Chic made metal in Kellner’s pre-war Rolls-royce sensation
I was interested to read the article on Jacques Kellner in the November 2017 issue, which had a ‘works’ photo of my Rolls-royce, 68SK, taken outside his atelier in Billancourt, Paris. It was subsequently bombed by the Americans when they targeted the nearby Renault factory in WW2, and today the site is now under part of the Périphérique. You will be pleased to learn that this car is alive and well, still landing concours d’élégance awards, and living in Kent where I’ve had the pleasure of owning (and slowly restoring) it since 1989.
In common with many works photos of the period, it appears that in your shot the car was painted in gloss black and matt grey, to show the coachbuilt lines to the best effect with the black-and-white imagery of the time. (You can see that it is a works photo, because apart from the headlamps there are no further lights fitted to the car to ‘spoil’ the lines!) The lighting subsequently fitted was a Marchal ‘Aerolux’ set, which is still with the car today.
The car represents the height of the haute couture of the ’30s French automotive industry, and was the show car ‘Spéciale’ at the Salon de Paris in October 1934. It must have been one of the most breathtaking cars on the road in the mid-1930s, and was probably the most expensive Royce built to date when new, given its one-off status and the special materials used for the interior.
It was built on a high-performance Phantom II ‘Continental’ short chassis, and was both designed and built by Jacques Kellner for the Maharani Chimnabai II of Baroda. In common with many rich people, she became annoyed at the delay in Kellner’s producing a ‘one-off’ show special ostensibly to her order, so she bought another Royce instead! However, she had taken the trouble to send a Baroda tree from India to Paris for the marquetry, which is Baroda wood inserts set into a base of japanned mahogany, all in an Art Deco interior that I understand is also unique.
It was eventually bought after the Salon for the Princesse de Faucignylucinge, a noted Parisian society lady, by her husband the Prince Jean-louis de Faucigny-lucinge et Coligny. I wrote to her at 64 Avenue Marceau, Paris in the early ’90s, soon after I acquired the car, to see if she had any memories about it when in her ownership but, alas, she didn’t reply.
Phantom expert Steve Stuckey was excited when he first saw 68SK at the centenary invitation event at Donington Park in 2004, and congratulated me on matching the exact original colour scheme of ‘Tulipe Noir’ (which was particular to the Maharani’s requirements). Simon Bibby
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