A 1915 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost spent 100 years with one Australian family; it emerged from storage for a 2026 auction | World News
A 1915 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Tourer spent about a century with one Australian family before emerging from long-term storage and appearing at auction in 2026. Chassis 17CB, fitted with its original Barker tourer coachwork, was offered as Lot 40 at Gooding Christie’s 2026 Amelia Island Auctions with a pre-sale estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. The auction house highlighted the car’s original engine, gearbox and coachwork, along with its unusually long documented ownership history.The Silver Ghost was not sold at the Amelia Island auction. The published auction results record the car as unsold, leaving its 2026 appearance as the latest chapter in the history of a Rolls-Royce that remained with the same Australian family from 1924 for roughly 100 years.
The Silver Ghost retains its original engine and Barker coachwork
Chassis 17CB is a 1915 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost with a 7,428cc six-cylinder engine and four-speed gearbox. Gooding Christie’s identifies the engine and gearbox as original to the car. The Silver Ghost also retains its Barker-built open tourer body, numbered 4057. The car’s originality is particularly notable because it remained in regular use in Australia rather than being preserved solely as a collector vehicle. Its body was modified during its working life to increase carrying capacity, but the original Barker coachwork remained with the chassis. The car also retains its original numbered engine and gearbox. When the engine was dismantled in the 1960s because the family was considering a rebuild, it was reportedly found to be in sufficiently good condition that a rebore was all that was required. The replacement engine blocks that had been obtained were subsequently sold.
It arrived in Australia in 1915
The car was completed at Rolls-Royce and went “off test” on August 5, 1915. Its records specify Barker open tourer coachwork, body number 4057, and equipment suitable for Australian roads. The car was exported to Australia through Kellow-Falkiner in Melbourne. Its original purchaser was Robert Alexander, a cattle breeder associated with the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. After Alexander acquired another new Rolls-Royce, 17CB was offered for sale in 1923. The car was subsequently bought by Robert C. Falconer. Historical records state that Falconer travelled to Sydney to purchase it, after which the Silver Ghost was registered to his wife at the family’s estate in Claremont, Western Australia, in September 1924.
The Falconer family used it across Western Australia
The Silver Ghost remained with the Falconer family for the next century. It travelled between the family’s Perth home in Claremont and their rural properties and was used on journeys into remote parts of Western Australia. Its working life included trips to the Canning Stock Route, farms around the state and areas associated with the family’s mining interests.During the Second World War, the family converted the car to run using a gas producer and charcoal. The Silver Ghost was also used to tow an agricultural trailer and was taken on journeys into remote areas. Its later history included use by successive generations of the Falconer family. The car’s long ownership history is unusually well documented. Contemporary newspaper records from 1924 record its registration to the Falconer family, while later specialist histories trace its use and ownership through subsequent generations.
Its original body survived decades of hard use
During the Depression, the Falconers adapted the Barker body to function partly as a utility vehicle, increasing the space available for carrying equipment and goods. The alteration was carried out without destroying the original Barker coachwork. The rear doors remained with the car, while their handles and the rear top bows were retained separately.The car continued to be used for decades. Family photographs and historical records document the Silver Ghost working in Western Australia during the 1940s and 1950s, including journeys into the Kimberley region. The original engine and gearbox remained with the car despite this extensive use. The Silver Ghost later appeared at Rolls-Royce Owners Club events, including the 1997 Federal Rally in Perth, where it reportedly covered about 400 kilometres during the event.
The 2026 auction ended without a sale
Gooding Christie’s offered chassis 17CB as Lot 40 at its 2026 Amelia Island Auctions with an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. The listing presented it as an unusually preserved pre-war Silver Ghost with original Barker coachwork, original mechanical components and approximately 100 years of Falconer family ownership. The car was not sold at the auction. Its appearance at Amelia Island therefore did not result in a public sale price, but it brought the history of a particularly unusual Australian Silver Ghost back into the collector-car market.Chassis 17CB should also not be confused with another 1915 Silver Ghost, chassis 24CB. That separate car is fitted with engine 15A and original Maythorn & Son coachwork, confirming that the two chassis numbers refer to different cars. For 17CB, the defining story remains its own: a 1915 Silver Ghost with original Barker coachwork that arrived in Australia during the First World War, passed to the Falconer family in 1924, remained with them for roughly a century and eventually emerged from long-term storage to appear at auction in 2026.
