AX201 is the car that effectively established the Rolls-Royce reputation as we know it today. Built in 1907, and actually the 12th 40-50hp chassis made, it was always intended to be used as a marketing tool. The Barker body was painted silver and the car brilliantly named The Silver Ghost.

As soon as it was completed, The Silver Ghost started to earn its keep as a press car, and was also subjected to the 2000 Mile Trial and then a 15,000-mile, five-week epic drive around England and Scotland. Despite a claimed mileage of 350,000 miles by the 1920s and a period during WW2 in which it was used for logging, The Silver Ghost still retains its original body, albeit restored. It was bought by Rolls-Royce after its owner died in 1948, but, when Rolls-Royce was acquired by BMW in 1998, Bentley
became its custodian and still looks after the car a decade on.

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