{"id":857912,"date":"2024-06-12T16:23:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T23:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/?p=519901"},"modified":"2024-12-02T21:01:10","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:01:10","slug":"rolls-royce-silver-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/rolls-royce-silver-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce \u2018Models of the Marque\u2019: the 1910s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Of all the famous nameplates borne by Rolls-Royce motor cars since 1904, few are as celebrated, significant, evocative and enduring as the \u2018Silver Ghost\u2019. Formally launched in 1906 as the 40\/50 H.P., it was the first model to be awarded the soubriquet of \u2018the best car in the world\u2019 that Rolls-Royce retains to this day, setting unmatchable standards for performance and reliability, proven in the era\u2019s toughest road trials. It was also a stupendous commercial success, with almost 8,000 examples built in the UK and US over an 18-year period \u2013 an unimaginable product lifespan in the modern age. That so many Silver Ghosts still survive in full working order \u2013 and, indeed, regularly perform the same feats they achieved more than a century ago \u2013 is a lasting monument to Henry Royce\u2019s engineering genius.<\/p>\n

Early beginnings<\/h2>\n

By 1906, just three years after its foundation, Rolls-Royce<\/a> was already something of a victim of its own success. Demand for its motor cars was such that its line-up had quickly expanded from the original twin-cylinder 10 H.P. to include three-cylinder 15 H.P., four-cylinder 20 H.P. and six-cylinder 30 H.P. models. Henry Royce had even produced the first ever V8 passenger motor car, known as the ‘Legal limit’ since the 3.5-litre engine was governed to keep it below the 20mph speed limit then in force in Britain \u2013 only three of these were ever made, and it remains the only Rolls-Royce model of which no examples survive. This proliferation of models reflected a trend across the luxury automotive sector, as competing manufacturers chased an ever more finely segmented client base.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n