Rolls-Royce Memories, A Coming-of-Age Souvenir
H. Massac Buist
“In this carriage your travel is never hurried, yet at the journey’s end you shall discover that Time has been cheated. The car’s passage is as silent as the fleet shadow of a cloud racing before a high wind. There is an engaging something of a mystery, too, in the cunningly softened power of this cushioned touring that plays Puck with the senses, smoothing roads so wrinkled and holed as to be what the Sussex folk call ‘all bumblesome like,’ and causing the hills to seem as though they had being but to fall beneath you, so unabatedly swift and agreeably effortless is the act of cresting the steepest and most sickle-shaped of them, the revelation and regrouping of heights, depths, directions, and distances quickening roundness, angles, colours, lights and shadows to fresh and nobler values.”
The prose in that excerpt may be flowery but Hugo Thomas Massac Buist (1878–1966) knew his cars and was a professional journalist, in fact he was editor of the eminent Autocar magazine at that time. And he certainly knew his Rolls-Royces, having ridden more than twenty years earlier in the very first one as his newspaper’s designated observer on the 1904 Sideslip Trials.
For those of you who have been buying, collecting, and enjoying reading the many books exploring the history and romance of the Rolls-Royce marque, you may look at some of the photos found in this book and grumble “Haven’t I read this stuff already? Haven’t I seen these photos several times before?” You have, but this book is a hundred years old—and if you had read it back in the day you would have been seeing much of this material for the first time.
The book was printed by Cambridge University Press “for private consumption” in MCMXXVI—1926 for those who don’t quite remember the transposition of roman numerals. 1926: Frederick Henry Royce was still alive. Charles Stewart Rolls had been dead for sixteen years. Bentley cars were still being manufactured and sold by Bentley Motors, WO Bentley still at the helm. Rolls-Royce was manufacturing cars and aero engines at Derby, England. The first Rolls-Royce Phantom, the topic of the road test above, was a brand-new car. Its immediate predecessor, the Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP, the Silver Ghost, had truly lived up to the “best car in the world” moniker the gentlemen of the press had bestowed upon it.
Although difficult to prove absolutely, but agreed upon throughout the successive decades, the 40/50, when new, was better engineered, better manufactured, quieter, more reliable, easier to drive, easier to maintain, and lasted longer than any other motorcar in production at the time. So, yes: The Best. Obviously, the photographs found in this book were contemporary then. To us they hold the magic of nostalgia, but to Buist and everyone else then in the world, this is just what photography looked like. Today we glean a wistful aura that surrounds these images—look at the long skirts, the parasols; look at the funny high shoes and the chin whiskers. Oh how toy-like the very early cars seem to be—then, look how the Silver Ghosts appear tall, wide, and substantial. To Buist, and most everyone else, there is normalcy rather than nostalgia in these photographs: this is what we look like; these are the clothes we wear; our cars are rugged and handsome, even after enduring a long and difficult road adventure.
Our author was a professional writer. He wrote for and edited Autocar magazine and contributed to other magazines snd newspapers. He was also interested in and wrote about what we would call the pioneering days of aviation, witnessing the magic of manned, controllable flight was just being born, brand new and marvelous.
It is somewhat difficult, because of its intrinsic nature, to review a memoir. This genre, like biographies and autobiographies, is made up of a lot of “I did this, then I did that”. So let me offer some highlights of Memories. Buist knew and had contact with Henry Royce. He drove with Charles Rolls on some of the then popular and important automotive trials. In the June 8, 1912, edition of The Motor News, he wrote a long eulogic article on the death of aviator Wilbur Wright. Buist wrote of the use of the Silver Ghost chassis for the war effort and we find some fascinating photos of these armored cars. He is intimate with the engineering and manufacturing genius, legendary work habits, and eventual health problems of Henry Royce. The designing, engineering, the problems and successes, of Rolls-Royce aero engines are discussed. We learn about the importance of the “hyphen in Rolls-Royce,” Claude Johnson. We follow the Rolls-Royce story from Manchester to Derby to Crewe—and a side trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. And it must have been emotionally difficult for Buist to include this sad note concerning C.S. Rolls: “I saw him killed at the Bournemouth Flying Meeting.”
The book ends with an unusual table: “Chronological Abstract of Rolls-Royce Development During Twenty-One Years 1904–1925. The Rolls-Royce enthusiast will appreciate seeing, all in one place, the lists of when the early car models were produced, and the columns citing the Issued Capital and Profits will also be of interest. This book was reproduced in 1980, and both the original 1926 edition and the 1980 reproduction can be readily found for sale. Although my 1926 first edition is yellowed and stained throughout, it, especially since the photos have retained their glossy finish, will hold a favored place on my bookshelf. Recommended.
Copyright 2025, Bill Wolf (speedreaders.info).
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