1948 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Saloon

From 1946 to 1959, Rolls-Royce produced 1783 Silver Wraiths. Until World War Two, Rolls-Royce produced only the chassis and all of the bodies were added by coachbuilders. After the war, the company's products were much more homogeneous with most bodies being built by Rolls-Royce. The Silver Wraith is the major exception with a huge variety of bodies being build during its production run. Many of the body designs however, were built in batches of between ten and fifty.

This saloon wears a body built by Freestone and Webb, and is one of five such examples produced. Power is from a F-head inline six-cylinder engine that displaces 260 cubic-inches and produces 126 horsepower. The wheelbase measures 127 inches and the car weighs approximately 4480 pounds. The chassis alone was priced at 2035 pounds sterling. With coachwork, this car cost more than 3500 pounds sterling.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2010