RM Auctions are holding a bumper auction on 26 July in Michigan to celebrate 20 years of collector car auctions in Motor City. There is a large selection of American-built motor cars in addition to several high end Europeans. The 1927 Phantom I Brougham de Ville left Derby in chassis form and was shipped to Parisian coachbuilder Henri Binder, who constructed this exquisite Brougham de Ville body for its new owner Jessie Woolworth to enjoy during her annual visit. The Woolworth inheritance allowed her to own several Rolls-Royce cars – a lady of taste. As I read of the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Torpedo Tourer by Barker I am reminded of when the late Hon. Patrick Lindsay showed me the photo album of his drive from India to England via the Khyber Pass in his similar Rolls-Royce Phantom ll. In the first 50 years of the 20th century, more than 800 Rolls-Royce cars were exported from England to India thus firmly establishing them as the car of choice for maharajas, the tribal leaders of India during the British Raj with its harsh climate and road conditions.
Rolls-Royce maintained an American factory at Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1919 to 1931, where the Silver Ghost remained in production until 1926. The description of this 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost gives interesting detail from these times, and how it acquired its ‘Oxford 7-seater Touring’ body. More interesting history of Rolls-Royce in America can be found in the description of the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Ascot Tourer by Merrimac, this being a boom year when 350 R-R cars were sold.
Yet the car which plucked at my heart strings most was the 1924 Duesenberg Model A Speedster by Brandfon, currently in need of a thorough recommissioning. ‘Benny’ Brandfon once owned and raced the 1913 Peugeot GP so we have the stamp of the right man. In the 1920s the Brickyard beckoned, so using more passion and skill than money, he built a car to race at Indianapolis and with its 4 litre SOHC engine did a very competitive 101 mph. He loved his ‘Duesy Special’ and developed it into what we see today refusing to leave it to his son because “this old car keeps me alive.”
RM’s catalogue not only introduces us to some outstanding cars, it also introduces us to some outstanding people who designed, built and drove them and the times they lived in.
(Text Robin Batchelor, photos courtesy RM Auctions)