Nick Whitaker
Nick is a marvellous ambassador for the classic car movement and a real enthusiast of the marque. He has co-authored the Complete Classics publication Rolls-Royce Phantom II & III and he runs a Park Ward Continental PII chassis no. 92MY that he had rebuilt by Alpine Eagle. It’s won various awards and is driven all over the country and across London at modern car speeds; he’s even been to Germany and Malaysia in it. 92MY was in a parlous state when found, it had been in a flood and required a total nut and bolt rebuild before it could become reliable transport and a true testament to the extraordinary skills of not only the restorers but to Rolls-Royce who built the car in the first place. I, like many club members have more lowly examples of the marque and I spend as much as I can to restore and conserve them knowing that they will outlive me and that I have a responsibility to subsequent owners not to leave the cars with insuperable problems or bodgery that may ultimately result in their being scrapped and my name being mud! The responsibility and the expense are far greater for owners like Nick of the most rare and exotic models. We owe them a great deal.Page 2 of 3
This is Nick’s third PIII, his first was awful and the second a low mileage Hi Vision Mulliner that he enjoyed immensely but decided to sell and look for a more elegant example. The Mulliner, although a magnificent car, was a little staid in appearance when compared with this Gurney Nutting (John Blatchley’s previous employer) who are regarded as amongst the most stylish of British coachbuilders.
In recent years restoration has become controversial, many arguing that preservation or conservation is more appropriate. They may have a point if cars aren’t going to be used or can be found in serviceable and original condition, most are not, they are worn out, falling apart or butchered like this one. If new owners are going to enjoy them as was intended rather than experience a series of “failures to proceed” rebuilding is the only option.
When a car is not used or is preserved in a controlled environment, it becomes just another inanimate lump of metal. It may look nice but it isn’t the same as hearing the lovely noises and smelling the beautiful smells that emanate from old machinery as it functions. Proper restorations by the finest craftsmen are joys to behold and give us a unique insight into a past that we should all appreciate and be proud of.
The Restoration of 3AZ168
Restoration is an oft used and much abused term and, as applied to this car, this was certainly the case. Alpine Eagle has been restoring R-R&B for over forty-three years now and has consistently won the highest possible awards for its work. These include not only RREC Annual Rallies but at Pebble Beach, Louis Vuitton and many other similarly prestigious meetings as well. They take their work extremely seriously and can justifiably claim to be amongst a handful of restoration companies that are the World’s finest.
This particular car had been restored in the 1970’s and was rather butchered so it had to be completely stripped and built again! The exterior had been painted in three shades of revolting metallic brown. No panel was straight and no door fitted properly, the front had been badly trimmed in poor quality white leather and the rear seats and headlining in brown striped Dray Lon. The carpets were cheap, brown, rubber backed and vinyl bound and plywood had been fitted into the foot wells so that a single piece only was needed. Stalin gave senior party members more tastefully decorated apartments!
The body had to be removed and everything completely dismantled before building it back up slowly and methodically, having painted and plated everything that needed it, all drip plugs were re-newed as were shackle pins and bushes. The brakes, the rear suspension, the front suspension and steering were all appropriately overhauled. As luck would have it this was probably a low mileage car and much of the chassis was in good condition, just needing re-setting and lubricating as per the book had there been one. None was published! I wish we’d had pictures of it completed because it was a sight to behold.
The rear axle was sent to a leading specialist for overhaul and a higher ratio to be fitted. The gearbox proved quite sound with only a few bearings being replaced but the engine had been noisy and had to be completely rebuilt. Overheating is common and this results in failure of the “O” ring seals at the base of the liners. Therefore the liners have to be removed and the block meticulously cleaned of all sediment before work starts. In this instance the block surfaces and the liners all had to be machined to ensure the right “nip” when the heads were re-fitted. Liners and pistons were new as were valve guides, valves, tappets, camshaft etc. Luckily it had been previously rebuilt at Rolls-Royce in ’57 and had none of the usual signs of butchery. The Carburettor too, was in a bad way and required extremely expensive replacement parts. The crankshaft vibration damper was overhauled and fitted with the latest, preferred friction material.
The wiring was horrific, the car actually caught fire during the test run! Fuse holders were Bosch and the cabling modern and too thin. Everything is now as it left the factory.
The body, the trim and woodwork had suffered badly at the hands of the previous restorers too, so new doorframes had to be made as had parts of the main body. This necessitated the removal and replacement of much of the aluminium skin. Presumably as a result of R-R’s instructions on rigidity, the wood frame is double skinned, once with steel and then aluminium over the top. Despite this there was no evidence of electrolytic corrosion, presumably because felt had been used to keep the two metals apart. The wings have been extensively remade as has much of the rear of the body so that everything fits beautifully now with really tight door and boot gaps. The respray is stunningly good in Black and Damson and the interior has been re-veneered in mirrored Burr Walnut, the seats retrimmed in traditional brown Spinneybeck leather (the driver’s having been built for Nick as it would have been for the first owner) which is about three times the price of any other and the carpets are brown and good Wilton. The door handles and window winders are silver-plated and have been left original but all the dashboard instruments and controls have been rebuilt and re-plated. There were seven bodies made to this design and they were verging on flashy, however research shows that Herbert Smith had specified a more conservative interior, hence Alpine Eagle’s choice of brown seats and carpets together with fawn headlining. They have been unable to discover exactly what was originally chosen but various fittings and fixtures that appear on others in the series are absent from this one and there is some evidence to support this colour scheme. The car looks new and very nearly perfect, nothing like something made in a modern factory but very special; hand made and bespoke.
Summary
It is hard to convey how much, highly skilled work of many different disciplines is required to rebuild any Rolls-Royce properly, let alone a PIII. Alpine Eagle admit that this car has taken longer than any previous restoration; Typically a PII Continental or Derby Bentley is completed in approximately 10 months from arrival at the factory, but this PIII has consumed a further 8! Roy Partridge points out that each time they do a car they strive to raise their standards even further and that he feels this is their best work to date. He is extremely proud of his team of craftsmen and what they have achieved. He will now sit back nervously waiting to see if it wins awards when it appears at next year’s Rallies. It will but he’ll still worry!
A significant proportion of the 727 PIII’s sold were bought by Royalty and the Aristocracy as they were better off than footballers in those days! This particular car had a less distinguished start in that it went to Sir Herbert (Piggy) Smith a carpet magnate from Kidderminster who also bought a massive House called Witley Court from Lord Dudley. He made himself unpopular with locals by closing all the footpaths across the estate, hence the nickname Piggy. It would seem that in buying such a large pile which had the largest ornamental fountains in private ownership in Europe and one the most expensive cars made at the time, he had overreached himself and as a result had to reduce staff and so was not able to prevent the house being badly damaged by fire in 1936. The drive was in such a poor state that the Fire engine got stuck half way down it! The remains, including the fountains are now owned by English Heritage and open to the public. David Chaundy whose work on his Silver Cloud II appears on my website www.kda132.com is a grandson of the Dudley family and was able to provide this information. See letter below.
Not much is known of its subsequent life other than that it was rebuilt by the factory in 1957 and has recently returned to the UK from Switzerland where it had been restored so badly. One thing is for sure, it will not be cosseted but driven regularly and at good speed, Nick loves his cars and takes proper care of them. You won’t find him at the front of a lengthy queue anywhere!
Ashley James
12.12.2005
