1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Playboy Convertible Coupe

C.S. Rolls brought three cars to race at New York's Empire City track in 1906. This was followed by a exhibit at the annual auto show where three cars were sold. In 1913, a New York depot was set-up with coachbuilders Brewster & Co., who bodied the majority of the imported chassis. Rolls-Royce acquired a factory in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1919 and began to manufacturer the Silver Ghost. Other coachbuilders, in addition to Brewster, were tasked with providing coachwork, a number of them under the hallmark of Rolls-Royce Custom Coach Work. Companies included Biddle & Smart, Willoughby, Merrimac, and Holbrook.

The Springfield factory offered a range of standard designs which were built by the aforementioned firms. Included were the Pall Mall tourer, the Oxford seven-passenger tourer, the Piccadilly roadster, and the Mayfair and Riviera town cars.

The American built Springfield Rolls-Royces had several components that were different from their British counterparts. The American Bosch ignition was used in place of the Watford magneto, American wheels replaced Dunlops, and eventually all electrical equipment was of local manufacture. By the mid-1920s, six-volt electrics had been adopted and the chassis had been reconfigured for left-hand drive. Around the same time, the four-speed, right-hand shifted gearbox gave way to an American-style three-speed with center change.

This particular example was delivered on March 11th of 1926 to Mr. D. Armstrong, of Greenwich, Connecticut. It originally wore a Willoughby-built Mayfair town car body. It was later traded back to Rolls-Royce of America where it was given the Playboy Convertible Coupe body with coachwork by Brewster.

The car was then sold to Walter Reade by successor company J.S. Inskip on June 9, 1934. In June of 1959, the car was purchased by Bob Wilhelm of Flint, Michigan. Years later, it was imported into Belgium prior to being purchased by the preceding owner. The current owner brought the car to RM Auction's Amelia Island sale where it was sold for the sum of $313,500 including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2013