Rolls-Royce Phantom I Newport Town Car by Brewster, 1931

Rolls-Royce Phantom II

Rolls-Royce Phantom II•‌
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Chassis No.: S216PR

Engine No.: 31160

Body No.: 7446

Registration: Canadian Registration

Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania

$77,000 USD | Sold

Offered from nearly 30 years of continuous enthusiast ownership
Delivered new to film pioneer Max A. Schlesinger
An active participant in the RROC since the mid-1950s
Attractive older restoration; a superb family tour car

Among the beautiful bodies produced for the American-built “Springfield” Phantom I was the Newport town car, an unusually well-proportioned formal design with crisp modern lines, including a hood line extended back to the angled windshield, and a relatively low roof. This style was produced mainly for the succeeding Phantom II, but a handful were mounted to very late Phantom I chassis, often ones that had remained unsold for years following their construction—typical in The Great Depression.

Produced very late in the final “PR” series of chassis, this Phantom I, chassis number S216PR, was also among the last of the model to have been delivered, warrantied to its original owner on 6 March 1935, nearly at the tail end of Phantom II production. The fortunate recipient was Max A. Schlesinger, the British-born proprietor of General Talking Pictures and a pioneer of “talkies” as owner of the rights to the Phonofilm sound and film-recording process. His residence was noted as the Savoy-Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, with a business address, unsurprisingly, a stone’s throw from Times Square and Sardi’s. The Phantom I was at home at both.

The Rolls-Royce Foundation’s ownership records for the car pick up in 1951 with Richard F. Blanchard of Morristown, New Jersey, who sold it the following year to Robert H. Babcox Jr. of Mentor, Ohio. Mr. Babcox enjoyed displaying the car occasionally in Midwestern events until 1964, when he sold it to Don and Audrey Fowler, also of the Buckeye State. The Fowlers would prove to be chassis S216PR’s longest owners, maintaining the Rolls-Royce for over 30 years and, in that time, driving it extensively to events and in tours all over North America.

In 1996, the Fowlers sold the car to the current caretaker, whose family has now enjoyed it for nearly three decades. It has continued to participate in Rolls-Royce Owners' Club events, earning the current owner his first Guerrero Award for Best Personal Mechanical Restoration and First in Class at the 2002 Annual Meet. Clearly always a well-loved car, the restoration remains highly attractive in very appropriate colors, with the original body number stamping in its woodwork and the original engine under the hood still present.