Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith 4P Sport Saloon by Park Ward & Co from 1953, 4257 cc, max. speed 137 km/h
Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded in 1919 which operated from Willesden in North London. In the 1930s, backed by Rolls-Royce Limited, it made technical advances which enabled the building of all-steel bodies to Rolls-Royce’s high standards. Bought by Rolls-Royce in 1939, it merged with H. J. Mulliner & Co. in 1961 to form Mulliner Park Ward.
Park Ward was founded in 1919 by William MacDonald Park and Charles Ward; they had worked together at F.W. Berwick Limited, the makers of Sizaire-Berwick cars. They built their first Rolls-Royce body in 1920.
After producing bodies for a variety of cars in the early 1920s, Park Ward became particularly associated with W O Bentley’s new business, manufacturing their chassis nearby at Cricklewood.
In 1922, they were asked by Rolls-Royce to take part in a scheme to make standard bodies for their small Twenty model, but the project was abandoned, although they did build bespoke bodies for Rolls-Royce customers exhibiting a 40-50 model at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924. From the mid-1920s, the company started to concentrate on Bentley and Rolls-Royce models. By 1930, 90% of all of Park Ward’s efforts were for Rolls-Royce.
