From the “What Do You Do When You Have Time on Your Hands?” Department

By Gary S. Vasilash

Back in 1911 a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which back then was an “Experimental Speed Car,” made a run from London to Edinburgh. For reasons not entirely clear, it made the drive in top gear. It had an average speed of 19.59 mph. Of course, the Great North Road was, well, probably not so great.

So 110 years later, the very same car that set the mark, now vehicle that is worth so much that one could probably buy several Rolls with the proceeds of a sale, took the same run earlier this run. To the extent that it could, the vehicle, registered as R-1075, took the same route. (The Great North Road wasn’t all that and more in the last century and now it is less.)

Again, it was locked in top gear.

This time, there was actually a fleet of Silver Ghosts wafting their way north: nine other cars of the same vintage took part, as did a brand-new, state-of-the-art, hand-built Ghost.

Andrew Ball, who heads Corporate Relations for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said of the feat, “It’s difficult to think of many machines that can still perform exactly as they did 110 years ago; this extraordinary car is a remarkable tribute to our predecessors who designed, engineered and built it.”

True.

But why does this matter?