Way back in in time today, to 1906, to be exact, and one of the first - actually likely *the* first - Rolls-Royces ever to ply #NYC streets. #RollsRoyce was less than three years old then, the outcome of a reluctant meeting in Manchester on May 4, 1904. #CharlesRolls and #HenryRoyce were an odd couple - a dashing Etonian daredevil and a workaholic working class engineer - but that fateful meeting produced a solid partnership. Rolls bought his first car (a Peugeot) in 1896 as a teenager, and was always a keen enthusiast. Royce, ten years older, bought his first car in 1901 (a De Dion) for practical purposes - commuting. He turned to making his own cars for two reasons - he hated the flaws in his De Dion (and the Decauville that replaced it), and he saw that cars could be a profitable new line of work alongside his existing products (dynamos and cranes). His first car was for himself - the 10hp (named for its tax rating) Royce, powered by a smooth two-cylinder engine. He built two more in early 1904, one of which he sold to Henry Edmunds, who liked it so much he dragged his friend Charles Rolls, looking to start a make, up from London to see Royce. Rolls loved the car and the make was born that day. Between the 10hp Royce and the famous Silver Ghost of 1907, the company experimented with four models - the original 10 (a twin, 16 built), a 15hp (3-cyl, 6 built), a 20hp (4-cyl, 40 built), and the biggest - the 6L six-cylinder 30hp (all named for tax ratings, not actual wheel hp), created at the request of RR’s sales guru Claude Johnson (who later kept the business running after Rolls’ death and Royce’s illness). 37 30hps were built before the make decided to only build a single model - the 40/50 “Silver Ghost,” in early 1907, which cemented the make’s reputation. The first RRs to come stateside were a 20hp, a 30hp chassis and a finished 30hp with Rois Des Belges coachwork by Barker in #1906 - this is the that latter car. Another 30hp laundaulet was also for sale in #Manhattan in 1906 but little is known about that car. A little credit, this photo was scanned by the excellent (but not updated) vintagemotoring.blogspot.com. #vintage #theoldmotor #RollsRoyce30hp (at Upper West Side)
