Een reis van Lloret de Mar naar Moskou per Rolls-Royce

Lloret de Mar – Moscow in 1967 in a 1914 Silver Ghost.
This adventurous trip was planned by Àlex Portavella who, in 1967, was the Hotel Manager of Lloret de Mar’s Hotel Rosamar, which belonged to his father-in-law, Pedro Fontanals. To promote the hotel, Àlex, a veteran car enthusiast, had assembled a collection of veteran automobiles: one of which was this untouched 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. He organised the trip to Moscow with three other friends: Mr. Pedro Fontanals the hotel’s owner; Dr. Francisco Benito Inijara, acting as the expedition’s doctor, and José Trull, the car’s mechanic. Prior to the trip, the Rolls was mechanically overhauled by the late Eric Allsop, who had owned a Vauxhall agency in England until his retirement and who lived on the Costa Brava with his nice collection of old Vauxhalls. Eric, a pipe smoker, can be seen to the left of one of the photographs with his imposing beard and his pipe.
They left Lloret on October 10th, with Álex and Trull taking turns at the wheel; both having to drive night and day to reach the USSR border on October 13, the day on which they were authorised to do so. Obtaining USSR’s permission was not an easy task because the group was suspected of espionage and throughout their stay in Russia they were always under police control. On one occasion they took a wrong road. A police car soon overtook them and conducted them back onto the planned route. Also, during their stay in Moscow they were accompanied by a Spanish-Russian interpreter, a policewoman, who would not allow any expedition members to speak Catalan amongst themselves because she could not understand the conversation. They left the USSR on October 20th and arrived safe and sound in Lloret three days later.
Luis Cascante. (SAHB member).
La Seu d’Urgell, Spain.

Alas I know nothing about this adventure. I doubt the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club heard about it, because it wasn't reported in their Bulletins. I looked at my photos of 1914 Silver Ghosts and the nearest match I could find was 64RB,, a Hooper limousine. This car was in Spain in 1970 according to John Fasal's book "The Edwardian Rolls-Royce". I wonder if the owners of the Museo Torre Loizaga in Northern Spain might have more information.

Open-drive limousines like this one were relatively common in 1914, but many have been rebodied and are now tourers.