My Rolls is Better Than Yours!

Oliver St John Gogarty in one of his many fancy fast cars, possibly
a Mercedes 28/95 RCSI/IP/Gogarty

Oliver St John Gogarty (FRCSI 1910) loved extravagant cars. The faster the better. He owned the Mercedes above as well as in 1912 buying a butter cup yellow coloured Rolls Royce. Gogarty was a colourful character to say the least. He was a surgeon, a poet, a playwright, a Republican and a prankster. According to Ulick O'Connor, Gogarty's biographer, he became known for flamboyant theatrics in the operating room, including off-the-cuff witticisms and the flinging of recently removed larynx at the viewing gallery!

Gogarty's Rolls Royce was his prized treasure but it lead to the loss of a dear friend and became a ghostly figure for the IRA during the Civil War. William Orpen and Gogarty were great friends with Gogarty visiting the artist's studio frequently. Orpen painted a portrait of Gogarty that hangs in the College today. The story goes that Orpen and Gogarty had enjoyed a dinner together in the Café Royal in London. Orpen had paid for the dinner and to remind Gogarty of that fact he painted the bill in the top left hand corner.

Oliver St John Gogarty by William Orpen

Despite being friends a game of 'mine is better than yours' lead to the two men falling out. Orpen decided to out-do Gogarty's butter cup Rolls Royce by buying a better one. When Gogarty heard of this he bought a more expensive car. Orpen then bought a more elaborate car and that was the last straw for Gogarty. Their friendship had come to an end. The car that caused this fallout was soon to play another role and here the author David Hicks tells the tale of what happened next

'The car was supposedly stolen by the IRA in 1921 who had targeted the car because of its high speed. The car was brought to Cork, hidden during the day and used in attacks in the region at night, because of its yellow colour, and it soon gained the name of the Moon Car. In 1924 the car was used by the IRA to attack members of the British forces disembarking on the quayside at Queenstown (now Cobh). The car had now been fitted with two Lewis guns which opened fire on the assembled crowd, killing a soldier and wounding many, including civilians. 

Witnesses recalled seeing a ‘big muddy yellow’ car, and an American businessman visiting Queenstown said: ‘My attention was suddenly attracted by the sight of a yellow high-powered touring car.’ Despite a reward being offered by the Free State government of £10,000 for information relating to the Rolls-Royce or it occupants, it was never located. The British government could not understand how such a distinctive car could not be traced, as there were very few Rolls-Royces in the country at that time (possibly as few as five). The car was becoming harder to hide and the IRA disposed of it by setting it on fire and burying the charred wreck in a bog near Donoughmore in County Cork'. 

This is what the car looked like when it was recovered from the bog in the 1980s.

Photo courtesy of David Hicks.

The fully restored 'Moon Car' in 2013.

Photo courtesy of David Hicks.








'There it remained until the 1980s when a local historian, fascinated by the story of the elusive Moon Car, began to piece together its final movements to see if he could locate the remains. After walking acres of bog with a metal detector, he located the car and began the huge task of removing what remained of the car. After the car was uncovered, one of its most distinctive features, the radiator grille, was stolen. No one imagined that a restoration of the car could be possible; however, the car was purchased by James Black from Lisburn in 2006 and after a number of years of restoration and rebuilding, the car was driven back to Cork in the summer of 2013. Today the magnificently restored car remains in the ownership of James Black but is for sale at the princely sum of £750,000'.

There is a lesson here for all of us; don't buy a Rolls Royce!

Photos and additional text courtesy of David Hicks. 
Irish Country Houses: Portraits and Painters by David Hicks, Collins Press 2014


- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy