Karl AKA Stroget is an active curator at HobbyDB of many of the 1/43 model car brands. He has been adding model cars to the DB since 2014; some of his favorites are Alfa Romeo and obsolete Tekno from Denmark!
Referred to by many as “The Best Car In The World”, Rolls-Royce has always been known for its long-standing prestige and reputation for engineering and fine quality. It is a brand often sought by the rich & famous including auto enthusiasts, celebrities and nobility from around the world.
In 1904, Rolls-Royce Limited was established in Manchester, England by a partnership between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Royce was an engineer with experience in electrical and mechanical businesses and built his first car, the Royce 10, prior to the partnership. He had a rags to riches story that began in his youth selling newspapers on a street corner in London. Royce augmented his newspaper selling job with work as a telegraph messenger to make ends meet. He then became an apprentice in a railway works firm learning the basics of modern engineering. From there he graduated to become a tester with the Electric Light and Power Company in London and studied the principles of electrical engineering in his spare time.
Rolls came from a far more privileged background than Royce. He studied at Eton and Cambridge and traveled around the continent, developing an interest in the motor car, which was then becoming popular. Once back in Britain, Rolls became a motorcar dealer. He sold mostly continental models, but with his dealership in fashionable Brook Street, London, and a repair shop in nearby, Rolls soon came to know the British car market well. Rolls, as a car dealer, was impressed by Royce’s engineering skills and his initial Royce 10 model.
In spite of his preference for three & four-cylinder cars, Rolls agreed to sell all the cars Royce could produce under the name, Rolls-Royce. This collaboration marked the beginning of a partnership that would shape the future of luxury automobiles. The vehicles ranged in price from £395 to £890 and, therefore, were purchased only by the wealthy. Expansion of the motorcar market at this time tended to focus on innovations in engine design. In 1905, Rolls-Royce introduced its eight-cylinder, V8 engine, regarded by motoring enthusiasts as innovative for the smoother, quieter ride it allowed. Then in 1906 Rolls-Royce introduced the 40/50 model, or Silver Ghost, named for its metallic appearance and engine that was “quiet as a ghost.” The model quickly gained a reputation for reliability and refinement, solidifying Rolls-Royce’s status as a premier luxury car manufacturer.
Over the next ten years, Rolls-Royce continued to manufacture automobiles for increasingly exclusive and wealthy clientele. In 1931, the company purchased Bentley Motor Ltd. A few years later, Rolls began to distance himself from the car company as both his fame and outside interests grew. He resigned as technical managing director and became a consultant to Rolls-Royce. Three months later, Rolls was tragically killed when his Wright biplane crashed. As a symbol of mourning, the intertwined “RR” logo on the Rolls-Royce radiator plate was changed from red to black. Soon thereafter the workaholic Royce fell seriously ill from exhaustion and took a home in the south of France. He was conferred a baronetcy in 1930 and died in 1933.
In the years following its founding, Rolls-Royce had been called upon to design aircraft engines to help with the war effort. They expanded their operations to begin manufacturing aero engines during World War I. This marked a significant shift in the company’s focus, as it became known for producing high the development of high quality engines for military and commercial aircraft. The development of jet engines further established Rolls-Royce as a leader in aerospace technology. In the original 1906 agreement between Rolls and Royce, it stated in the first paragraph that the company had a wide mandate to provide propulsion on land, at sea, and in the air.
Producing aero engines also had applications for developing motorcar engines. In 1924, Rolls-Royce introduced front wheel brakes to its cars, as well as power assistance through a gearbox driven servo. The interwar years also signaled a departure from the company’s practice of producing only one car model. In 1922, the 3.5-liter, 20-horsepower model was introduced. Then in 1925, the “New Phantom” model debuted with a larger seven-liter engine that had overhead valves rather than side valves.
Just before the outbreak of World War II, the Phantom II was replaced by the Phantom III. The new model was driven by a V-12 engine, the most powerful yet. Without Royce to oversee its introduction, however, the Phantom III production had been expensive. This led in 1937 to the company’s consideration of consolidating its design and production facilities to contain expanding operating costs. The company still maintains this philosophy today.
Today, Rolls-Royce is still synonymous with luxury and engineering excellence, continuing to produce high-end automobiles while also being a key player in the aerospace industry. The history of commitment to quality and innovation has allowed it to maintain its prestigious reputation for over a century.
The Y-15 1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was the first model issued in the Models of Yesteryear series beyond the smaller scale First Series models. It was the first “Y” number that extended beyond the original Y-14 final planned number. Another one of its many firsts was the use of metallic paint and featured plastic seats as well. The model itself was painstakingly modeled after the famous and popular Silver Ghost. Measurements and renderings were made with approval and on site access by Lesney engineers to the Rolls-Royce factory. The model was so successful, it was recorded that on a single afternoon in 1961, Matchbox made more Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost than Rolls-Royce Ltd. had produced in sixty years.
The early Issue 1 & Issue 2 models had distinctive grey knobby tires. The grey tires were fitted to a silver wheel rim and were detailed with outlines of eight (8) screw nuts on the circumference. They closely resembled the actual real vehicle rim. The wheel rims were soon changed over to brass plating for later issues and the balance of the production run for this model. The wheel rims have three variations including Type A, the first in silver finish with detailed rim with bolt heads, Type B in silver or brass finish with a single rim and Type C, which was only produced in brass finish with a stepped rim.
A feature of the first Issue Y-15A/1 was the rear license plate was painted in silver and the taillight next to it was painted red. This identifies true First Issue/Code 1 models that are the rarest in the model range. For time and cost savings, these features were dropped with just the base-finish being applied on Issue 2 models and beyond.
From Issue 6 going forward, the models have thicker sidelight arms. Also, the detailing of the steering wheel center boss was originally with a center pip (type 1) and later changed to domed shape (Type 2). The pip knob center of the early steering wheel is not a “horn” button as commonly thought, but actually an ignition control that was mounted on the actual Rolls Royce cars.
The proven popularity of the model with collectors made Lesney put in place a policy to always have a current Rolls-Royce model in their Yesteryear range. When the Y-15 Silver Ghost molds finally wore out, they were immediately replaced by the Y-10 Silver Ghost model. This model was built on a larger scale and differed from the Y-15 models that bore a number plate making it identifiable. The larger Y-10 Silver Ghost model, produced some 10 years later, does not.
This model was also used extensively for the plated giftware series, and this is reflected by the many changes in the baseplate castings with four different types produced. The overall body throughout the full production run also varied from a very light, almost silver green, to a darker mid green. It has also been found that the gold paint finish applied to the radiator shell and sidelights have sometimes omitted on a few models.
The Y-15 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is one of the most popular models ever made in the Lesney Matchbox Models of Yesteryear line. It has and still remains an excellent example of the legacy and reputation of this iconic automobile brand known as “The Best Car In The World”.
Sources
Rolls-Royce LTD. Inc. (photos)
The Yesteryear Book by Kevin McGimpsey & Stewart Orr.
Models of Yesteryear/The Collection by Matchbox International Limited.
The Collectors Guide To Matchbox Models of Yesteryear by Alexander Picha & Pavel Langer.
Wikipedia.
Footnote
This article was originally published in the February 2026 Illinois Matchbox Collectors Newsletter. For more information on the club, go to imccclub.com or email neuelectro at email.com.
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