Next time I watch Lawrence of Arabia I will pay more attention to the armoured car. It’s a replica in David Lean’s film.
Here’s the real car entering Damascus. I am no petrol-head so I will let the experts take over.
“Rolls-Royce number 60985 was a 40/50 Horsepower chassis originally fitted with a limousine body built by Maythorn of Biggleswade, U.K. The chassis was built at the original Rolls-Royce plant on Cooke Street in Manchester, U.K. The car was an early-pattern Silver Ghost, equipped with transverse rear springs, a dropped (curved) front axle, a light rear-axle, and an under-seat fuel tank. It was named, possibly by Claude Johnson of Rolls-Royce, “Blue Mist,” making it one of just a handful of cars which were given colorful names, largely for publicity purposes. Other ‘named cars’ included Dragonfly, The Silver Dawn, The White Knave and the iconic Silver Ghost – a name later applied to all 40/50 chassis. Though a number of named cars are known, researchers are still adding to the list.
The car was delivered on May 22, 1909 to Fletcher F. Lambert-Williams who would perish tragically aboard the Titanic. Rupert Charles Scott, the 7th Earl of Clonmell then acquired the car. It was sold in 1916 to Miss Aileen Bellew prior to her marriage to Hugh Lloyd-Thomas, a rising star in the British diplomatic corps. The couple took the car with them when Lloyd-Thomas was posted to the British High Commission in Cairo during the First World War.
Richard Weston-Smith, who lives in Santa Barbara California, is the grandson of Aileen and Hugh Lloyd-Thomas and he retains family records of the car. His documentation of his family’s history was a tremendous help to the research team.
According to Weston-Smith, “Diplomatic life in Cairo was very social and as diplomats, my grandparents were very much in the center of the circle. They were out on the town one evening in July 1917 when, according to family history, a man in flowing robes swept into the club they were visiting and asked the gathered crowd ‘whose Rolls-Royce is this outside?’ My grandmother Aileen indicated that it belonged to her, and the man introduced himself as Col. T.E. Lawrence and then announced that he was commandeering the car ‘in the name of his Majesty’s armed forces.’ And with that, he drove away. Granny never saw the car again, but several weeks later, a package addressed to my grandfather arrived at the Embassy, containing several pieces of the car, including the enameled plate bearing the name ‘Blue Mist.’ I have always thought that was very considerate of Lawrence!” (prewebc.com)
Aline (sic) Bellew is my grandfather’s sister, so my great-aunt.
Inspired by a recent book I read about Peter O’Toole, Hellraisers by Robert Sellers, I watched Lawrence of Arabia the other day. What a superb film, all 3hr 47mins of it. I love the fact that there is an intermission after 2hrs 20mins. Your story about your great-aunt’s car is fascinating.
I think the account of Lawrence appearing in the nightclub in ‘flowing robes’ may be apocryphal; I can’t see it really. The way I remember it from Granny was that she returned from shopping to find the car gone and a note saying it had been commandeered by Lawrence together with the Spirit of Ecstasy and the Blue Mist name plate. There is an interesting coda to the story though; years later the car was found abandoned in the desert and at the mercy of the elements. It was filled up with petrol and started on the first try, astonishing engineering. The car has never been seen since but presumably its value now would represent a premium on what Granny paid for it which I seem to remember was £20.