Brief History of Owners
The famed John Blatchley designed the superbly elegant Gurney Nutting saloon for Hubert Scott-Paine (British Power Boats, Supermarine, Imperial Airways), himself a designer of renown. He was also an excellent, fast, demanding driver who chose Rolls-Royce cars because of their reliability and brakes.
Owners who followed were equally discriminating, and appreciative of the smooth power of a Phantom III, including the Earl of Shrewsbury; Percy Edwin Whyte of Neston, Cheshire; Lawrence Tipton of Ashby de la Zouche; and Tommy Atkins, who ran High Efficiency Motors, one of the best motor racing teams in England. Harry Ferguson features in this history also. The correspondence was possible from names and addresses in the copy of 3DL122's log book. |
Album by Mermie Karger. Photos by Mermie & from files. 1 - 17 of 17 Total. |
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1
Hubert Scott-Paine and another gentleman underway in Miss Britain III heading towards the camera, ca. 1934.
Photo courtesy National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Not for publication.
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2
1936 64 ft. 100 Class High Speed Launch, HSL 102, restored 1996, built by H. Scott-Paine’s British Power Boat Company. On Southampton Water. Photo M. Karger, August 2001.
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3
Scott-Paine's Phantom II 77RY, HJ Mulliner saloon, with his new Phantom III behind. The chassis that first carried the Gurney Nutting body was 3CP142.
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4
In 1953, the 21st Earl of Shrewsbury purchased a handsome PIII from Jack Barclay’s. He found its chassis, 3CP142, to be in such poor mechanical condition that he returned it to Barclay’s.
He part-exchanged it for 3DL122 which carried a Barker swept-tail saloon, purchased new in 1938 by Harry Ferguson, inventor of the three point linkage system on modern agricultural tractors.
The Earl bought back the Gurney Nutting body only (£100) and 3CP142 was reduced to spares.
With the advice of J.E. Williamson of Rolls-Royce at Crewe, the Earl and his chauffeur-handyman, Mr. J. Cooke,
removed the Barker body from 3DL122 and fitted the Gurney Nutting saloon in its place, doing the job themselves.
They carried out the work in this garage at Ingestre Hall.
The Earl had a family interest in motorcars. His father had been patron of Clément Talbot Ltd., founded in 1903 to import the popular French Clément car into Britain. The automobile brand Talbot emerged from the Earl’s family name.
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5
The Earl's first letter to Ken Karger 1969.
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The Earl's letter after Ken wrote him about his correspondence with Huw D. Walters, a doctor from Wales who had purchased the Barker body from the Earl.
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Percy Edwin Whyte and his wife owned 3DL122 from 1956 to 1960.
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8
From 1960 to 1962 Arthur Lawrence Tipton of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, a Rolls-Royce aficionado, owned 3DL122, one of the eight Phantom IIIs he had owned between 1953 and 1969. He found it to be typical of the DL series, never overheating as the others did.
3DL122 was the first car tested at the new MOT centre in Burton-on-Trent, October 4, 1962. Picture sent by Mr Tipton.
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9
Tommy Atkins owned 3DL122 1962-1963 and often drove it to race meetings. In 1963, it was sold by the dealer, Jack Bond, to Arthur Mullaly in California who did mechanical and interior work himself to prepare 3DL122 for show at the local Hillsborough and Pebble Beach Concours.
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10
Since 1968, 3DL122 has been owned and driven by Ken (d. 1999) and Mermie Karger. Through correspondence, careful research, and by understanding how the chassis number is the key to Rolls-Royce records, Ken discovered the full story of the body swap. A Classics scholar, he chose the name ‘Ovid’ for 3DL122.
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The adventurous Mermie Karger has driven over 35,000 miles herself, mostly on long distance trips in the US.
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2007: Snake Alley, Burlington, Iowa. Even though I wondered at the top of these tight curves what I had gotten us into, Ovid made it down with ease.
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13
In 2010, Ovid ascended Pikes Peak (14,119 ft.) while on the way from Philadelphia to be on display at Pebble Beach. Ovid had to 'make it to the top'. His great grandfather, 1913 Silver Ghost 2442, had climbed it in 2004.
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During the 2012 trip to the RROC Annual Meet in Louisville, Kentucky, Ovid turned 100,000 miles near Romney, West Virginia.
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2015: Ovid won the Dudley Trophy for the longest distance driven to the RROC Annual Meet in Orlando.
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2017: Upper Falls of the Genesee River in Letchworth State Park, New York.
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October 2017: Ovid was invited to be the sole Rolls-Royce present at the British Ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, to welcome the new Phantom VII. As much interest was shown in Ovid as in the new car.
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