1950 Rolls-Royce Silver-Dawn Small Boot Saloon SBA104
£ 45000
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Carrosserie
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Saloon
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Transmissie
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Manual
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Kleur
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Green
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Bekleding
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Leather
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Stuur
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Rhd
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Chassis nr.
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SBA104
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This car is particularly desirable for a range of reasons, not least because it has spent the majority of its life so far in the dry climes of Australia, and is consequently nicely sound and free of the dreaded rust, which can be a serious issue in the case of a UK-based example. We tend to consider the structural condition of many of the early post-war models to be of much greater significance than any other single aspect of condition. In addition, the car is one of a small number of RHD, ‘small boot’ versions built, and is very appealing cosmetically, being nicely painted in an attractive two tone green colour scheme, and the interior is particularly appealing, with lovely brown leather, very well upholstered and with excellent, fresh-looking headlining and attractive veneers. Mechanically good too, driving nicely, and very unusually, fitted with air conditioning, a pleasant bonus! Just driven here from Barcelona! A lovely example.
Chassis No. SBA104 Reg. No. KXS 404
Snippets: Australian Philanthropist
The first owner of SBA104 was Ernest William Richards Connibere (1862/1957) who in 1889 started the soft-goods firm of Connibere, Grieve & Connibere. Their partner John Grieve died from gastric fever in 1899 at the young age of 41 leaving his widow Annie, with 4 children under the age of 14. Their son Robert (1889/1957) was awarded the Victoria Cross by King George V in 1917 at Buckingham Palace. The Connibere brothers consisted of Ernest, Charles (1864/1941) and Frederick (1868/1945). By 1920 the expansion of their company encouraged the brothers to sell their firm to Sargoods and they invested the proceeds in city property – they always managed to successfully maximise their investments. None of the brothers or indeed did their sister, Emma ever marry. The Connibere sibling were all philanthropists and their financial donations enabled the building of a maternity wing at the Women’s Hospital, 3 orthopaedic wards at Mount Eliza Hospital, the support of various missions and much more besides. In 1941 after Charles’s death Ernest & Frederick gave £138,000 to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for a wing to be built in memory of Charles. In 1945 Ernest gave yet more money to Melbourne Mission, Ormond College and St Andrew’s Hospital and a kindergarten at Port Melbourne. They also gave substantial funds to The Prohibition League and to the Sunday Christian Observance Council. When Ernest was interviewed in 1954 he was youthful 92 years of age and when asked by the interviewer about his life Ernest declared that his one hobby was “service to my fellow man”. During their lifetime the 4 siblings had given over £750,000 to good causes, and as was only fitting upon his death Ernest’s estate which was circa £300,000 was given to charity. After the death of Ernest the Silver Dawn was purchased by Dr. Joseph Kremer of Elwood, Victoria who only kept the car for a year until it was sold to Aldwyn Thomas Swales whose company Swales & Swan manufactured amplifiers for the radio and film industry.
