Originally delivered to Colonel W.E. Phillips, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian farm equipment manufacturer Massey-Ferguson, in October 1953. Extensive original specifications included both a Sonabel and dual Windtone hornsundoubtedly handy in Toronto trafficas well as automatic gearbox, dual fog lamps, a power-operated hood, radio, under-dash header, and Sundym tinted glass. Curiously, the Colonel also requested Bentley-style dual exhaust, and had the car fitted upon delivery with French-specification headlamps, as he intended to use it in that country. The original livery was Blue and Silver-Gray, with Blue leather interior. If the Silver Dawn ever did venture outside of Canada, within several years it had returned to that country. In the summer of 1956, it was acquired by another important figure in the country?s industry, Jack Kent Cooke, a broadcasting baron now best remembered for his later business interests in sports team ownership in the United States. Later Canadian owners included the prolific Rolls-Royce enthusiast Gordon E. Smith of Orillia, Lawrence Szabo of Hamilton, and lumber magnate Fred R. MacDonald of Toronto. In 1963 it moved to the United States in the ownership of Dr. John Bowers, another well-known Rolls-Royce collector in Kokomo, Indiana, and was later owned for nearly a quarter of a century by John M. Herman of Philadelphia. It was then part of the noted American collection of Jim Covert, known for his attraction to exceptionally high-quality automobiles. One of five examples built to this design and an original left hand drive model.
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