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My 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty


"I don't like it. We always call them a Rolls. Only people who don't own them or would-be social climbers call them Rollers."  Mrs Dunstan is the family custodian of a 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty (20 horsepower) that belonged to her late father, Dr Eric Kilvert.  The qualified mechanical engineer is also chief mechanic, restorer and driver of the beloved family machine.

The Kilvert family migrated to Australia from England in 1956 and two years later bought a 1936 Rolls-Royce 25/30hp sedan so the family of eight could go on Sunday picnics.  "We had a lot of problems with that car," Mrs Dunstan says.  "It had a cracked head and we couldn't get a new one for it. We sold it in the late '70s after it had been sitting under the house for some time."

In 1963, Dr Kilvert sent his wife, Pat, to England for three months to visit her family with the "express instruction" to buy him the Rolls he had seen advertised in the British Autocar Magazine. It cost 675 pounds.  The Twenty is powered by a six-cylinder in-line 3127cc engine with a four-speed gearbox and spiral bevel final drive. It also features semi-elliptic spring suspension and servo-assisted four-wheel brakes.

"Dad used to drive it everyday in his country practice around the Beenleigh region," she says.  "Because of its height clearance he could drive it on farms and it wouldn't get bogged.  "It is at this point that my love affair with the Twenty began, however I first had to learn to drive a crash gearbox even though I did not yet have a driver's licence."

Mrs Dunstan shares the car with her four sisters and one brother, but she is the main custodian.  "The others love the car but they're not really interested and don't have the knowledge to keep it running," she says.

Mrs Dunstan claims it is a faithful car, although there have been a lot of mechanical issues over the years and it did get a flat tyre on her wedding day and only made it halfway to church on her son's wedding day.  "One day the passenger door fell off as dad went around a corner _ the cause was wood rot," she says.  "But it's been a faithful car.

"We take it out on runs regularly, but not as much in the last couple of years because we've been doing up the engine.  It had a knock and I wasn't happy about it. We had to do the bearings, put in new pistons and did the camshaft and tappets. It was a major engine overhaul.  When I can I do the work on the Rolls with some help, but I didn't do the engine rebuild. That was too big a job."

Her first car was a 1956 Austin Lancer she bought for 50.  "It went like the clappers. It was a tiny little car but it was economical," she says.
She has always been into cars and followed her passion to uni studying mechanical engineering.

"My dad always wanted to be an engineer, but his father said `you will be a doctor and look after me in my old age'.  "I've always been hands on with the Rolls.  I love driving it. I love listening to the gear changes.  Since we've done it up it's a real pleasure to drive. The gear change is so smooth now."

Mrs Dunstan says the top speed is "about 50mph (80km/h) downhill" and it gets about 19 miles per gallon (14.8 litres per 100km) in fuel economy.  "You can't drive it fast; you just have to drive at the speed of the vehicle so you are forced to be relaxed when you drive it," she says.

"I don't like driving in the traffic because you allow enough space for your braking power, but you get some people who cut in front of you at the last minute."  The Twenty has competed in many Federal Rallies, won several class awards and in 1994 won the Queensland Concours d'Elegance.

"Over the years I have tried to restore the car's originality by replacing incorrectly fitted items and collecting missing items such as the headlights, jack and handle, oil can and retaining clip, tyre pressure gauge, trouble lamp etc," she says.  "It was the last car my father ever bought.

"He didn't want to get anything else. He just liked that car. He wasn't into chopping and changing.  "I don't know what it's worth now. It depends on how badly you want to sell it and how badly someone wants to buy it, but we don't want to sell. It's been in our family for nearly 46 years."