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  Roberto Carrer

Feature: Bombay Bombshell

Matt Davis

August 1, 2007

Victor Muller knew his 1928 Continental Sports Phantom I wasn’t ready for Pebble Beach. "The car couldn’t run under its own power to drive past the judges," he says. "It couldn’t properly hold any water and there was smoke everywhere." But 2004 marked Rolls-Royce’s centenary anniversary and the concours d’elegance chose to honor Britain’s ne plus ultra manufacturer as one of its featured marques. Muller—the man responsible for reviving Spyker and an aficionado of prewar Rolls-Royces—knew that the Jarvis-bodied car known as the 17EX belonged on the lawn. "Given the occasion," he says, "we really did need to show up." While the 17EX’s presence at Pebble Beach was more symbolic than competitive, Muller accompanied the car to Villa d’Este two years later, with a more complete restoration and a better chance at awards. It did not disappoint, claiming the jury’s Trofeo Rolls-Royce for the most elegant coachwork of four top-notch Rollers presented.

Henry Royce—who wanted a 100 mph car—specified aero-inspired construction techniques and abbreviated fenders for 17EX. (Click images to enlarge) 

But a long road was traveled between modern-day accolades and the car’s original raison d’être. Development leading to the 17EX began in early 1925. Henry Royce, none too pleased with the Bentley Boys and their Le Mans victories, nor with the widely held belief that any Packard could leave a Rolls-Royce standing still on acceleration, determined to enhance Derby’s sporting image with a special Phantom I. Dubbed the 10EX, it used an specially tuned version of the manufacturer’s new 7668cc engine and carried an open tourer body by Barker.

Rolls-Royce engineers spent much of 1926 conducting speed-improvement tests with the 10EX at Brooklands. By removing the car’s fenders they netted an extra 6.4 mph in top speed; sans side-mounted spare wheels and headlights, they gained another 5 mph. But at nearly 86 mph flat out, the stripped-down 10EX still fell short of Royce’s 100 mph goal. Everyone went back to work and a heavily revised 10EX debuted in 1927. Modifications included a completely new tail, fenders and a lowered windscreen; both the seats and steering wheel were lowered by about 4 inches. With the exhaust cut-off valve open and a taller final gear ratio, the second 10EX achieved at least 92 mph over the half-mile. Not bad, but still not the magic 100 mph.

Royce ordered a further series of cars, known as the 15EX, 16EX and 17EX, each bodied with lightweight coachwork that eschewed outdated construction methods held over from the days of horse-drawn carriages. For the Phantom I chassis of the 17EX, Jarvis constructed a substructure of ash wood and steel sheeting, and framing of ash wood and aluminum box-section tubes. Aluminum body panels were sandwiched with mahogany plywood—a weight-saving technique borrowed directly from the airfields of Europe—and secured with copper rivets.

Exceptional mechanical features on the 17EX include a 7.8-liter variant of the standard straight-six engine with aluminum cylinder heads. Says Muller, "As we were laying everything out for engine rebuilding, we noticed the stamping of 25EX on every single nut and bolt." An EX stamp also marks the special four-speed gearbox.

The tapered tail (top) increased aerodynamics, while a modified engine (bottom) produced more power than the standard Phantom. (Click images to enlarge)

When the Maharaja Bahadur of Jammu and Kashmir purchased the 17EX through a dealer in Bombay, the car received further personalization. To suit conditions on the subcontinent, the 17EX received a 16-tooth pinion that favored acceleration over top speed, and a detuned compression ratio to account for less refined fuels. To perfect the exterior paint color, Jarvis reportedly made three attempts to properly approximate the potentate’s dominant state shade of blue. Highly unusual for the late 1920s, the light-blue Connolly leather interior features a then-innovative nitro-cellulose finish that Muller’s documentation suggests was created for the 17EX.

In March, 1929, the car journeyed by steamship to Bombay, where the Maharajah settled a balance of 42,000 rupees. Following decades of misadventures, the 17EX—a sunburnt wreck—was discovered by car-hunter Christopher Renwick in Calcutta. Renwick quickly sold it to Veniero Molari and Giulio Vignale, a nephew of coachbuilder Alfredo Vignale. They initiated a restoration, but the 17EX still laid in several pieces and boxes when Muller acquired it, following a chance meeting at 1998’s Apeldoorn concours in the Netherlands—Molari was a judge, Muller showing his 1929 Rolls-Royce 82OR. Muller describes it as "a purchase based on an amazing amount of good faith that has fortunately mostly paid off."

In the process of restoring the 25EX high-performance 1928 power train, Muller reintroduced the 5.2:1 compression intended by Derby. And he plans to give the 17EX and Royce exactly what they sought in the 1920s: an officially recorded 100 mph-plus out-and-back flying 1 kilometer run at a long aerodrome runway in the United Kingdom.

According to Ian Cameron, current design director for Rolls-Royce, EX cars of the late 1920s continue to inform the company’s modern cars. "Starting with 9LC [in 1926] and ending really with 82OR [1929], those cars are overall some of the greatest influences for much of what we’re exploring today," he says. "They all essentially put Rolls-Royce back on the map as wanting true performance. 9LC is the mother of our 100EX; and 15EX through 17EX have inspired much of the lightweight, sporty spirit in our 101EX. Jarvis had produced several competition bodies up to that point and they knew exactly what Mr. Royce desired from 17EX. Taken all together, these particular EX cars give you goose bumps. You could call them ‘the goose bump cars.’"

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