These days people routinely pay forty to sixty thousand dollars and up for the privilege of owning a fine, high end luxury car. In every city in America there are folks who own cars costing over a hundred thousand dollars. But the scenario was quite different in 1934 when Rolls Royce unveiled their one of a kind, custom built $100,000 model. This round door beauty was the highest price auto in the world with its initial owners living in in Europe. In 1936 it took French honors with its unusual design features that included twin sunroofs, a large rear deck fin, a sloping radiator shell and round doors. The car made its way to America sometime before World War Two and was seen once briefly in Bal Harbor Maine, then disappeared from sight. It finally surfaced in 1950 in a New Jersey scrap yard and although it is not known who rescued it, it ended up in the hands of entrepreneur Max Obie who had it refurbished. Obie took it on the road and because it was not a widely known automobile, claimed it was owned by European royalty. For years it toured fairs and festivals with the likes of Hitlers armor plated Mercedes Benz, Bonnie & Clydes Ford and John Dillingers V-12 Cadillac. The photo below was taken in 1974 at the fair in Marion South Carolina. The car disappeared again shortly after this photo was taken and was later found in the late 1980s in a dusty storage shed. It was purchased at auction by a Japanese collector who kept it for another 20 years. It is now housed, magnificently restored and on display, in the wonderful Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:32:19 +0000
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