Beschreibung:

7,431cc L-Head Inline 6-Cylinder Engine Single Rolls-Royce Carburetor 4-Speed Manual Transmission Leaf Spring Suspension Rear-Wheel Mechanical Drum Brakes *Previously owned by Alphonzo E. Bell *Styled in period by Hollywood-based coachbuilders Reindl and Willingham *Expertly restored to Concours condition *Offered with RROC records THE 40/50HP SILVER GHOST Soon after it started Rolls-Royce adopted a single model policy, concentrating all its efforts, engineering and development on the 40/50hp six-cylinder series known by the name of its earliest successful example, the Silver Ghost. But while Rolls-Royce stayed with a single model designation the Silver Ghost was anything but static in engineering, design or features. The Silver Ghost was rugged, powerful, strong and quiet. It would cruise all day, swallowing up long distances in comfort and silence. At the same time its quiet and relaxed low speed operation was ideally suited to restrained and elegant duty under limousine and town car coachwork. The Silver Ghost proved to be so suitable that, in addition to the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, Rolls-Royce set up production facilities in the United States in 1920, choosing Springfield, Massachusetts for its access to suppliers and for the ample supply of skilled craftsmen trained in the armories and machine tool factories of the Connecticut River valley and New England. Updated features and mechanical refinements were first applied to Derby-built Rolls-Royces, then added to the Springfield-built cars so the American product was late to get such improvements as four-wheel brakes. On the other hand, many of the American components were better than those available in the U.K. and the Springfield-built Rolls-Royces soon featured American-made Bosch magnetos and coil ignition, Bijur generators and starters and American-made wire wheels. THE MOTORCAR OFFERED The Rolls-Royce offered here has a spectacularly interesting history, as well as sporting, one-off Roadster styling. 342LF was delivered new to Alphonzo E. Bell, an oil magnate, significant real estate developer, champion tennis player and philanthropist. The son and nephew of two brothers-in-law who were responsible for the development of 10,000 acres in what is now East Los Angeles, Bell found oil on his Sante Fe Springs ranch and orange grove in 1917, an oil field that would become one of the largest in the United States, eventually producing one sixth of the country's oil. He used his oil earnings to acquire a sprawling 1,700+ acre estate in the West Los Angeles foothills, subsequently developing the property into hundreds of estate sites and christening the project Bel-Air, which remains one of the wealthiest and most exclusive communities in Southern California today. Bell had enough wealth, income and assets to ride out the Depression in comfort, and by 1930 he was seeking the more modern styling of the day. His stable of cars needed to be replaced, so the Piccadilly briefly became the property of a Mr. John C. Feys of Beverly Hills and was then later acquired by a Mr. J. Cooper of Hollywood. While it can't be verified, it's likely that this was the same J. Cooper that co-owned the Rolls-Royce dealership in Hollywood. By 1931 the car was in the possession of Joseph Reindl, the leading West Coast authority on Mercedes-Benz, but also well versed on the more ubiquitous of the European marques, including Rolls-Royce. Operating out of Hollywood Spring and Axle at 6009 W. Sunset Blvd., Reindl was part of the Hollywood scene from the 1920s to the 1950s, making his name by modifying and improving the European cars of Los Angeles' rich and famous as the desire for more athletic vehicles was beginning to come into its first heyday. Like the coachbuilders of the day, there was a group of these hotrodders in Los Angeles at the onset of the 1930s and Reindl was a notable figure in their ranks, although not nearly as significant as Eddie Miller, a former Duesenberg factory mechanic and st