GHOST OPULENCE

Rolls-Royce’s Ghost is powered by a 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 that makes 627lb ft of torque from just 1,600rpm. That amount of twist from such a modest crank speed is one of the things that makes the Ghost so special. Cast your eye across the instrument display; there’s no rev counter, because a Rolls-Royce divorces itself from the conventional methodology of forward motion. Instead, you get a ‘power reserve’ gauge, and at a 70mph cruise you will have almost 100 per cent at your disposal. It’s an old Rolls trope, but it doesn’t stop it from being a good one.

Yet here we are on a Devon farmyard with a piece of machinery that makes the Ghost look more like a 2CV. This is Thor, a 1954 Scammell Pioneer tank recovery vehicle, a 6x4 behemoth whose 12.7-litre Leyland T12 turbodiesel has enough grunt to pull a felled