1931 Rolls-Royce 20/25 Drop Head Coupe

The 20/25 got its unusual name when the British government decided, more than a century ago, to allow the use of self-propelled vehicles on its roads, and devised a system of taxation for their use. It was agreed to base the tax rates on a formula that considered such factors as the engine's number of cylinder and their bore (but interestingly, not their stroke), and some other physical dimensions as well. The resulting arbitrary calculation produced a number that was considered the vehicle's taxable horsepower, which was then used to determine the annual road use tax.

The tax brackets were divided by single whole horsepower increments up to and including twenty. This covered the vast majority of the cars on the road at that time, and for some time after. Beyond twenty taxable horsepower, the brackets were divided into larger segments, the next being the one for twenty to twenty-five taxable horsepower (20/25), then 25/30, etc. with 40/50 being one of the largest, if not the largest, categories.

In the pre-war era, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Ltd. did not make complete cars. In that era, when a wealthy buyer decided to own a Rolls-Royce, he or she selected the coachbuilder of their choice and then chose the car's body styling from a wide variety of offerings from that coachbuilder's catalogue. This current body on this chassis is by Carrosserie Worblaufen, a Swiss coachbuilder, which was a rare choice on a Rolls-Royce.

81 Rolls-Royce vehicles were designated with the GFT chassis prefix and this particular example is the 31st. It is believed to have been ordered new on behalf of Mr. J. Rubin, of Geneva, Switzerland, and initially intended to receive coachwork from the Parisian carrosserie Million-Guiet. The car was later sent to Colmar, Alsace, to be bodied by Gangloff. It is believed that its current drophead coupe body by Carrosserie Worblaufen was installed while in the care of Albert Nobele, of Geneva - who had purchased the car by 1937.

In the late 1950s, Dr. J.V. Neff, of Newport Beach, California imported the car to the United States from Switzerland. Its next owner is believed to have been Ric Brecheisen of Phoenix, Arizona, who retained it through the late 1960s. C. Fred Brown of Portsmouth, Ohio purchased it in 1976 and subsequently passed it in the early 1980s to David Rosenheim, of West End, New Jersey. Mr. Rosenheim's estate sold it in 1983 to John P. Smalley, who later sold it to Johnny Pascucci of Meriden, Connecticut. John Moir of Chocorua, New Hampshire purchased it in 1989 and kept it through October 2014. The current caretaker(s) acquired it from Mr. Moir and had it sent to Steve Litten of Vintage Auto Rebuilds in Chardon, Ohio, for a three-year no-expense-spared comprehensive restoration. The work included a complete rebuild of the running gear, engine, and refinishing of the coachwork in silver with a light grey top. The interior was re-upholstered with burgundy leather.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2022