1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Avon Touring Sedan

Brewster introduced the new Avon sedan in 1929 and many (if not all) of the 1929 and 1930 Rolls-Royce trial cars wore this type of coachwork, along with the Works Experimental chassis 5MX. The design of the Avon sedan incorporated a low roofline, a gently raked windshield, often a padded roof, wide center posts, and was intended for owner-operation. This particular example, however, has a rollup division window. There is also a luggage trunk with dual side-mounted spares mirrors.

This Phanom I Avon was in the 1978 film version of Harold Robbins' novel 'The Betsy.' In the film, the Rolls-Royce wore peach paint with cream fenders, a padded roof in cream leatherette, and body beltline accents. The six wire wheels were painted in the color of the body and were all wrapped with wide whitewall tires.

This Rolls-Royce was sold on November 14th of 1930 to Parker Corning of Kenwood, New York, and remained in his care until August 1946 when it was purchased by Keith Marvin of New Canaan, Connecticut. Mr. Marvin sold it on New Year's Eve 1950 to Albert O. White of Schenectady, New York who later sold it to Ted Leonard. After Mr. Leonard passed away, the car was sold by Bonhams Auction in June of 2009 to its current caretaker. It has been on static display for the past decade. In 2022 it returned to auction again rolling across the auction block of Bonhams, this time at their Amelia Island sale. It found new ownership for the sum of $26,880 including the buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2022