Eric Minoff
Vice President, Head of Department - US
LOT 137
1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Speedster Coachwork by Brewster Chassis no. S308 KP Engine no. 20088 Body No. 5420
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Lot 137
First owned by California sugar heir Howard Spreckels, offered from the esteemed Robert M. and Anne Brockinton Lee Collection
1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Speedster
1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Speedster
1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Speedster
Coachwork by Brewster
Chassis no. S308 KP
Engine no. 20088
Body No. 5420
Coachwork by Brewster
Chassis no. S308 KP
Engine no. 20088
Body No. 5420
7668 cc OHV Inline 6-Cylinders Engine
Single Dual-Throat Carburetor
108bhp at 2,300rpm
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Solid front axle with semi-elliptical leaf
Live rear axle with cantilever-spring suspension
4-Wheel servo-assisted Drum Brakes
*One of only five Derby Speedsters ever built
*One of the finest classic Rolls-Royce built in Springfield
*Part of the Robert M. and Anne Brockinton Lee Collection for 35 years
THE ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM I
"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough." Henry Royce
When Rolls-Royce undertook to build automobiles in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1920 the theme was that they would be identical with those built in Derby, England. A useful marketing approach, "identical" gradually changed, particularly as the 40/50hp Silver Ghost models were superseded by the introduction of the 40/50hp Phantom in 1926.
Henry Royce's maxim encouraged Springfield-built Rolls-Royces to incorporate more and more American components, from wheels to electrics. They became at once both easier to service in the American hinterlands and more reliable from the rigorous component development and testing required by American mass-production.
The first Springfield Phantoms, with their supremely quiet 7,668cc 113hp six-cylinder engines, quiet 3-speed gearboxes and Delco ignition, took a while to gestate in Springfield, but when they reached even adolescence in 1929, they were simply superb, with features like Bijur central chassis lubrication that only later, if ever, appeared on Derby Phantoms.
THE CAR OFFERED
S 308 KP was recorded on R-R records as bought by Howard Spreckels in Burlingame, California. Brief research shows that Howard was the third child of Rudolph Spreckels and the grandson of sugar magnate Claus Spreckels. The Spreckels name still features on sugar packets in the western U.S.
The village of Spreckels where the family company had a beet sugar refinery is just southeast of Salinas, a few miles (as the crow flies) from Quail Lodge and from the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance™.
It got its original and present coachwork from Brewster in New York, at the time a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce of America and recognized for the style and quality of its coachwork. S 308 KP received one the most handsome of all Brewster Rolls-Royce coachwork, the Speedster.
A 4-passenger tourer, the Speedster is similar to the Derby Tourer but differs in two important visible features. It has beautiful flower petal like curved trailing edge doors that enlighten the profile without impeding entry and exit. The back fenders are raised and flared to the rear, a sporting flapper flair suggesting the desire to kick up its heels for occupants' enjoyment. Howard Spreckels would have cut a fine figure commuting from Burlingame to the company's San Francisco headquarters.
Its ownership history since Spreckels died in 1939 is unknown until it was acquired from Sam Ornstein in January 1990 by Robert M. Lee retaining its original engine, chassis and Brewster Speedster coachwork. Its older restoration appears to pre-date the Lees' ownership. Since then, it has graced their outstanding collection where it has been consistently maintained and regularly exercised.
Unusually for a Phantom Brewster Speedster S 308 KP has a rear seat cowl with a fixed vee windshield. Finished in subtle crème with brown fenders over beige leather upholstery and a beige single-layer canvas top, it is complemented with Bosch drum headlights and cowl lights, brown wire wheels, whitewall tires and dual side mounted spares. The engine compartment is neat, orderly, clean and appropriately equipped.
Interestingly, the car appeared several times in 1933 in the film Chance at Heaven', directed by William A. Seiter and starring Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea.
It is unusual to find a Springfield-built Rolls-Royce Phantom that has survived in such original configuration, comes with significant early 20th century California provenance and has been over three decades in one of America's most respected collections.
An outstanding automobile of the highest quality, it deserves a continuing history of enthusiastic ownership and preservation.
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