World’s second-oldest Rolls-Royce parks in Glasgow

Bella Morgan, 7, from Whitburn polishes the world's second oldest Rolls-Royce at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. Picture: PA

Built in 1905, it is the only survivor of six three-cylinder cars made by Henry Royce as he was forging his partnership with CS Rolls.

It has been loaned to Glasgow Museums for three years by the Trustees of the Royal Scottish Automobile Club (RSAC) and is now on display at the city’s Riverside Museum.

RSAC Trustee Mike Gascoigne, who was at the Riverside Museum to see the restored Rolls-Royce take up position on the main floor today, said: “It was gifted to the Royal Scottish Automobile Club in 1974 by its third owner, Adam McGregor Dick, who called it ‘the Old Girl’.

“The gift was conditional on trustees being appointed by the RSAC to preserve the Old Girl in perpetuity and to put her on public display in Scotland.

“The vehicle was initially an exhibit at Lord Moray’s Motor Museum at Doune from 1974 to 1998.

“Now, with the very generous financial support of various Scottish benefactors who met the cost of the latest mechanical restoration, the generosity of Bridge of Weir Leather and the dedication of the Glasgow Museums conservators, the vehicle can again be on public display.

“The Old Girl Trustees are delighted at the outcome of our 15 years’ quest to achieve this, and even more so that the Old Girl is now an exhibit in the stunning Riverside Museum in Glasgow.”

The car was a demonstration vehicle initially before being sold to a man in Yorkshire.

It was then bought by a woman in Dumfriesshire. However, her chauffeur was not fond of driving it and it was sold to Adam McGregor Dick, a garage owner in Kilmarnock.

Mr Dick willed it to the RSAC in 1974.

The Rolls-Royce is situated on the main floor under the Infinite Velodrome in the Riverside Museum and will remain on show until spring 2016.