quiet engine, following an overhaul in recent years. In addition, a few years ago, a new cylinder head was fitted and the car was re-wired. An overdrive unit is fitted, which is of great benefit for long distance touring, for which the sizeable fitted rear trunk and twin side-m... ounted spare wheels are also very useful! Complete with a buff logbook from the 1950s, a sales invoice from 1966 and various other documentation, including a sales invoice from 1966, when the car sold for £795! An excellent car, which has been through our hands before, now ready for its next adventure!


Chassis No. GUL41 Reg No. CYU 376

Snippets: Cecil Rhodes Dormer – The sailing accountant
GUL41 was bought by Cecil Rhodes Dormer (1889/1951) – his father Francis Dormer (1854/1928) was an associate of Cecil Rhodes – the pair had met on HMS Teuton in 1875 whilst enroute from London to Cape Town. By 1878 Francis Dormer was the editor of the “Cape Argus” & in 1881 he purchased the publication from Saul Solomon for £6,000 – the funding being provided by Cecil Rhodes who used the Cape Argus as his mouthpiece! Francis Dormer is credited with bestowing the name Rhodesia on the area between the Limpopo & the Zambezi as early as 1891 before it was officially adopted in 1897. Cecil was named after his father’s benefactor - Cecil trained as an accountant & in 1921 he became a partner in Cooper Brothers & Co of London where his clients included Ariel Motors & Marconi Scientific Instrument Co. During WWI Cecil was released by his employers Deloitte & Co in order for him to serve with the Royal Suffolk Hussars. Cecil was a keen yachtsman and during the 1920s & ‘30s he and his sailing partner Cecil Wright (1920 Olympic Gold in Yachting) owned Bathsheba (originally named Naushabah when owned by the Nawab Hamidullah Kahn). In 1930 they commissioned their first yacht by Fife & Son being “The Lady Anne” & 1932 they commissioned “Ancora II” a Bermudian sloop a smaller version of the 8mtr Saskia. The pairing took part in many races most notably against the Americans in 1932, GB came 2nd!

After Cecil’s death (1951) GUL41 was acquired by the spinning & mill owning firm of William M Haggas & Son – their involvement in the trade can be traced back to 1786 when James Haggas of Oakworth Hall married Esther Roper, a young widow. By the 1960s GUL41 was all at sea with D. A. Claxton RN who was stationed at HMS Caledonia – a shore based Royal Navy training establishment on the Rosyth prior to the car being acquired by Andrew Plotzke of Suffolk.   read more >>>
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