Jaguar E-Type Series I

Well, Christmas is just one day away and as per my word that I would do a few write-ups on some rare and interesting automobiles this month, here is another. I started off this month with an ultra-rare 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer and so here is another rare beauty and back to the topic of my beloved Jaguars of course, the Jaguar E-Type. It’s actually been overdue for some time for me to write an article on this car but my initial plan was to write to write about the E-Type Series 1, 2 and 3 in one article but unfortunately I haven’t got any good shots of the Series 2 and the Series 3 yet hence, I’ve decided to just split the articles into the three different ones.

1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer

December is certainly a month many of us look forward to. One is because it’s the holiday season and the other is naturally because it’s Christmas and I celebrate Christmas. And here at Your Dream Auto, we are also going to be giving you interesting articles of very rare and interesting cars for you to look forward to, so sit back and keep coming back to follow our updates. And here it is, for our first post for the month of December, an ultra rare 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer of which we have a fine example right here in Malaysia.

At one glance, the Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer will look like a typical automobile from it’s era but once you get closer to it you will realise that a Rolls-Royce will always be a Rolls-Royce (enthusiasts will know what I mean). And also do bear in mind that this particular car was built before Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley (check out our earlier write-up on ‘The difference between a classic Rolls-Royce and a classic Bentley’) so which means that they were not sharing DNAs yet.

This particular Rolls-Royce was one of only three lightweight tourers ever built by the Connaught Coachbuilders. As with most vintage cars during this time, only the chassis was built by the manufacturer in this case Rolls-Royce and the body was made and fitted by coachbuilders. The engine was a 3.1 litre (3,127 cc to be exact), Rolls-Royce inline 6 cylinder mated with a four-speed gearbox. Just in case you were wondering what the ‘Twenty’ means in the name of the car, it’s simply means it’s a 20horsepower engine and depending on the weight and size of the body put on it’s chassis, some cars were said to be able to go up to almost 100 km/h. But what makes this particular Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer more interesting is the fact that the current owner has got most of it’s history intact which even includes when the car was shipped to Malaysia.

To give a brief history, this particular car was shipped to West Malaysia (then known as Malaya) in June 1926. It was then used in a rubber estate in one of the states and even survived World War II. The current owner then acquired this piece of history back in 1981 and did a full restoration which was completed in 1983. Since then the owner has decided to keep the car around Malaysia and Singapore to preserve it’s history and this Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer is currently believed to be the oldest surviving Rolls-Royce in good condition  in this part of the world. So do enjoy the shots I took below though I must admit that the car looks way better in real life rather than in the photos.

Asia Klasika Motor Festival 2014

The months of October and November are certainly not to be missed when it comes to those who love and appreciate automobiles in Malaysia. These two months are when a number of notable automobile shows are held including the one we are talking about today, the Asia Klasika Motor Festival or also simply known as Asia Klasika 2014 that happened over the last weekend. A little bit away from tradition, the previous shows were held together with the NST Car of the Year event but this time the organisers decided to move on their own and it certainly was not a letdown.

1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer

Historic Motoring Ventures being the organisers, held the event at the beautiful and scenic Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel. With the number of cars in attendance it was no surprise why they needed a big space as there were easily a hundred over cars and motorcycles on display as well as some for sale at their ‘The Pullman Sale’ section. What an impressive array of cars they had which included a good blend of British, German, Italian, Japanese and many other makes from various countries.

I’ve included a few photos below. As you may realise I did not take photos of many cars as I only took those cars that naturally attracted me. I will caption the photos for easy identification but I must say the two favourites of mine have to be the 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer as well as the Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster which I have previously featured. Haha.. I definitely can’t run too far from my obsession with the British and German Automobiles.

Jaguar XK140

Alfa Romeo GTV 1750

MGA

MGB

Bentley R-Type

Chevrolet Impala

Porsche 911 Turbo

Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith

Alfa Romeo Giulia GTC

 

Alfa Romeo Montreal

Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R

Maserati Ghibli

Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Bentleys and Rolls-Royce have always had very impressive names when it came to naming their models. Much earlier, I had a short write-up on ‘The difference between a classic Rolls-Royce and a classic Bentley’. Rolls-Royce had models such as the Phantom, Ghost, Silver Spirit, Silver Shadow and so on. Bentley on the other hand had a slightly different way of naming their cars but they were not less impressive than their Rolls-Royce counterparts which included 6 ½ liter Speed Six, Mulsanne, Turbo R (click the link for the write-up) and so on. Today I have the first model of the current lineup of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur.

The Flying Spur as it is commonly known was only the second model to be introduced since the Volkswagen Group took over in 1999. It was only second to the 2-door Continental GT. The Flying Spur was meant to be a Sports Saloon as it boasted a big 6.0 litre displacement with twin-turbo which was similar to that in the Continental GT. This was a very unique engine as it had the W12 (yes I said W12 correctly) configuration instead of the usual 6.75 litre V8s in the older Bentleys and it also supposed to be rated at more than 500hp.

As Bentleys are known as cars to be driven by the owners themselves, they always boasted of power. Some time back I had the opportunity to get up close with a Flying Spur. This was the first model but it was definitely an impressive vehicle. Sitting in the driver’s seat certainly got me excited as even though it was a huge car (it is 5.3 metres long), you know there’s helluva lot of power in it for the equally huge engine. It even has big 19" rims as standard. The interior was excellent and so was the leg space for the rear passengers. The dashboard still has the classic feel to it with the design of its gauges. Sigh.. I’d love to own one someday. I’ve included some photos below of this very car as well as video of a similar car for you to get a closer look at it.

And the video

Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit / Silver Spur

Probably the best selling Rolls-Royce after the Silver Shadow, the Silver Spirit is undoubtedly a car that was most commonly used by royals in Malaysia in the 80s and 90s. It was always the automobile of choice whenever they attend functions as it oozed class when parked as well as when on the move. The Silver Spirit was produced between the years 1980 – 1999 and there were about 20,000 units built during that period. There was also a long wheel base version of the Silver Spirit which was known as the Silver Spur. A notable feature of the Silver Spirit was that it had rectangular headlamps and it was a first for Rolls-Royce. It was also the first model to feature the retractable ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’.

At the time when the Silver Spirits were produced, Rolls-Royce and Bentley still belonged to the same parent company as Bentley. I had a write-up on this is one of my earlier posts titled ‘The difference between a classic Rolls-Royce and a classic Bentley’. The similar platform was used by Bentley to produce their models in the same era which included the Bentley Eight, Mulsanne as well as the Bentley Turbo models. Of course, the differences were only cosmetic and naturally they were carrying different badges. 

The super-luxurious interior

All models were powered by the 6.75 litre V8 engine and being a huge car it certainly needed a big heart to move it from one place to another. Over the years they had done some facelifts to update the car as well as introduce new suspension systems, the introduction of ABS as well as fuel-injecting the later models. The initial models were twin-carburetor powered. And coming to the transmission, the earlier models has a 3-speed automatic gearbox mated to the enormous 6.75 litre V8 but in the 90s, a 4-speed automatic was adopted which personally I think was a good move.

Below is the long wheel base Rolls-Royce Silver Spur which happens to be a very rare model. It was spotted at one of my visits to a friend of mine. It wasn’t really in fantastic condition but it was a Silver Spur. It’s really a stunner if you like big cars like me. Buying one in Malaysia is not too expensive and it’ll cost you about RM 80,000 onwards for a good example but maintaining it with the road tax and general maintenance of course is not that cheap. The full road tax for this model is almost RM 20,000 per year unless of course your car is more than 25 years old and you’ll be eligible for the 80% discount of which the road tax will be RM 4,000. It’s a lot of difference but it’s still a lot of money!! But sitting in one will definitely make u feel like a king.. haha..

Below is a video of a 1989 UK Rolls Royce Silver Spirit