(Rollover to see inside the Rolls Royce)
Armoured Rolls Royce Silver Ghost 1914
Being pursued by British soldiers in a British motor and fired at by a British machine gun, ain’t the most comfortable feeling for one as patriotic as I. It was all Marty’s fault of course, but I’m not one to stick the blame in and in any case, if we hadn’t been forced to flee that night (in rather unpleasant circumstances) we would never have gotten aboard the Ark. Though, I’m in two minds still whether that had been such a good idea.
These armoured cars were built on a standard Silver Ghost chassis – which goes to show how strong the run-of-the-mill Rolls is. The British had quite a few of them in the army in 1914 and later in the year used them extensively in the Great War. In September, 1914, with war escalating alarmingly, all Silver Ghost chassis were requisitioned by the army to build these beauties. They were quick too (I can attest to that) able to reach 45 miles per hour, reliable (well, it’s a Rolls, isn’t it?) and that Vickers machine gun packed a nasty punch.
They did best in the dry lands of North Africa and the Near East – the mud of the Western Front didn’t suit them at all. Lawrence of Arabia had a fleet of nine under his command and famously quipped they were ‘worth more than rubies’. From my experience, you don’t want even one chasing after you.
RS
