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The restoration has indeed been a major challenge. GRW59 is a unique car so every bit of the bodywork had to be rebuilt by hand including the complex structure of the drophead roof. Luckily there was enough of the car left to be able to carry out a faithful restoration without any part being left to the imagination. Painting, upholstery and wiring remain to be completed this winter which are straightforward tasks compared with the rebuild. The engine will be started for the first time in nearly fifty years during the first week of November.
1932 Chassis issued 10.11.32. Car despatched ex-works 21.12.32 as an "Enclosed drive" and long-wheel-base, signifying a saloon body to be fitted. Designated body-builder was Gangloff of Colmar, France. Engine number E6H. 1933 In January, M. Joseph Rubin of 8. Rue de l'Aubepine, Geneva takes delivery of GRW59. The passage from England was arranged by A. Schmidt, a Geneva dealer in Rolls Royce cars. Between 1923 & 1934 Joseph Rubin owned eight Rolls-Royce & Bentley cars including the very similar Worblaufen bodied GFT31. Rubin was an architect & entrepreneur who died in September 1937. Research at the Archive de Geneve who contacted a Rubin grandson & subsequent correspondence has revealed that the Rubin family have long since been split by a bitter feud. This has severely hampered investigations through the Rubin family. None of those Rubin family members approached wished to discuss either Joseph Rubin or his cars. (Correspondence available) The Archive de Geneve nevertheless discovered the original Permit de circulation of the car. This document gives details of the original body specifications together with the insurer & insurance certificate number. The Union Suisse which issued this certificate is still operating. Their Geneva HQ office has been contacted requesting whether any more detail can be furnished - particularly of the next owner following the death of Mr Rubin in 1934. In 1933 GRW 59 is registered in Geneva as a blue "conduite-interieure" (saloon). Only seven Roll Royce cars are listed as having their bodywork built by Gangloff. Mr Rubin owned four of them GRW59 and GFT31 among them.
1937. August. GRW59 is re-bodied & completed by Herman Graber of Berne. In September Rubin dies. In April 2003, "The Friends of Herman Graber Association" formally identify GRW59 as possessing a Graber body. The only other existing pre-war Graber bodied Rolls-Royce car is GZK58, re-bodied in 1933 by Graber as a Sedanca de Ville. GZK58, built in 1926, was also originally bodied (as a tourer) by Gangloff of Colmar. GZK58 is in the care of the Swiss National Museum of Transport in Luzern, previously thought to be the only example of a pre-war Graber Rolls. (album photographs of GZK58 available) GRW59 is recorded as having visited the Rolls Royce Cricklewood service centre for work and adjustments (Details available) on 16.10.1933/08.05.1934/13.09.34 and finally on 07.08.1939 just before the declaration of war between England and Germany on 04.09.1939 1945 October. GRW59 was acquired in Rome by the late Reverend George Irving, Director British Troops Welfare Austria and Secretary to the Huts & Canteens Committee, Church of Scotland, (on behalf of the Moderator of the Church of Scotland). The Rev Irving was then serving in Italy & Klagenfurt, southern Austria. His widow Maybell, has written to me stating that her husband acquired the car from a Prince Ali Walli of Abyssinia. In 1946, the Rev & Mrs Irving toured Italy & Austria on their honeymoon in GRW59. (Correspondence with Mrs George (Maybell) Irving available) 1945 Lt/Colonel Eric Barrass, President (retired) of the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club, recalls seeing the car at Voitsberg when commanding the Recce Regiment of the 78th Division, then responsible for administering Klagenfurt District, Southern Austria.
1948 April. Major Jack Comyn, MBE 8th Hussars (who died in 2000 but lived to see GRW59 on her arrival in UK, after 40 years in USA - correspondence available) is posted to Vienna HQ BTA, (British-Troops-in-Austria) Needing private transport, he makes enquiries & learns that there are two Rolls-Royce cars, one a coupe, the other a saloon, apparently lying at Klagenfurt District HQ. He investigates, finds this to be true & subsequently decides to try to buy the coupe GRW59. He discovers, to his surprise, that both cars belong to the "Huts & Canteens Committee" of the Church of Scotland. His enquiries elicit an unconfirmed account of the car's liberation in Rome during 1944 & previous ownership by an "Abyssinian Prince." Major Comyn negotiates with the Moderator of the Church of Scotland & purchases the car for £550 (recorded in the 1947 CoS minutes - available). Major Comyn marries in 1948 & like the Reverend Irving before him, goes on honeymoon in GRW59. The car is involved, in a serious accident with an Austrian lorry. Both Major Comyn & his wife spend a fortnight in hospital. (correspondence with the first Mrs Comyn available) So solidly constructed was the chassis, however, that no lasting damage was suffered by GRW59. Major Comyn believed that neither he nor his wife would have survived had the car not been built so strongly built. Major Comyn came to stay at Eastington Manor in May 1998 where he viewed GRW 59 for the first time since 1948. NB The pre-war Rolls-Royce agent for Vienna was still operating with enough spares to furnish both The Reverend Irving & Major Comyn's requirements throughout their tours of duty in Italy & Austria.
1950 On being posted back to England, in the spring of 1950, Major Comyn sells GRW 59 to Major Tom Evill DSO, CBE, Royal Engineers. Tom Evill keeps the car in impeccable condition until his demise in 1960, sadly hastened by wounds suffered in the war. (Limited correspondence available) 1960-1962 An old army friend of (now) Brigadier Evill, Colonel David Balmain, (deceased) bought the car from Tom Evill's widow. He was then Secretary to the TA Association in Argyllshire a post which entailed a great deal of driving. Two years later, having had a new radiator fitted, the car needed further repairs. These were going to be expensive so when Col DB was approached by a dealer, much taken by the body-work, at Doncaster races with an offer for £300, he sold the car with some regret. (Correspondence available) 1963-1997 The car languishes, neglected & depleted in America, having passed through several owners who either did not appreciate the rare value of such a car or who lacked the will or finance to do anything about it. The instrument panel & front seat were the main items pillaged during this period. 1990-1998 Richard Raynsford locates (through the RREC bulletin) GRW59 in Seattle early September 1997 after a ten year search. He visits & buys the car from E. Lee Noble of Seattle, Washington in January 1998. The vehicle arrived in the UK at the end of February & was stored at Eastington Manor, Glos until late November. 1998. It has since been undergoing a complete restoration with Fiennes Restorations Ltd, Clanfield, Oxon. GRW59 will be completed to concours standard in May 2007 Kelvin Price, a leading authority on 20/25 Rolls-Royce cars & Section Secretary South Wales for the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club, has kindly undertaken the task of Project Manager for the task of restoring GRW59 to pristine condition. Research into the missing years 1937 - 1944 is now of paramount importance in establishing the provenance of GRW59 & is continuing BREAKING NEWS On 9th November 2006, the Swiss Car Register, a private organisation, contacted Richard Raynsford to say that they had partly identified the owner of GRW59 in 1939 as the brother of the King of Afghanistan, Shah Nader Khan who came to the throne in 1929 with the help his brothers Sardar Shah Mahmoud (Ali) Khan and Sardar Shah Wali Khan. Shah Wali Khan represented his country in London and then throughout the war in Paris. Shah Mahmoud Khan is recorded in the 1944 edition of the Almanac de Gotha as being the First Secretary of the Afghan legation in Rome. In 1946 Shah Mahmoud Khan became Prime Minister of Afghanistan until 1953. He died in 1959 aged 69 years. (picture available)
Mahmoud (Ali) Khan was first secretary in the Afghanistan embassy in Rome in 1944 which may explain the bizarre image of an Afghan Prince driving around Fascist Rome in a gas-guzzling "enemy" car, something Mussolini would never have tolerated in a Roman citizen, especially at a time when the Axis powers were very short of petrol. The precise identification of the Prince has yet to be confirmed. Now that research can be tightly and narrowly focussed, the missing details in the provenance of GRW59 should shortly be completed. Rr10/11/06
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