A Review of Emir Sanusi Vintage’s Car: Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith

This vintage car of HRH, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is reportedly owned by Nubar Gulbenkian. According to reports, Nubar Gulbenkian was an eccentric Armenian-British millionaire who was crazy about Rolls Royces. He had many custom made Rolls Royces (the Rolls Royce company was not always happy with the designs that he chose for his cars). This particular car was designed by Gulbenkian in 1952. It’s a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, but its lights are different from any other Silver Wraith.

The Emir of Kano, Abdullahi Bayero (Emir from 1926-1953) bought the car shortly afterwards. Bayero died and the car was inherited by his successor, Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi I. The car was used to convey Queen Elizabeth II when she toured Northern Nigeria in 1956 (Kano, Jos, Kaduna, etc).

The car was also inherited by the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero and it has now been inherited by the current Emir, Muhammad Sanusi II. We went digging to see what makes this car a unique car and why is it that the royal family has refused to let go of this car despite been used by 3 different kings now. We did some reviews and what we found was amazing…

Introduction

Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith is a car that has a 4 door saloon (sedan) type body with a front positioned engine powering the rear wheels.
It is powered by a naturally aspirated engine of 4.3 litre capacity. This unit features overhead inlet, side exhaust valve gear, 6 cylinder layout, and 2 valves per cylinder.
Power is transmitted to the wheels by means of a 4 speed manual gearbox.

• 6 cylinder in-line engine, bore x stroke 88.9 x 114.3 mm (3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in),
• capacity 4,257 cc (from 1951 bore x stroke 92.08 x 114.3 mm (3 5/8 x 4 1/2 in),
• capacity 4,566 cc; from 1954 bore x stroke 95.25 x 114.3 mm (3 3/4 x 4 1/2 in),
• capacity 4,887 cc); cast iron cylinder block, aluminium alloy cylinder head,
• Stromberg carburettor (from 1951 Zenith carburettor, from 1956 twin SU carburettors);
• single dry plate clutch;
• 4-speed gearbox (from 1952 4-speed automatic gearbox optional),
• hypoid bevel final drive,
• independent front suspension with coil springs,
• semi-elliptic springs rear;
• drum brakes servo-assisted;
• wheelbase 3,225.8 mm (127 in)(from 1951 wheelbase 3,378.2 mm (133 in);
• tyre size 6.50 x 17 (from 1951 tyre size 6.50 x 16, for export cars tyre size 7.50 x 16 optional, for long wheelbase cars standard).

Powertrain

• Engine manufacturer: ROLLS-ROYCE
• Engine type: spark-ignition 4-stroke
• Fuel type: petrol (gasoline)
• Fuel system: 2 carburetors
• Charge system: naturally aspirated
• Valves per cylinder: 2
• Valves timing:
• Additional features:
• Emission control:
• Emission standard:
• Cylinders alignment: V 8
• Displacement: 6750 cm3 / 411.9 cui
• Bore: 104.14 mm / 4.1 in
• Stroke: 99.06 mm / 3.9 in
• Compression ratio: 9 : 1
• Horsepower net: 191 kW / 260 PS / 256 hp (net)/ 4500
• Torque net: 550 Nm / 406 ft-lb/ 2500
• Horsepower gross:
• Torque gross:
• Redline rpm:
• Car power to weight ratio net: 83.8 watt/kg / 38 watt/lb
• Car weight to power ratio net: 11.9 kg/kW / 8.8 kg/PS / 19.6 lbs/hp
• Fuel capacity: 107 liter / 28.3 U.S. gal / 23.5 imp. gal