Few owners; interesting history from new; former show-winner; rear cocktail cabinets; one of only 1,883 made; driven 60 miles to the sale; a magnificent machine, fit for a king Launched in 1946, the Silver Wraith was the first Rolls-Royce to be made post-war and the last to be supplied in the traditional way as a rolling chassis to be fitted with a coachbuilt body of the customer's choice.

Mechanically, the Silver Wraith shared the same 4,257cc straight-six engine as the Bentley MkVI, driving through a four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh as standard.

As with the Bentley, the gearshift was mounted to the right of the driver’s seat which could play havoc with his lordship’s tweed trews – or more likely the chauffeur’s overalls…For 1951 the Silver Wraith received the revised 4,566cc 'Big Bore' engine used by the rest of the Rolls/Bentley range and automatic transmission became an option, as did a long wheelbase version (133”).

The short wheelbase model (127”) remained in product...