It was at Cheffins auction on Saturday 2nd October 2004 at Duxford that I came face to face with GXO87, a 1929 20/25. I'd been looking for a decent example for some time and had a budget of somewhere around the estimate price.

Some research (actually a chat with that fine RR man Harvey Wash of Kelvedon) suggested that the vehicle was known to have had an extensive (and expensive) renovation some 10 or so years ago and was understood to be still be in reasonably good condition now.

After a nervous day (it was almost the last lot of the day) I entered the bidding fray. The outcome was success at what I considered a reasonable, if account emptying, price.

An inspection and test drive gave the appearance of all being mechanically well, so I drove her home without incident.

The following day I decided to show off at my village local. In for a Sunday lunchtime pint, with observations & tyre kicking by a number of regulars; then off home. Most embarrassingly she failed to proceed 100 yards down the road. Much tinkering with unfamiliar components resulted in a re-start and so on to home.
My request for help via the RREC message board resuted in valuable advice from John Whetton, Pat Jeater, Stephe Boddice and Alan Padgett. Over the following weeks various fixed were attempted. Each improved something that was in a less than perfect state. On a road test after each fix all appeared to be well, only to result in another failure to proceed some days or weeks later. After a while, for no particular reason, all seem to be well (but more of that later).

Something not quite right on purchase was a cracked exhaust manifold. Nothing too bad but not quite right, the noise level being a little louder than Henry intended. Enquiries of a well known RR supplier advised that my (early) 20/25 finned manifold was "not used on many cars and are out of stock, but should be available in a few weeks". As I write this some year and a half later the stock position remains unaltered (apparently a problem with castings from their supplier)! I am waiting patiently in the hope that all will be resolved eventually.

A separate problem was a slipping clutch. A lack of confidence and of any special tools that might be needed resulted in my having Harvey Wash undertake the repair.
Having travelled two or three hundred miles over the winter, including a New Year's Day visit to VSCC Scole, I now felt confident enough to plan to realise a long held ambition - a tour in France.
Preparation included a full service, accumulation of a kit of those parts most likely to fail, construction of a luggage box, purchase of AA get you home service and research into others who have gone before.

Irene (wife) and I left home in GXO87 on 14 May 2005 bound for Dover, going down to meet friends in the Dordogne and then return. In all a two week outing. Just outside Dover and at least three months since the previous occasion, the dreaded fail to proceed returned. After the usual fiddling we were off again. We lost track of the number of occasions this exercise was repeated between Boulogne and the Dordogne. On each and every occasion in France someone stopped to see if they could provide assistance. An extra pain was that the start motor stopped working so it was 'out with the handle' each time - much to the amusement of the gathered crowd! At a stop somewhere south of Paris the penny finally dropped - it was the air balance valve on top of the Autovac (something my 'advisors' had mentioned back in October, but I hadn't understood properly). The piston was slightly tight at the fullest extent of its travel, needing the lightest of a poke to free it. So, for miles all was well until some circumstance caused the piston to move a little further that normal and become stuck. The remedy was crude - reduce the piston diameter with 600 grade wet-and-dry paper (and replacement of the whole valve unit once back home). No more problems.

In all we covered some 2300 miles of which maybe 20 were unavoidably on French autoroutes and the M25 bridge/tunnel, 50 on main roads with the whole of the balance on minor roads - such a delightful change from the congested UK.

Just to finish off we attended the start of the Boulogne bicycle run before catching the ferry home. Comfortable cruising speed is 50mph with a top speed of probably about 60mph. On the whole trip we overtook five moving vehicles, of which 4 were tractors. I've no idea of petrol consumption but found that the engine just consumed the gallon of oil I had taken with us.

June saw us at our first Kelmarsh. What a collection of proper cars, a few rougher, but most in outstanding order. Similarly the people; of those I talked to there were one or two stereotype RR owners but the rest were fine, friendly and helpful folk.

Summer came and went with us making use of GKO87 whenever I could find the excuse.

Autumn and it is the end of my first year with GXO87. I remain incredibly pleased with my acquisition. I'm now thinking how I might improve the car. An oil filter should provide some insurance for the engine, the road springs need gators, some damage to the rear wings needs rectification but otherwise I don't think I'll change much. The (American) chrome plating of some under-bonnet components is unfortunate but is now part of the car's history, as are a few bodywork items that I am told are not 'proper'.

Now could I ever get the pennies together for a Ghost or a Phantom……………???