1928 Rolls Royce
edited by David Barth, 15 December 2008.
Courtesy "The Auto Collections" showroom at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las, Vegas, Nevada, USA. Photo was
taken 5 November 2006.
The information presented below is from "Imperial Palace Auto Collection" by Ralph Engelstad, owner of the hotel/casino
and the automobiles until his death in 2002.
This car is believed to be a 1928 Rolls Royce.
In 1895 the earliest American production automobile, the Duryea, was built on Taylor Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The British became interested in the Duryea and they began production in England in 1902. In 1920, Rolls Royce decided to
produce Rolls Royce cars in the U.S., and it set up production in Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield was chosen
because rifles and motorcycles were produced there, and the area had a supply of skilled workers. Rolls Royce production
was set up in a former Indian motorcycle plant.
Due to great post-war demand, British Rolls Royce had a two-year backlog of orders. Because British law prohibited the
transfer of assets out of England to finance the American company, it was funded by U.S. investors.
Plant managers and foremen were brought from the Rolls Royce factory in Derby, England to ensure standardization between
American and English built cars. This situation changed in 1925 when Rolls Royce America bought the Brewster coachbuilding
company so that it could produce complete cars instead of simply building a chassis that had to be sent somewhere else to
have a coach built for it.
Brewster's catalog of coaches that could be made for a Rolls Royce chassis included 28 different bodies, each named for
England towns such as Oxford, Pickwick, and Wimbledon. The English and American engines were identical.
- Phantom I Characteristics:
- Engine design: Inline, six cylinders
- Bore: 108mm
- Stroke: 140mm
- Displacement: 7.7 liters (470 cubic inches)
- Power: 80 hp at 2,250 rpm
- Wheelbase: 2 choices - 143.5 and 146.5 inches
- Price range for bodied cars in 1924: $12,930 to $15,880 (it was America's most expensive car)
In 1929 Rolls Royce introduced the Phantom II, but the Springfield factory could not afford to retool, so chassis were
imported from Derby, England, and then bodies built for them in Springfield. By 1934, when the Springfield facility
closed its doors, 2,944 cars had been built.
Around the world were companies that specialized in coachbuilding for various cars. One such company was run by two
Americans living in Paris, Hibbard and Darrin, who built bodies for Rolls Royce chassis.
