TOUGH START IN LIFE

If Charles Rolls and Henry Royce had wanted the ultimate test of their early motor cars, they couldn’t have done better than try the Australian Outback. With unmade roads, outrageous heat, excessive dust and the occasional kangaroo to contend with, it takes a car of the highest calibre to survive such arduous challenges long-term. And Michael Henningsen’s pristine 1951 Silver Dawn is just such a machine – one that proves the in-built durability of a Rolls-Royce, as well as being a fitting tribute to its current owner’s dedication.

Of course, even a classic Rolls-Royce can suffer after decades of hard work in an inhospitable environment; and so when Michael first came across the Silver Dawn in 1998, it was in rather a state. “SFC 32 was quite the worse for wear,” he explains, “having been ‘bush-bashed’ and abandoned in a paddock in Outback Queensland.” It could have meant the end – the national magazine of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club of Australia – and was determined to be its saviour.