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Car of the Month - February 2022 |
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The year 2022 marks the Golden Jubilee of H.M. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. In January 1972 the throne of the Scandinavian Kingdom had passed to Her Majesty. She is Sovereign of Denmark and – because the Kingdom includes those autonomous territories – of the Faroe Islands and of Greenland, too. Over all the years of her reign a most loyal servant has been the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, #LGLW25. That car she had inherited from her father H.M The Late King Frederik IX (1899 – 1972). Over a longer period than merely 50 years, indeed from 1958 onwards the Silver Wraith performed impeccably on formal occasions when employed as Royal Transport.
The English motor car manufacturer had received the Royal order for this car in 1957 and delivered as one from the last batches of this model series (production was discontinued with the advent of Rolls-Royce Phantom V in 1959) the ‘running chassis’ to London coachbuilders Hooper & Co. The car from a ‘late series’ was propelled by a 6-cylinder in-line engine with a capacity of 4.889 cc. Handling was enhanced by automatic gearbox and power assisted steering. On this chassis Hooper erected a Limousine body to their Design-No. 8460. Hooper’s chief-designer Osmond Rivers took no risk with his coachbuilder’s drawing because he ‘developed’ outward appearance of the car from a formal limousine Hooper had already built in 1952. However his draft for the new car of the Danish King was much advanced with lines adapted to the extended wheelbase (‘LW’ in the chassis-number de-coded to Long Wheelbase) and with headlamps integrated into the front wings.
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The car has not been built (as erroneously stated in the book "R-R, Head of State Motor Cars") to Hooper's Specification No. 1017. From Osmond Rivers came the advice on Hooper's Design 8460 for #LGLW25 the coachbuilder has 'progressed' to Specification No. 1019. All details were listed precisely. The finished product obviously did meet all requirements of a State Limousine perfectly well. As State Car No. 1 with no registration but plates fitted front and rear heralding with their large-sized Royal Crown what sort of vehicle was on its way for this car in Denmark the designation ‘Store Krone’ (Great Crown) was coined.
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