Beschreibung:

Body no. B7080 Rolls-Royce’s ‘single model’ policy had proved an outstanding success for the company, but immediately after the end of the Great War the recession in the motor trade prompted the introduction of a smaller, cheaper 20hp car to be built alongside the existing 40/50hp Silver Ghost. Henry Royce’s new design incorporated a number of modern features such as overhead valve-gear for its six-cylinder engine, a center-change gearbox and ‘Hotchkiss drive’ rear axle, and the advanced newcomer’s arrival only served to emphasize the Silver Ghost’s Edwardian origins. However, the 45/50hp model would soon benefit from developments pioneered on its smaller sibling. Introduced by Rolls-Royce in 1925 to replace the Silver Ghost, the New Phantom (retrospectively known as the Phantom I) boasted an entirely new overhead-valve six-cylinder engine displacing 7,668cc and, like the contemporary 20hp model, adopted a disc-type clutch and adjustable radiator shutters. Its chassis though, remained essentially the same as that of the later, four-wheel-braked Silver Ghost and would continue fundamentally unchanged until the arrival of the Phantom II in 1929 brought with it an entirely new frame. Like its ’Ghost predecessor, the New Phantom was also produced by Rolls-Royce of America Incorporated, a subsidiary set up in December 1919 when the parent company purchased the American Wire Wheel Company’s plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield commenced manufacture of the New Phantom in 1926, and by the second half of 1929 production had risen to 12 cars per week. This would prove to be the high point of Rolls-Royce of America’s fortunes, the October ’29 Wall Street Crash and the introduction of the Phantom II - re-tooling for which the US company could not afford - signalled the beginning of its decline. Unlike its British-built counterpart, the American product could be ordered with ‘factory’ bodywork, usually by Brewster, the latter company having been taken over by Rolls-Royce in December 1925. As well as manufacturing coachwork of the highest quality, Brewster had built its own automobiles from 1915 up to the time of its acquisition by Rolls-Royce, re-emerging as an auto-maker in its own right, using Ford chassis, when US Phantom production finally ceased in 1934 and the company became part of the reconstituted Springfield Manufacturing Corporation. A rare and handsome left-hand drive Phantom I, ‘S221KR’ was originally used as a trials car by Rolls-Royce in Philadelphia before being sold to its first private owner – one R.L. Sullivan – on April 9th 1930. The car is understood to have had three further owners, passing from second owner A.A. Studler in 1960 to K.F. Oviatt, who kept it for the next 45 years until it was acquired by the vendor in 2005. Last registered in 1967, it is one of only 52 Brewster-bodied Avon Sedans on the Springfield Phantom chassis, and retains its proper 20” Buffalo wire wheels and special Rolls-Royce bumper center plates. Described as remaining ‘very solid’ after 40 years in storage, the ‘S221KR’ displays a total of 162,331 miles on the odometer and is ripe for sympathetic restoration. The car possesses a Certificate of Title and is offered without reserve. Without reserve