Refurbishment of my 1936 Rolls-Royce 25/30 Barker Limousine
A good friend of mine sent me the two pictures above asking if I knew someone who might be interested in buying an old Rolls-Royce. To cut a long story short, a week later the owner presented me with the Spirit of Ecstasy as proof of purchase. And with that, after several years of dreaming about this moment, I was finally the proud owner of a pre-war Rolls-Royce motorcar.
The big day finally arrived and we collected her with my trusty old Land-Rover.
Me with the previous owner, who owned GAN81 since 1970.
The car was filthy from lack of use, and my wife was not having any of that, so as soon as I turned my back she and my son were in there with vacuum cleaner and an assortment of weird and wonderful cleaning apparatus' and chemicals.
The end result was fabulous, and I celebrated their efforts in the appropriate manner. Even my son was pleased with his handiwork.
Following the cleaning process I started on the mechanical re-commissioning of the car. Even though she was in perfect running condition, I like to change all fluids and do a full service before I start using a newly acquired car. The above pictures show the gearbox with the floorboards removed, before and after cleaning.
The rear end of the car was elevated for easy access to the diff and exhaust. I also drained out all the old fuel while I had access to the fuel tank.
The rear section of the exhaust was in poor condition, so I removed it and had a new one made up.
I painted the new exhaust with satin black flame proof paint for that period look.
The original air filter was replaced with a modern replacement item.
The old and the new. How times have changed...
I know that it would have been more appropriate to collect the new carpets by camel, but I do not currently have a camel, so this had to do.	My intention was to buy cheap, temporary carpets to protect he wooden floorboards during restoration, but I got carried away and came home with these luxurious Persians instead. I think it is most appropriate for such a grand old lady.
The front exhaust section was leaking badly, so rather that trying to repair the original I had my friendly exhaust man make up a new one using modern components.	I had to manufacture my own mounting points in order to secure the modern exhaust in an old fashioned way to suite the car.
New flanges were laser cut...	...and gaskets were hand made from suitable heat-resistant material.
The heat-resistant gasket material is very difficult to work with, but the end result was acceptable.	The finished exhaust components ready for painting and re-assembly.
Black stove paint gave the exhaust that period look, appropriate for a car of this vintage.	All bolted together, a nice snug fit.
Elegant rear view mirrors were mounted on the wings.
The original water temperature gauge seems to work intermittently, and even then the readings are a bit suspect, so I decided to plumb in a VDO guage to act as a "second opinion" to the original. The VDO sender unit was mounted using a purpose made adapter in the radiator hose.	Not wanting to make any modifications to the original instruments or facia I mounted the VDO guage in a discreet location on the passenger side under the dashboard, but still visible to the driver. This deviation from originality is well worth the peace of mind.