Mrs. Carnell's 1926 Rolls-Royce Sliver Ghost Arundel Limonsine

1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Arundel Limousine (S333RL)

Another picture from the stack of Rolls-Royce images shows this 1926 Springfield Silver Ghost (S333RL) with a RRCCW Arundel Limousine body. Rolls-Royce Custom Coach Works (RRCCW) Arundel Limousine was a body not often selected - in fact, only one Springfield Ghost chassis is said to have been bodied with the Arundel Limousine. You guessed it - chassis S333RL (additionally, 30 Springfield Phantom I's are shown as have been bodied with the Arundel). This car is a late Springfield ghost (one of the last 70 ghosts manufactured in Springfield) and it's unclear to me who supplied this body style to Roll-Royce. However, Rolls-Royce of America had purchased Brwester and Co. in January of 1926 and I'd have to guess this is a Brewster built body.

This car was originally ordered by Mrs. Carnell of Dayton, OH (Mrs. Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell) - by 1923, Rolls-Royce had opened seven factory showrooms across the United States including Cleveland, OH and I assume the car was ordered through the dealer in Cleveland. Mrs. Carnell was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist who married into the prominent Patterson family of Dayton. The Pattersons were one of the pinoneering families of Dayton and Mrs. Carnell's first husband was Frank Patterson. Frank and his brother John founded the national Cash Register company (NCR) in Dayton, OH. When Frank died in 1901, Julia inherited a sizable fortune and some time later married Harry Carnell - NCR's comptroller at the time. In 1926 she received her new Rolls-Royce and in 1928 drove it to the dedication of the new Dayton Art Institute. According to the Dayton Art Institute website, when The Dayton Art Institute outgrew its original home, a mansion located on Monument Avenue in downtown Dayton. Mrs. Julia Shaw Carnell, a prominent community leader, pledged to construct a new museum if the community would then endow and pay for its operations. Mrs. Carnell’s generosity of nearly $2 million created the landmark building that still houses the museum.. She is said to have also given most of the original art works.

After Mrs Carnell's ownership, the car next shows up in the RROC's Flying Lady (1962-3) owned by Paul Cox. Later, in 1984, the car is listed for sale in the Flying Lady (1984-2) by John Pierson - he asks $39,000. I believe Robert Mace purchased the car then and it appears that the family still owns the car today.

Mr. Orville Wright & Mrs. Julia Carnell (photo credit: Wright State University Library)

Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Millie Miglia spyder by Touring

The Alfa team at the 1938 Millie Miglia (photo credit: velocetoday.com)

In 1937, the Alfa Romeo factory in Turin built five 8C 2900B race cars for the 1938 season - four of these were bodied by Carrozzeria Touring and campaigned at the 1938 Millie Miglia. Alfa Corse (the factory race team) was still headed by Enzo Ferrari, and the 2900B was an extension of the successful 8C 2900A. The "B" was a twin overhead camshaft, fully independent suspension car with twin Roots-type superchargers making over 200hp.

The Simeone Collection's 8C 2900B - chassis 412031

Chassis number 412031 (wearing #143) was driven by Clemente Biondetti and Aldo Stefani won the 1938 Millie Miglia. This car now resides in the fantastic Simeone Collection. I took this picture (not my best shot) when visiting the collection a few years ago.

Ralph Lauren's 8C 2900 - chassis 412030 (photo credit: ralphlaurencarcollection.com)

Chassis number 412030 (wearing #142) was driven by Carlo Pintacuda and Paride Mambelli and after leading most of the race was sidelined at the last check point (brakes) and ended up second. The car was later bought from Alfa Corse by Count Felice Trossi. In the 1940s it came to the US and was owned and raced by Tommy Lee (Pikes Peak and Watkins Glen). Phil Hill bought the car from the Lee estate and he drove it to victory at Pebble Beach in 1951. Later, Brooks Stevens commissioned a bare metal restoration on the car in 1967. Today the car is owned by Ralph Lauren who purchased it from the estate of Bill Serri in early 2004 and had the car restored by Paul Russell.

Chassis 412033 and 412034 (wearing numbers 148 & 141) are not thought to have survived in tact.

Chassis 412021 - a re-creation 8C 2900B

I happened to see this car a number of years ago (I believe at the Quail) - I didn't know it at the time, but this car is a recreation. According to an article in the September 1997 edition of Classic & Sports Car Magazine, this car - chassis 412021 (an 8C 2900A) was re-bodied by Alfa after being retired from racing and sold to a German officer during the war. Confiscated by US troops after the war, it came to America and was caught in a shop fire - then buried. The remains were dug up and restored with a re-creation body fabricated and the car built to 8C 2900B specifications.

I've ridden in a 6C 1750 and only imagine the power and performance of the 8C 2900.

Chassis 412021 after being re-bodied by Alfa (photo credit: Yaroslav Bozhdynsky)

1954 Mercedes-Benz W-196 (chassis 00006/54)

Juan Manuel Fangio in a W-196 at Pebble Beach in 1991

The count-down is on for the sale of one of the most important and historically significant race cars to come to auction in a long time - the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W-196 (chassis 0006/54). One of only 14 manufactured, and one of only 10 surviving. The only one in private hands, this car was piloted to victory in the 1954 German and Swiss Grand Prix - at the hands of non-other than "El Maestro" himself - Juan Manuel Fangio (1911-1995).

I had the great fortune to see Fangio at the 1991 Pebble Beach Concourse de Elegance. After being honored at the Monterey Historics that year he came to Pebble Beach and drove a W-196 (I believe from the Mercedes-Benz Classic collection).

The Argentine's career is well documented with five Formula One World Driver's Championships to his credit. His Formula One racing career didn't really materialize until after WWII and he won his first championship, driving for Alfa Romeo, in 1951 - at the age of 40. In 1954, he won his second championship - starting the season with Maserati, but jumping to Mercedes-Benz when they entered mid-season. He won eight out of twelve races that season.

Of the W-196's that remain, the Mercedes-Benz Classic collection holds six (W-196 R models) - with another one in Turin, one in Vienna and one in the collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. The final car is the one being sold by Bonhams - one of the "non-fendered" cars built for Fangio and Moss to drive on road courses.

Bonham's describes the car's history as follows: "After its final race, driven by Kling at Monza, it had been prepared to full race standard and then consigned to the Daimler-Benz Exhibitions Department on December 22, 1955. In June 1965 it was exhibited in Munich and during 1966 it starred at both Le Mans and Hockenheim. It then appeared at the 1967 British Grand Prix before being used for tyre testing at the Unterturkheim factory test-track, and displayed in Berlin and at Stuttgart University. Further display duties followed in 1969 in Luxembourg, Berlin and Hamburg.... On June 24, 1972 the car ran in engine tests at Unterturkheim before, on May 22, 1973 Mercedes-Benz officially presented it – as a smarter replacement for deteriorating car '14 – to the freshly re-constituted National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire, England.

Some years later that Museum's authorities decided to offer the car for sale, to help finance construction of a Museum library and ... was sold to Sir Anthony Bamford of JCB Excavators. It was acquired from him – in a deal brokered by Adrian Hamilton of Duncan Hamilton Ltd. – by French collector Jacques Setton ... Setton is reputed to have paid what was at the time a world-record price (for any motor car). It then passed subsequently to German businessman Friedhelm Loh ... The car was then re-sold and today, after many years out of public view, 'Triple-Oh-Oh-Six' is offered here." 

At Bonham's invitation, Mercedes-Benz Classic, has inspected the car and produced a report confirming the vehicle’s originality and authenticity.

1954 Mercedes-Benz W-196 (chassis 00006/54) - (photo credit: Bonhams Auctions)

Juan Manuel Fangio driving a Mercedes-Benz W-196 - (photo credit: Bonhams Auctions)

1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Tilbury Sedan (S158MK)

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Tilbury Sedan (S158MK)

This car was built by Rolls-Royce of America in Springfield, MA and was originally purchased by Mrs. R.D. Inman (Clarissa Alice Keyes Inman, 1874-1947) of Portland, OR. Mrs. Inman inherited a stake in the Inman-Poulsen Lumber Company - the largest in the state - upon her husband's death in 1920 (the mill would be sold to Georgia Pacific in 1953). Mrs. Inman is also known for inventing the electric curling iron, whose royalties would help maintain her standard of living.

After her husband's passing she built a lovely home at 2884 NW Cumberland, Rd in Portland where this Rolls-Royce presumably would have been kept. Today the house is listed for sale for $2,850,000. Additionally, she selected the Tilbury Sedan with collapsible rear quarter for her new Rolls-Royce. The Tilbury was a popular offering from the Rolls-Royce Custom Coach Work catalog (RRCCW) - only the Pall Mall touring and Pickwick Limousine adorned more Springfield Silver Ghost chassis. The Tilbury body was provided to Rolls-Royce by the Willoughby Company of Utica, NY. A long-standing and highly regarded coach works, Willoughby produced 372 bodies for the Springfield Silver Ghost chassis and 43 for the Springfield New Phantom (PI). Shortly after Rolls-Royce of America purchased Brewster, Willoughby’s involvement with Rolls-Royce’s Custom Coach Work program ended.

This car appears to not have strayed far from it's original home. I'm not sure when the car left the care of Mrs. Inman, but I found it listed for sale in 1968 (The Flying Lady 68-6) for $5,500 by Wesley Clifton of Seattle, WA. The image I have has Herb Schoenfeld of Mercer Island, WA noted on the back. Today, the car (S158 MK) is in the collection of the Lemay Museum of Tacoma, WA.

The Tilbury Sedan on the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Chassis (photo credit: Bonhams Auctions)

Andrew L. Riker - pioneer race car designer

The Riker electric "Torpedo" racer (photo credit: Horseless Age, November 20, 1901)

Andrew Lawrence Riker (1868 - 1930) was a pioneer of the automotive age and much has been written about him. I won't try and retell him entire story here, but simply to illuminate his racing career. In believe Riker to be a bit unique in that he designed electric, steam, and gas cars over his storied career - serving as the first president of the Society of Automotive Engineers as well.

Riker started out as proponent of electric power and founded the Riker Motor Wagon Company in Brooklyn, New York. The company's name was soon changed to the The Riker Electric Motor Company and his racing career was born with a win at the Narragansett Park Track (Providence, RI) in 1896. The moved to Elizabeth, NJ and took the name the Riker Electric Vehicle Company in 1898. Riker would often speak of the supremacy of electric power for city vehicles and the bulk of his business was making commercial vehicles (today the Smithsonian holds one of these vehicles in its collection). Regardless, it seems his passion was speed and he built (to my knowledge) the first purpose-built electric racer in 1900 -
winning a 50-mile endurance race on the Merrick Road course on Long Island. This car was reworked into the "Torpedo Racer" of 1901 (seen herein) which unofficially set the mile record at Coney Island, NY - breaking the the mile-a-minute barrier. I believe the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine has recreation of this vehicle in its collection. 

Riker sold his company to Col. Pope's Electric Vehicle Corporation in 1901 (taking a position in the firm) and immediately set about designing a gasoline powered car. This attracted the attention of the Locomobile Company who was looking to transition out of its dated steam car into a new product offering. By 1902, Andrew Riker was a Vice President at Locomobile and the driving force behind the design of their cars for the next decade. It wasn't long before Riker has a chance to design another race car. Dr. H.E. Thomas of Chicago make request of Locomobile (through the company's Chicago agent) for a race car suitable for running the 1905 Gordon-Bennett race - to be held in France that year. It's said that company wasn't really interested and sent word back to Chicago that if Dr. Thomas really wanted a race car he'd have to pay $18,000 for it. An astronomical sum of money at the time, it was thought this would discourage Dr. Thomas. However, to everyone's surprise, Thomas said yes, and Riker got to work. Riker designed a car unlike anything the company had built previously - very much in the style of the competing European cars of the day. Riker must have poured himself into the job and the company seems to have championed the cause as well. Locomobile actually selected a driver and sent him to Europe to campaign DR. Thomas' racer car. Joe Tracy (1873-1959) was just the man for the job, but unfortunately Tracy stripped two of the four forward gears and the car was retired with only a couple laps under it's belt. Not to be deterred, the car and Tracy came home and entered the Vanderbilt Cup race in the same year. The car was improved (learning from their experiences in France) and Tracy (with Al Poole as his riding mechanic) handled her beautifully - finishing second in the elimination trials and third in the Cup race. This car was the first American car to place in an international motor race (wearing #7).

Dr. Thomas' Locomobile racer (photo credit: Horseless Age, May 10, 1905)

Inspired, Riker went back to the drawing board and created a masterpiece for 1906 - actually two Locomobile team racing cars to be campaigned by Tracy & Poole once again. One of these cars would win the American elimination race and, although favored, would place 10th in 1906 (wearing #9). These team cars would be upgraded over the next two years and as they challenged for the Cup. In 1908, one of these cars (wearing #16) - and driven by George Roberson (with Glen Ethridge as his mechanic) because Joe Tracy had retired - won the Vanderbilt Cup. The car lives on in its current home - the Henry Ford collection - as one of the most important American built race cars every made. This car was the first American car to win an international motor race - a very fitting tribute to its designer, Andrew Riker.

1906 Locomobile racer (photo credit: Motor Way, 1906)

The Locomobile team garage at the 1906 Vanderbilt races (photo credit: Motor Way, 1906)

1906 Locomobile racer that won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup at the Henry Ford

The 1906 American team for the Vanderbilt Cup race (photo credit: Motor, October 1906)

J.P. Morgan Jr.'s 1930 Rolls-Royce PII Brewster Phaeton

Irving Jensen III and their 1930 Rolls-Royce PII Brewster Phaeton - originally owned by J.P. Morgan Jr.

When walking the paddocks (where they unload the cars) at Pebble Beach a few years ago, we stumbled upon the Jensen's and their freshly restored 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II. They were very kind and took a moment to tell the story of their very special car. This car was ordered new by J.P. Morgan Jr. (1867-1943) who succeeded his father as head of the family firm in 1913 (upon his fathers passing), becoming heir to an estate of more than $50,000,000. J.P. Morgan Jr. seems to have favored Rolls-Royce and Brewster & Company coachworks. Morgan Jr. had ordered a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Brewster Limousine in 1926 - with the family's distinctive green and black colors, as wall as a raised roof line (per Morgan's specifications - apparently he like to wear his top hat in the car). The 1926 Silver Ghost is in the collection of the Henry Ford. In 1927, Morgan ordered another Rolls-Royce, this time a new Phantom with winter and summer coachwork from Brewster. This car is listed for sale in the 2013 Dragone Classic Auction wearing it's summer body - a Piccadilly roadster. The Jensen's car was delivered in 1930 - an unusual RHD car with custom Brewster Phaeton coachwork - also with the family's colors and raised roof line. This car was in the Thompson Products Museum (later the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum) in Cleveland, OH for many years. I'm not sure how it ended up there or how the Jensen's came to own the car. It is said that J.P. Morgan Jr. tried to reverse the course of the great depression, but to no avail. Regardless, his personal wealth allowed him unthinkable extravagance at a time of great financial hardship. Not only did Mr. Morgan acquire a new Rolls-Royce in 1930, he also took ownership of his newest steam yacht, the Corsair IV, built for a staggering $2.5 million.

The car when in the Thompson Products Museum (photo credit: The Flying Lady 53-2)

J.P. Morgan Jr. (photo credit: Corbis Images)

Mrs. Vanderbilt's 1913 Rolls-Royce Brewster Town Car

1913 Rolls-Royce Brewster Town Car (25MA) owned by Mrs. C. Vanderbilt II

1913 Rolls-Royce Brewster Town Car (25MA) owned by Mrs. C. Vanderbilt II

I found these pictures of a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (25MA) Brewster Town Car (sometimes described as a 1914) among a batch of Rolls-Royce images. This places the chassis in the first series of Silver Ghost chassis to be designated by letters as well as numbers (series A) - or the 10th overall series of silver ghost chassis produced by the factory. This car has a very interesting history as it was imported into America by Brewster & Co. - the New York agents for Rolls-Royce starting in 1914. The car was sold to Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (Alice Claypoole Gwynne Vanderbilt, 1845-1934) and bodied by Brewster in the town car livery it wears to today. This car has been attributed to Cornelius Vanderbilt II, but this is not the case as he died in 1899.

According to Mark Theobald of coachbuilt.com, Brewster & Co. kept a record of each import family’s colors - J. P. Morgan's was dark green, the Vanderbilt's a special maroon, and the Astor's a shade of blue. Apparently, A total of 46 Rolls-Royce chassis were received by Brewster between 1914 and 1916 when shipments ceased due to the sinking of the Lusitania. Ironically, Mrs. Vanderbilt II's son Alfred went down on the Lusitania in May of 1915. Mrs. Vanderbilt II was sometime referred to as the Queen of New York Society and had a notorious rivalry with her sister-in-law which resulted in ever more extravagant homes built in Manhattan and Newport, RI. Upon Mrs. Vanderbilt II death in 1934, I believe the car was inherited by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. C. Vanderbilt III (Grace Wilson). The picture shown herein is subtitled on thegildedageera.blogspot.com as Mrs. Vanderbilt III returning to her Rolls-Royce limousine from a clothing store along upper 5th Ave with her chauffeur, Henry, waiting to open the door. I believe this photo shows 25MA.

I've also found reference to Mrs. Vanderbuilt III in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette of 1941. The paper reports on the sale of Mrs. Vanderbilt's mansion at 640 5th Avenue as the end of an era in New York society. They note that Mrs. Vanderbilt (70) inherited the title of Queen of Society from her mother-in-law and comments: "From the maroon color of her ancient Rolls-Royce town car to...".

This leads me to believe that the car was keep in the Vanderbilt family over two generations and most likely disposed of after Mrs. Vanderbilt III's death in 1953. The car next shows up for sale in the RROC's Flying Lady in 1956 (No. 56-3): "SILVER GHOST 1914 Brewster Town car 25 MA, engine 919TG. Originally owned by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt. Running condition, needs paint. Make offers to E.L. Parker, 5644 Pinetree Drive, Miami Beach, Fla." The car is seen again in the Flying Lady in 1972 (No. 72-2) for sale by Alan L. Blum of Balboa Island, CA for $35,000. By the mid 1980's the car is in the collection of Richard Burdick of Texas and remains with him until the Burdick collection is auctioned in 2010. The car is sold by Dan Kruse Classic Auctions for $286,000 - still retaining it's original engine and bodywork (and possibly some original finishes as well - though the car seems to have been altered a bit from the Vanderbilt's ownership).

I believe this to be 25MA when in the care of Mrs. Vanderbilt III (photo credit: thegildedageera.blogspot.com)

25MA as advertised for sale in 1972 (photo credit: The Flying Lady, No. 72-2)

25MA when in the Richard Burdick collection (photo credit: Dan Kruse Classic Auctions)