Huh...?
Well, aside from my old Belfast shots from the late 'seventies & early 'eighties there were actually Northern Irish built Rolls-Royces.
J.B.Ferguson was the elder brother of the famous Northern Irish engineer Harry Ferguson.
Young Harry did work there for a while.
Yes, that Ferguson - tractors (Massey Ferguson) and Jensen FFs (Ferguson Formula four wheel drive system).
His brother, a coachbuilder.
They bodied quite a few Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts.
In 1922 after the failure of his own car the 'Fergus' they closed up.
Apparently JB went to New York and opened a car dealership
But the Silver Ghosts....
Here are a few of them.
#1619 for a Frank Eyles
12BD for a H.P. Shiel of Dublin
# 2476 for a C.Steele of New York U.S.A.
# 1552 for the Ottawa Taxi and Auto Company in Canada 1911.
A Silver Ghost open tourer.
And a Silver Ghost Laundalette #18YB for a Otto Jaffe , Belfast.
JB's did build an aeroplane designed by Harry, just what Charles Rolls was into at the time. It flew 2.5 miles but was badly damaged at the end.
Harry survived. Unlike Rolls who died as 'The first Englishman to die in an aeroplane crash' in 1911.
Bloody aeroplanes....
"Fascinating" , as Mr.Spock would say.....
(Posted by former Northern Irishman David Irvine and thanks to Rob Geelen for getting me onto this)
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