57-581: The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series. Originally named the " 40/50 h.p. " the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, and also, between 1921 and 1926, in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA . Chassis no. 60551, registered AX 201 , was the car that was originally given the name "Silver Ghost". Other 40/50 hp cars were also given names, but
114-449: A four-cylinder 20 hp and a six-cylinder 30 hp , and two examples of a new car designated the 40/50 hp. The 40/50 hp was so new that the show cars were not fully finished, and examples were not provided to the press for testing until March 1907. The car at first had a new side-valve , six-cylinder, 7036 cc engine (7428 cc from 1910) with the cylinders cast in two units of three cylinders each as opposed to
171-441: A trembler coil to produce the spark with a magneto as an optional extra which soon became standard - the instruction was to start the engine on the trembler/battery and then switch to magneto. Continuous development allowed power output to be increased from 48 bhp (36 kW) at 1,250 rpm to 80 bhp (60 kW) at 2,250 rpm. Electric lighting became an option in 1914 and was standardised in 1919. Electric starting
228-537: A 1.6-litre (98 cu in) engine, nearly four times as much horsepower as the RAC system suggested. While the RAC system had protected the home market from the import of large-engined low-priced mass-produced American cars, the need for roomy generously proportioned cars for export was now paramount and the British government abandoned the tax horsepower system with effect from 1 January 1947 replacing it at first with
285-515: A change in car tax policy and after 1945 tax horse-power returned in West Germany, applying the 1928 formula, as a determinant of annual car tax on new cars purchased in or after 1945. However, the introduction of tax on road fuel in 1951 and progressive increases in fuel tax thereafter reduced the importance of annual car tax so that today far more of the tax on car ownership is collected via fuel taxes than via annual car tax. Fiscal horsepower
342-563: A factory to build Model Ts in Manchester , to circumvent the import tariffs that, up to that point, had increased the effective price of foreign cars. Under the RAC's formula the Model T was a 22 'tax horsepower' car, making it more expensive to run than its British-built rivals on sale for the same price. At first the RAC rating was usually representative of the car's actual (brake) horsepower, but as engine design and technology progressed in
399-599: A function of vehicle weight.) Attempts to correlate new tax horsepower values with old ones result in small differences due to roundings used in the new formula which are, for most purposes, unimportant. In 1933 the Hitler government came into power and identified the promotion of the auto industry as key to economic recovery: new cars purchased after April 1933 were no longer burdened by an annual car tax charge and German passenger car production surged from 41,727 in 1932 to 276,804 in 1938. Thereafter war and military defeat led to
456-526: A personal mascot for the bonnet of his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Sykes originally crafted a figurine of a female model, Eleanor Thornton , in fluttering robes, pressing a finger against her lips – to symbolise the secret of the love between John and Eleanor, his secretary. The figurine was consequently named The Whisper . Additional attractions include the National Motor Museum Monorail , veteran bus ride, playground, restaurant and
513-496: A plaque bearing this name adorned the bulkhead. An open-top Roi-des-Belges body by coachbuilder Barker was fitted, and the car readied for the Scottish reliability trials of 1907 and, immediately afterwards, another 15,000-mile (24,000 km) test which included driving between London and Glasgow 27 times. The aim was to raise public awareness of the new company and to show the reliability and quietness of their new car. This
570-503: A somewhat progressive way of taxing higher-value cars more than low-cost ones but was also introduced to protect the domestic British motor industry from foreign imports, especially the Ford Model T . Henry Ford's mass production methods meant that the Model T was competitively priced with British-built cars despite being a much larger, more durable and more powerful car than other available similarly-priced models. In 1912 Ford opened
627-486: A substantial part of the Palace House and grounds, including the partially ruined Beaulieu Abbey . Among the monastery buildings to have been preserved are the domus (now used for functions and exhibitions), and the refectory, which is now the parish church. The National Motor Museum is one of several attractions on Lord Montagu's Beaulieu estate which are marketed jointly as "Beaulieu". One admission ticket includes
SECTION 10
#1732772511670684-582: A system based on a calculation including engine size and weight. The tax horsepower system remained in effect for seven cantons long into the 21st century; however, as of 2022 , although quite likely earlier, Geneva was the only canton to still base road tax purely on tax horsepower. The plethora of different taxation systems has contributed to there always being an uncommonly wide variety of different cars marketed in Switzerland. National Motor Museum, Beaulieu The National Motor Museum (originally
741-468: A tax on cubic capacity, which was in turn replaced by a flat tax applying from 1 January 1948. However British cars and cars in other countries applying the same approach to automobile taxation continued to feature long, relatively narrow cylinders even in the 1950s and 1960s, partly because limited investment meant that new car models often had new bodies but their engines were carried over from earlier generations. The emphasis on long strokes, combined with
798-617: Is as follows: where: During the early twentieth century, automobiles in the United States were specified with a figure identical to RAC horsepower and computed using the same formula; this was known either as "NACC horsepower" (named for the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ), "ALAM horsepower" (for NACC's predecessor, the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), or "SAE horsepower" (for
855-401: Is defined simply in terms of overall engine capacity. It therefore encourages small engines, but does not influence the ratio of cylinder bore to stroke. The current Spanish definition does, however, add a factor that varies in order to favour four-stroke engines over two-stroke engines. where: For vehicles where the above formula cannot be applied (e.g. electric vehicles), the tax horsepower
912-438: Is derived from the effective engine power (which is defined by law as the maximum power that the engine can provide after being used at full power from 30 minutes, which is normally lower than the rated engine power). Until 1998 the nominal power of the engine was used instead of the effective power. where: The 26 cantons of Switzerland used (and use) a variety of different taxation methods. Originally, all of Switzerland used
969-526: Is still used in Italy for insurance purposes; it was formerly used also for car property taxation and it is based on engine displacement. Following the 1973 oil crisis up until the 1990s, it was heavily imposed on vehicles with engines larger than 2,000 cc, prompting Italian car makers to fit turbochargers for extra power without enlarging the displacement. Fiscal horsepower also lives on in Spain, but
1026-587: Is the amount of CO 2 released and P the engine power, then: P A {\displaystyle P_{A}} is expressed in horsepower, rounded to the nearest integer. The official emission rate of CO 2 included in the calculation is taken from the European certificate of conformity. Tax horse-power ( Steuer-PS ) was introduced in Germany on 3 June 1906 however in contrast to many regions, i.e. British and French tax horsepower formulae above, it
1083-401: Is the name that they have kept. In 1907 Claude Johnson , commercial and managing director of Rolls-Royce, ordered a car to be used as a demonstrator by the company. With chassis no. 60551 and registered AX 201, it was the 12th 40/50 hp to be made, and was painted in aluminum paint with silver-plated fittings. The car was named the "Silver Ghost" to emphasise its ghost -like quietness, and
1140-498: The Arab Revolt . Construction of a replica Blue Mist began in 2018. The chassis had rigid front and rear axles and leaf springs all round. Early cars only had brakes on the rear wheels operated by a hand lever, with a pedal-operated transmission brake acting on the propeller shaft . The footbrake system moved to drums on the rear axle in 1913. Four-wheel servo-assisted brakes became optional in 1923. Despite these improvements
1197-659: The Montagu Motor Museum ) is a museum in the village of Beaulieu , set in the heart of the New Forest , in the English county of Hampshire . The museum was founded in 1952 by Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu , as a tribute to his father, John, 2nd Baron Montagu , who was one of the pioneers of motoring in the United Kingdom, being the first person to drive a motor car into
SECTION 20
#17327725116701254-567: The Society of Automotive Engineers ). (This last term should not be confused with later horsepower ratings by the SAE.) This value is still used for taxation and license fee purposes in the State of Missouri for passenger vehicles, with electric vehicles assigned to the 12–23 Horsepower bracket by statute. Although tax horsepower was computed on a similar basis in several other European countries during
1311-653: The Volkswagen Beetle , proved more reliable, and achieved greater sales success. In Australia, the various states had their own automobile taxation system. Several depended on the RAC formula, but the flaws of this system were well known as early as 1909. Another formula was the Dendy-Marshall formula, which included an engine's stroke. Several Australian states used Dendy-Marshall, although Western Australia reverted to RAC hp in 1957. The Union of South Africa also depended on Dendy-Marshall, at least in
1368-707: The Wolseley 14/60 and the Alvis 12/70 of 1938. To minimise tax ratings British designers developed engines with very long stroke and low piston surface area. Another effect was the multiplicity of models: Sevens, Eights, Nines, Tens, Elevens, Twelves, Fourteens, Sixteens etc., each to fit with a taxation class. Larger, more lightly stressed engines may have been equally economical to run and, in less variety, produced much more economically. The system discouraged manufacturers from switching to more fuel-efficient overhead valve engines as these generally required larger bores, while
1425-486: The 1920s and 1930s these two figures began to diverge, with engines making much more power than their RAC ratings suggested: by 1924 the 747 cc (45.6 cu in) engine of the Austin Seven (named for its 7 hp rating) produced 10.5 brake horsepower, 50 percent more than its official rating. It became common for the name of a model to include both its RAC tax horsepower and its actual power output, such as
1482-531: The 1920s. The Automobile Club of Australia's "A.C.A. formula" used the same calculations as did Dendy-Marshall formula. The Australian Bureau of Statistics used RAC hp in their Registration of New Motor Vehicles, Make of Vehicles, Australia statistics until this publication was discontinued in June 1976. Several Australian states also added vehicle weight to the power rating, to get a power-weight unit which determined taxation. The Dendy-Marshall / A.C.A. formula
1539-546: The American Springfield factory. The documented chassis price listed for the 1921 American version was US$ 11,750 ($ 200,715 in 2023 dollars ). Many of them still run today. A fine example is on display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu . A 40/50 was privately entered in the prestigious 1912 Austrian Alpine Trial by James Radley , but its 3-speed gearbox proved inadequate for the ascent of
1596-575: The BBC series. It closed on 3 November 2024, and the BBC have now reclaimed all the vehicles. The museum also hosts a collection of the well-known Rolls-Royce radiator mascots – the Spirit of Ecstasy – also known as the Flying Lady . The collection includes The Whisper, a figurine commissioned by John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the 2nd Baron to his friend Charles Robinson Sykes who sculpted
1653-400: The British government. The formula is: where: The formula was calculated from total piston surface area (i.e., "bore" only). The factor of 2.5 accounts for characteristics that were widely seen in engines at the time, such as a mean effective pressure in the cylinder of 90 psi (6.2 bar) and a maximum piston speed of 1,000 feet per minute (5.1 m/s). The system introduced
1710-590: The Italian Riviera, starting from his English residence Castle Malwood in Lyndhurst in Hampshire. This car was then recovered by the company in 1948. Since then, it has been used as a publicity car and travelled worldwide. In 1991, the car was restored. In 2005 it was noted to be the world's most valuable car, its insured value was placed at US$ 35 million. After the 1998 sale of Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd
1767-676: The Katschberg Pass. A factory team of four cars were prepared for the 1913 event with four-speed gearboxes, and engine power increased from 60 bhp (45 kW) to 75 bhp (56 kW) by an increase in compression ratio and larger carburettor. The team gained six awards including the Archduke Leopold Cup. Replicas of the victorious cars were put into production and sold officially as Continental models, but they were called Alpine Eagles by chief test driver (and later Rolls-Royce Managing Director) Ernest Hives , and this
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-536: The Silver Ghost title was taken up by the press, and soon all 40/50s were called by the name, a fact not officially recognised by Rolls-Royce until 1925, when the Phantom range was launched. The Silver Ghost was the origin of Rolls-Royce's claim of making the "best car in the world" – a phrase coined not by themselves, but by the prestigious publication Autocar in 1907. The chassis and engine were also used as
1881-669: The UK motor industry. The museum is run by the National Motor Museum Trust Ltd, a registered charity. An unusual feature of the new museum building in 1972 is the National Motor Museum Monorail passing through its interior. This was inspired by the light railway running through the US Pavilion at the Montreal World's Fair , Expo 67 . Today, in addition to around 285 vehicles manufactured since
1938-469: The architect Sir Hugh Casson was created to drive the project, and the architect Leonard Manasseh was given the contract for the design of the building which was primarily the work of his partner Ian Baker . By 1972, the collection exceeded 300 exhibits. In a ceremony performed by the Duke of Kent the new purpose-built museum building in the parkland surrounding Palace House was opened on 4 July 1972:
1995-520: The basis of a range of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars . In December 1923, four friends of Woodrow Wilson chipped in to buy the former president a Silver Ghost, just weeks before Wilson's death in February 1924. The car was modified so that Wilson, who was disabled, could enter and exit the car more easily. In 1906, Rolls-Royce produced four chassis to be shown at the Olympia car show, two existing models,
2052-499: The car passed into the ownership of Bentley Motors . Tax horsepower#Britain The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate purchase and renewal fees for passenger automobiles based on taxable horsepower. The tax horsepower rating
2109-691: The cars used in various James Bond films were displayed in the Bond in Motion – No Time To Die exhibition in 2022. A Jaguar XKR Convertible used in the Bond film Die Another Day is part of the museum's permanent collection. The exhibit "World of Top Gear " showcased cars created and used by Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond , James May , Matt LeBlanc , Rory Reid , Chris Harris , Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff from June 2009 until November 2024. The exhibit welcomed over five million visitors, showcasing both vehicles and props from
2166-408: The engine's displacement, a commission simplified the formula to: where: A new system was announced on 23 December 1977 to come into force on 1 January 1978 calculated by the following formula: where: From 1998 until January 2020, the fiscal tax depended on a standardised value of carbon dioxide CO 2 emissions in grams per kilometre (g/km) and the maximum engine power in kilowatts (kW). If C
2223-513: The established sidevalve layout could easily use very narrow bores. Despite OHV engines having significant benefits in economy, refinement and performance, the RAC system made these engines more expensive to own because it placed them in a higher tax class than sidevalve engines of identical power output. Despite this, by 1948 the Standard Flying Twelve, a typical mid-size saloon, produced 44 bhp (45 PS; 33 kW) from
2280-509: The late-19th century, the museum has a collection of motoring books, journals, photographs, films, and automobilia of the world and is affiliated to the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust . The "On Screen Cars" exhibit has a display of TV and film cars including Del Boy's Reliant Regal as featured in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses , Mr. Bean ’s lime green Mini and Doctor Who ' s Bessie. Some of
2337-460: The name was changed to the "National Motor Museum", reflecting a change of status from a private collection to a charitable trust and highlighting Montagu's stated aim to provide Britain with a National Motor Museum "worthy of the great achievements of its motor industry". The opening of the museum coincided with the UK launch of the Jaguar XJ12 which made it an appropriate week for celebrating
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-456: The nature of British roads in the pre- motorway era, meant that British engines tended to deliver strong low- and mid-range torque for their size, but low maximum speeds. The long stroke also meant that piston speeds and the load on the big end bearings became potentially damaging at high power outputs. Many smaller British cars did not cope well with sustained cruising at 60 mph (97 km/h) or more, which led to reliability problems when
2451-420: The nearest whole number so a four-stroke engined car of 1,000 cc (61 cu in) would end up designated as a 4 PS (or four horsepower) car for car tax purposes. After April 1928, recognizing the logic of the linear relationship between tax horsepower and engine capacity, the authorities simply set car tax rates according to engine size for passenger cars. (For commercial vehicles vehicle tax became
2508-512: The performance of the Silver Ghost's competitors had improved to the extent that its previous superiority had been eroded by the early 1920s. Sales declined from 742 in 1913 to 430 in 1922. The company decided to launch its replacement which was introduced in 1925 as the New Phantom . After this, older 40/50 models were called Silver Ghosts to avoid confusion. A total of 7874 Silver Ghost cars were produced from 1907 to 1926, including 1701 from
2565-433: The rate of 1 tax horse power for every 200 cm (12 cu in). The Cheval Fiscal , often abbreviated to CV from "chevaux-vapeur" (literally "steam horses") in tax law, is used for the issuing of French registration certificates known as "cartes grises" ("grey cards"). It is an administrative unit originally calculated partly from the power of the engine and used to calculate the amount of tax that may be due at
2622-429: The tax horsepower, calculated as follows: where: or 1.6/π = 0.51 times engine displacement in cc The limits between the horsepower denominations were drawn at either 0.49, 0.50, or 0.51 in different cantons. Thus, the eight horsepower category would cover cars of about 7.5–8.5 CV. In 1973 Berne switched to a taxation system based on vehicle weight, and a few other cantons followed. In 1986 Ticino switched to
2679-464: The time of registration. The Citroën 2CV (two tax horsepower) was the car that kept such a name for the longest time. Its use in France dates from 1 January 1913. It was updated in 1956, with further revisions in 1978 and a new emission-based system introduced in 1998. It was originally defined using the following formula: where: In a circular issued on 28 December 1956, the chevaux fiscaux
2736-466: The triple two-cylinder units on the earlier six. A three-speed transmission was fitted at first with four-speed units used from 1913. The seven-bearing crankshaft had full pressure lubrication, and the centre main bearing was made especially large to remove vibration, essentially splitting the engine into two three-cylinder units. Two spark plugs were fitted to each cylinder with, from 1921, a choice of magneto or coil ignition. The earliest cars had used
2793-474: The two or three decades before the Second World War, continental cylinder dimensions were quoted in millimetres. As a result of rounding when converting the formula between the two measurement systems, a British tax horse-power unit ended up being worth 1.014 continental (i.e. French) tax horse-power units. In Belgium, the tax power depended on the cubic capacity of the engine in cubic centimetres at
2850-747: The vehicles were exported to other markets, especially the United States . Cars such as the Austin A40 , the Morris Minor and the Hillman Minx all achieved notable initial sales success in the US in the late 1940s, until the short service life of the engines when asked to routinely drive long distances at freeway speeds became clear. Other imports originating in countries with different tax rules and existent high speed road networks, in particular
2907-506: The yard of the Houses of Parliament , and having introduced King Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales ) to motoring during the 1890s. At first, the museum consisted of just five cars and a small collection of automobilia displayed in the front hall of Lord Montagu's ancestral home, Palace House; but such was the popularity of this small display that the collection soon outgrew its home, and
SECTION 50
#17327725116702964-587: Was a risky idea: cars of this time were notoriously unreliable, and roads of the day could be horrendous. Nevertheless, the car set off on trials, and with press aboard, broke various records. Even after 7,000 miles (11,000 km), the cost to service the car was a negligible £2 2s 7d (£2.13). The reputation of the 40/50, and Rolls-Royce, was established. The “AX 201” was sold in 1908, for £750, to Sir Daniel Hanbury who used it repeatedly to travel to his Italian residence, Villa della Pergola in Alassio , in
3021-879: Was calculated based on the overall engine displacement from its implementation. The German formula applied a higher tax horse-power factor to two stroke engine cars than to four-stroke engined cars based on the fact each cylinder in a two-stroke engine fires (has a power stroke ) every revolution whereas an Otto cycle or four-stroke cylinder only fires every second revolution . The formulae for calculating units of tax horsepower ( Steuer-PS ) were as follows: four-stroke engined cars = 0.30 × i × d 2 × s {\displaystyle 0.30\times i\times d^{2}\times s} two-stroke engined cars = 0.45 × i × d 2 × s {\displaystyle 0.45\times i\times d^{2}\times s} where: Incomplete fractions were rounded up to
3078-457: Was computed not from actual engine power but by a mathematical formula based on cylinder dimensions. At the beginning of the twentieth century, tax power was reasonably close to real power; as the internal combustion engine developed, real power became larger than nominal taxable power by a factor of ten or more. The so-called RAC horsepower rating was devised in 1910 by the RAC at the invitation of
3135-458: Was defined as: where: The result is multiplied by 0.7 for a four-stroke, diesel engine (also for wood gas-powered vehicles or those running on CNG ). Since ω {\displaystyle \omega } and K {\displaystyle K} are both constants while n {\displaystyle n} , D {\displaystyle D} , and L {\displaystyle L} combine to form
3192-483: Was fitted from 1919 along with electric lights to replace the older ones that used acetylene or oil. Development of the Silver Ghost was suspended during World War I , although the chassis and engine were supplied for use in Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars . A blue 1909 Silver Ghost known as Blue Mist, previously owned by an Irish lord, was used by Lawrence of Arabia as his personal staff car during
3249-456: Was transferred to wooden sheds in the grounds of the house. The reputation and popularity of the Beaulieu collection continued to grow: during 1959, the museum's "attendance figures" reached 296,909. By 1964, annual attendance exceeded the half a million mark and a decision was taken to create a purpose-built museum building in the grounds of the Beaulieu estate. A design committee chaired by
#669330