The largest-ever gathering of Rolls-Royce Silver ghosts took place recently at the Rolls-Royce head office and plant in England. More than 60 of the historic cars, built between 1907 and 1926, were displayed before embarking on a 17-day, 2000-mile commemorative cross-country tour. The run, organised by the 20-Ghost Club, which encourages the restoration, maintenance and use of Rolls-Royce cars built before 1945, included stopovers in Derbyshire, the Lake District, Inverness, John o'Groat's and Dundas Castle in Edinburgh. Cars came from as far away as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and India.

The original Silver Ghost competed in the 1907 Scottish Reliability Trial, for which it won the gold medal in its class for hill climbing speed and reliability. It went on in that year to break the world record for a non-stop run, covering a London to Glasgow route 27 times, with mileage totaling 14,371 miles. The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is generally recognised as one of the greatest automobiles ever produced. Launched in 1906 as a prototype to publicise the then-new Rolls-Royce 40/50 h.p. 6-cylinder model, it immediately established the company's reputation for reliability and engineering excellence. The first production vehices were silver in color and known for "extraordinary stealthiness," which in 1907 gave Managing Director Claude Johnson inspiration for the name. More than 6,000 "Silver Ghosts" were built between 1907 and 1925 and sold in every corner of the world. The majority are still in good running order and, oh... they're not all silver. I'll take that wood-clad boat-tail in the photo.