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.
Specifications
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),