Introducing Frankie

The story is a little complicated… an out-of-town client put my gent together with a gent who knew a guy right here in Staunton, and the next thing you know we were enjoying a delicious lunch with another Roller enthusiast. We had so much fun with him that lunch went three hours. And when it seemed that the conversation had become 100% Rolls Royce technical jargon, I slipped out to continue my day and left those two happily chatting away. In the course of the conversation we learned that Frankie would soon be available for sale.

And… well… we do have a weakness for Rolls Royce paper weights…

Frankie is a beloved 1978 Silver Shadow II that her previous keeper meticulously maintained and loved driving for many years. But life has twists and turns, and he just hasn’t had time lately to enjoy her.

Frankie started out life as a chestnut brown, right hand drive car purchased from Jack Barclay LTD in London. Since then she has been imported to the US, the paint color has been changed to a rich burgundy, and the right hand drive has been changed to left (and this work was very well done). We’ve named her Frankie, short for Frankenstein (a respectful nod to the change from right to left hand drive) and inspired by one of my favorite fictional detectives: Frankie Drake. And while it’s possible that Frankie is not a car that a Rolls Royce purist would particularly appreciate, we look at this as an opportunity to explore some ideas we have to simplify and refine some of her systems. It’s possible that we can find some interesting solutions.

Our friends at the towing company delivered her on Valentine’s Day and my gent is pleased. I met her yesterday for the first time, and she need some attention. Her leather seats are beige with dark brown piping, which now looks strange on a burgundy car, so I’ll be tweaking the colors and I may also replace the wool carpets.

We’ve got quite a list of client’s cars at the moment, so she’ll wait her turn. She’ll be ready for a new adventure soon, and it will be fun to see how she turns out!