The Rolls-Royce Wraith

In the year 1938-39, the Rolls-Royce Wraith was manufactured at their Derby factory. It succeeded the Rolls-Royce 25/30. Built in the form of running chassis, the car was supplied to independent coach manufacturers. It is one of the rare prewar vehicles available today.

The car was equipped with:

- Six in-line cylinders

- Overhead valve

- Cross-flow cylinder head

- Four speed gearbox

- Right-Hand drive

- Independent coil sprung front suspension retaining semi elliptical leaf springs on the rear axle.

- The front wheels laced with hydraulic dampers

- 17 inch diameter wire wheels

- Removable disks which cover the wheel spokes

- Hydraulic jacking system operated by a lever fitted under the passenger's seat

- A welded frame of pressed steel box section

The speed of the car varied up to 85 mph or 137 km/h. however, it depended on the weight and style of car's body. The chassis car was priced at £1100 in the year 1938, while a touring car would cost you £1700. The company manufactured a total of 492 chassis'.

The Rolls-Royce Wraith is an exclusive vehicle built with high quality standards. Both the detailing and the furnishing in this car are not only lavish but also superb. The car was very smooth and made no noise when driving. The company manufactured a total of 491 such vehicles.

However, the car also had some negatives associated with it. The vehicle is costly to buy and maintain. Not only this, it is heavier in style than its earlier predecessors. The speed of the vehicle at 80 mph tops is a showstopper. Not only this, the engine mountings were introduced as a new feature in this car. Also, the position of the gear level and handbrake was farther away than before.

The Wraith was succeeded by Silver Wrath which came into origin in the year 1946 and was in production till the year 1959. It was the first Rolls-Royce model which came into being after World War I.

The chassis of this car was based on the earlier Wraith. The size of its wheelbase chassis was 127 inches or 3226 mm. The engine, though based on the older model, was equipped with a new cylinder head. It also had exhaust valves on its side along with the overhead inlet valves. The car had a capacity of 4257 cc when it was launched. In the year 1954 the capacity of the car was increased to 4566 cc. In the 1954 model of the car, which had long wheelbase, the capacity was further increased to 4887 cc.

The Silver Wrath car's breaking system was based on the hybrid hydro-mechanical system.

The car was launched with a four speed manual gearbox. However, in the year 1952, this car was offered with the automatic gearbox made by General Motors. Also, the chassis of all the cars were prepared by independent coach builders and did not use the standard bodies made in the factories.