Beschreibung:

This stunningly presented Rolls-Royce is one of the highly desirable late series Phantom IIs built for the U.S. market. Although in period the American wing of the famed luxury car builder had floundered following the Wall Street Crash, their commissioning American specification chassis from the U.K. factory has provided collectors today with the ultimate specification of this model and better still they are left hand drive, making them ideal for touring. The total produced in period was a little over 120 cars, adding rarity to the equation, for all these reasons they have become coveted in the U.S. and Europe. Similarly the coachwork that Brewster equipped them with was as modern as the hour this Newport being a perfect example. Despite its firewall, its hood stretches from the radiator to the windshield, a styling cue that would become one of Dutch Darrin's trade marks but not for a few years. The body is extremely well proportioned and carries the hallmark Brewster traits of arrow shaped door handles, raked windshield and fenders which owed much to their Derby and Ascot sports models. Even its luggage rack is a compact arrangement which folds discretely into the body, so as not to detract from its tail. The factory records for 203 AMS highlight the transition of the company in this period, the actual contract being dated February 1930, with the completed chassis being tested in April '32 and taking to the water in August 1933, destined for the Springfield factory 'in bond'. Two months later, fitted with the Newport body it still wears it finally headed to its first owner, traveling across the States to Mrs. Mabelle Armstrong-Taylor of San Francisco. Schoellkopf cards resting with the Rolls-Royce Owners Club note that the car's next recorded keeper was C.L. Cummins a little down the road in Palo Alto, CA in July 1946. All subsequent owners are known and list as: Eugene Levay of New York City (1948), Baron Edward Albano Zinco, a prominent musician of New York City (1952), David Rosenheim of West End, NJ (1974), Edward Wurzel of Canton OH (1978), before becoming part of the collection of prominent Rolls-Royce collector Richard Atwell in Texas. In Mr. Atwell's ownership the Newport was treated to a restoration befitting the car, it was sympathetically refurbished cosmetically to the stunning two tone burgundy livery we see today, this work being carried out by Enfield Auto Restoration in Connecticut. Mechanically it was entrusted to Rolls-Royce specialist Frank Cooke, a renowned expert with this pre-war cars and whom Bonhams sold the collection of some 5 years ago. It would pass through a further ownership before arriving in collection of another noted collector of the marque, the late John M. O'Quinn, later passing to the present owner. Freshly detailed and presented with a careful eye for the details of these Brewster cars, 203 AMS is a stunning, rakish town car, the epitome of the 1930s zenith of the coachbuilder and underpinned by its desirable technical specification.