ISSN 0159-4583 Quidvis recte facturn. quamvis hurnile praeclarurn* PR/ECLARVM The Federal Journal of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club of Australia. No. 1-97. February, 1997 It IW Si I }L SED51 Bob & Down Skilled (A.C.T.) John Blatchley’s Masterpiece The Quintessential Rolls-Royce * Whatever is rightly done, however humble. Is noble. — Royce, 1924. Sag s ' j e. 1 H w si if*■Si Aj ■/ 1 1 ■■■'If j I a i S i Mils A i f ■ * Bl-B I I £i i i If Ml N A X It ■■r mHMHl ■ You may think these two professionals are similar... but the guy on the left doesn't offer a 3-year warranty on parts. Skilled hands, a sharp mind, and years of training. A lot goes into being a qualified Rolls-Royce and Bentley technician, but then few jobs are more important than maintaining the health of the world's finest motor cars. There's only one place in Sydney where you'll find the capabilities of qualified Rolls-Royce and Bentley technicians, York Motors. So sure are we of our staff's expertise, that we gladly offer a three-year warranty on parts and labour, and a remarkable five-year warranty on exhaust system parts and labour for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars dating from 1956. Whether your Rolls-Royce or Bentley needs complex repairs, or just a simple government check, R T A nobody else in Sydney offers the service, the confidence, Authorised Inspection Station Safety Inspection Report or the warranty coverage of York Motors. FITTED PARTS I YORK MOTORS SERVICE and PARTS F s Distributor for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars YORK MOTORS 137-157 Bourke Street, East Sydney Quality Endorsed • Service (02) 357 4222 Chris Ikin or Warrick Booth YEAR Company ISO 9002 Lie 5641/07 ■sf 00 • Parts (02) 326 9595 Tom Small WARRANTY Standards Australia (N s Q Q PRAcCLARVM The Federal Journal of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club of Australia. PRAECLARUM (ISSN 0159-4583) is published six times per year by Issue No. 1-97. February, 1997 the Federal Council of the Rolls-Royce Owners' Club of Australia. Whilst every care is taken to check information published, no responsibility can be accepted for errors. Views expressed by the Editor and contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Club. Nothing in this journal, including any advertisement, should REGULAR FEATURES be construed as endorsement by the Editor or the Club of the quality or suitability of any product, service or procedure. Editorial 2880 Subscriptions: PRAECLARUM is available to overseas non-members on a subscription basis at $A50.00 per year by Economy Air mail. Such subscriptions carry no membership privileges. Events List 2882 Change of Address: Club members should notify their Branch Secretary (addresses below), not the Editor, in the first instance to advise change of address or non-receipt of an issue. Subscribers From the Federal President 2883 should notify Dispatch (see FEDERAL PUBLICATIONS, below). Contributions: Articles, letters and/or illustrations for publication should be sent to the Editor, address below. Articles can be accepted Book Reviews 2901 as text file on 3V2‘ or 51/4- computer disk, or as hard copy. FEDERAL EXECUTIVE Letters to Editor 2902 PRESIDENT: David Vann, 6 Burgundy St., Carseldine, Qld. 4034 Market Place 2903 07-3263-8572 (h) 07-3865-3287 (w) 07-3865-4822 (FAX) SECRETARY: Ian Dunn, ARTICLES P.O. Box 163, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2602 06-207-5455 (w) 06-251 -4040 (h) 06-207-5468 (FAX) Thinking the unthinkable: Returning to our roots TREASURER: David Miller, 9 Banvard PI., Chapman, A.C.T. 2611 Tom Clarke ponders the ramifications for the 06-288-6910 Clubs of the emerging new developments FEDERAL PUBLICATIONS in the Company and its products 2884 PRAECLARUM EDITOR: Martin Bennett, By Ghost down the California Coast ‘Allambi’, RMB 3310, Goulburn, N.S.W. 2580 048-29-7140 (’Phone/FAX) Keith Wherry takes us 1,000 miles through California on the R.R.O.C. Inc. Vintage Tour 2885 REGISTRAR (‘CHASSIS PLATE’): George Forbes, 345-53 Clarendon St., Sth. Melbourne, Vic. 3205 03-9690-1455 (w) 03-9593-1455 (h) 03-9696-2996 (FAX) John Polwhele Blatchley DISPATCH: Eric and May Goudie, Martin Bennett traces the distinguished, career of 25 Cowper St., Ainslie, A.C.T. 2602 a great Rolls-Royce and Bentley coachwork stylist 2888 06-248-5183 BRANCH SECRETARIES Royce and the Vibration Damper With his usual forensic scrutiny, Tom Clarke Australian Capital Territory: Joy Burns, 29 Packer St., misses no clues in resolving a Rolls-Royce riddle 2895 Weetangera, A.C.T. 2614.06-254-5495 New South Wales: Judith Merlin, 31A Terry Rd., Denistone, N.S.W. 2114. 02-9808-3329 SUB-BRANCH CONTACTS Queensland: Northern Territory: Tasmania: Graham Leacock, 8 Hamilton Rd., Kathy Preston, P.O. Box 1066, Ivan Pearson, 1710 Channel Highway, Wavell Heights, Qld. 4012. 07-3266-5042 Palmerston, N.T. 0831. 089-83-1029 Margate, Tas. 7054. 03-6267-2708 South Australia: Carol van der Pennen, P.O. Box 199, Willunga, S.A. 5172 08-8383-0393 Victoria: Front Cover Photo: Robin Hickman, P.O. Box 330, The Silver Cloud standard saloon — perhaps the most defining of all Rolls-Royce body Vermont, Vic. 3133. 03-9872-3233 shapes and the crowning achievement of the long and distinguished coachwork styling career of J. P. Blatchley. This particularly beautiful 1957 Silver Cloud (SED51), owned by Western Australia: Bob & Dawn Skillen (A.C.T.), was photographed by your Editor at the British High Jacqui Walker, P.O. Box 1362, Commission, Canberra. Midland, W.A. 6056. 09-298-9116 2880 PR7ECLARVM E From the Editor * Phantom of the (Peking) Opera In September this year New South Wh Wales members John Matheson and !»»| Jeanne Eve will drive their former Vice- Regal 1967 Phantom V (5VF159) in the Peking-Paris Motor Challenge, an epic re-enactment of the 1907 Peking-Paris IB1B race, joining around 100 other cars. In 1907, five cars started and four finished, with a 7-litre Itala in first place. Roads were non-existent for much of the route across China, Mongolia and Russia, and This 1967 Phantom V (5VF159) is to be entered by owners John Matheson and Jeanne Eve competitors had to navigate by compass. (N.S. W.) in the Peking-Paris Motor Challenge in September. The magnificent ex-Commonwealth Present day conditions may well be Government H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward limousine is seen in this photograph at 'Belltrees’, near little better, and the rigours of such a Scone, N.S.W., on the 'Beyond the Black Stump'overlander tour to the 1994 Federal Rally. Photo by the Editor. drive for both car and drivers should not be underestimated. The coast-to-coast drive across Australia is a Sunday picnic of the Peninsula Hotel Phantom II in famous showrooms in Berkeley Square, in comparison. P.6-96, p.2847. This lovely car is in fact Mayfair. The customer was a Japanese With its effortless cruising capabil­ 74SK, not 74UK as indicated. businessman who placed the order on ities, ample ground clearance, great the basis of an artist’s impression. It was comfort and sheer unbreakability, the big Platinum Anniversary Azure one of five cars finished in Platinum with Phantom should prove an eminently To round off what has been an out­ Dark Blue Connolly hide interior. The suitable car in which to contemplate such standing year for Rolls-Royce and other five cars will appear in Le Mans an adventure. Bentley sales around the world and par­ Green with Sandstone upholstery, as a I am sure that all members of the Club ticularly in the U.K., and to mark their own tribute to the firm’s founder, Jack will wish to join me in wishing John and 70th anniversary, Jack Barclay Ltd have Barclay, who in the glory days of the late Jeanne bon voyage and happy, safe produced a special Bentley 'Platinum 1920s was one of the famed ‘Bentley motoring from Beijing to Paris in Sept­ Anniversary Azure’ in conjunction with Boys’ who so dominated the Le Mans ember. Perhaps we can hope for an art­ Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. 24-hour race in their big green Bentleys. icle in PRAECLARUM after their return. Only ten of the special limited edition The ten cars will be delivered at the convertibles are being built, at a retail rate of two a month. Wrong Phantom II price of £272,000 — £50,000 more than Murray Dewar (Vic.) has pointed out the 'standard' Azure! Seif help that Steve Stuckey (A.C.T.) made an un­ At the time of writing the first Platinum At the instigation of member George characteristic slip-up in his identification Azure had been sold from Jack Barclay’s Shores, A.C.T. Branch members have The Jack Barclay Platinum Anniversary Azure. This special limited edition of ten Bentley Azure convertibles will be delivered over a five month period. Five cars will be finished in Platinum with dark blue leather upholstery and the other five in Le Mans Green with Sandstone upholstery piped green. Note the special Jack Barclay 'ruched' style seat pleating and ‘starburst’ burr walnut veneers. Photos courtesy of Jack Barclay Ltd, London. OeS- 'v-"..." \ jB200I 1-97 2881 Stanley Sedgwick It is with great sorrow that I report Illi the death of a prominent stalwart of the Rolls-Royce and Bentley movement. Stanley Sedgwick was for many years Chairman of the Bentley Drivers’ Club, and latterly its Patron, as well as a distinguished author of a number of mainly Bentley oriented books, including Twenty Years of Crewe Bentleys, All the Pre-War Bentleys — As New, and the remarkable Motoring My Way.