For every famed marque of automotive history, there are those that remain obscure, yet undoubtedly should be as well-remembered as the likes of Duesenberg and Packard. Among these was the Cunningham, produced in Rochester, New York, from 1915 until 1931, and for each of those years one of America’s finest luxury automobiles. Each was hand-built to individual custom order and specifications, powered by a robustly constructed, superbly engineered V-8, with a three-main-bearing crankshaft, fully pressurized lubrication, and pumped radiator cooling, all as advanced at the beginning of production as at the end. It was an outstanding, prestigious automobile, and examples figure into some of the country’s most learned fleets, including those of the Revs Institute, Jay Leno, and the Nethercutt Collection.

The Cunningham V4 offered here is a distinguished formal style known as a Town Limousine, with an open driver’s compartment for the chauffeur, protected in foul weather by a leather tendelet. Its early history remains unknown, but it was for some years owned by the late George Thagard Jr., of Newport Beach, California, and is believed to have been restored during the 1970s by Richard Straman’s shop in Costa Mesa, after which it was Second in Class at the 1979 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In 2012 it was acquired from the Thagard heirs by Clive and Janet Cussler for their Arizona collection—Mr. Cussler having been both a longtime Cunningham admirer and, of course, the foremost aficionado of open-drive town cars.

While the car’s restoration shows the passage of 50 years, with age visible to the finishes inside and out, it remains attractive with a very dignified appeal; one can easily imagine discovering it inside a carriage house in the 1950s. Furthermore, the quality of its construction is still highly evident. Every detail on a Cunningham was overbuilt, extending even to the latches of the hood, each of which is a solid cast piece, heavy in the hand. Not for nothing was this one of the country’s costliest cars in 1922. It remains an impressive machine for the connoisseur’s choice.