As with the cars built in Derby, the majority of the American Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts produced in Springfield, Massachusetts carried closed coachwork that was heavy and formal, albeit beautifully constructed and finely detailed. Lightweight sporting bodies for the Silver Ghost were rare indeed, but they did exist. Most prominent was the Piccadilly Roadster coachwork provided by various coachbuilders, most frequently Brewster and Merrimac, under the Rolls-Royce Custom Coach Work label. One hundred and five examples of the Piccadilly were produced for Springfield Silver Ghosts, followed by another 45 on the successor Phantom I chassis.

According to the original ownership cards now held by the Rolls-Royce Foundation, this car—Phantom I chassis S447FL—appears to have remained in-stock for some time. It was not sold to its first owner until May 1929, when it was delivered to P.J. Morgan, president of the Morgan Lithograph Company of Cleveland, Ohio, a prominent manufacturer of posters for the film and vaudeville industry still in operation. Like many cars that received the Piccadilly body, it was originally mounted with more formal coachwork—in this case a Mayfair town car, soon replaced in turn by an equally conservative Lonsdale limousine, before finally receiving the Piccadilly as its third and final coachwork in-period.

Following Mr. Morgan’s ownership, the Phantom I appears to have been owned by a Shutrump, then by the late 1950s had been acquired by Pasquale “Patsy” Moretti of Youngstown, Ohio, who retained ownership until at least the late 1960s. Later it was acquired for the late Helmut and Ivone Peitz’s collection in Portugal, and remained overseas until it was returned Stateside in 2013 and purchased soon thereafter by Terence E. Adderley. Mr. Adderley was a longstanding enthusiast of the American Rolls-Royce, and his collection at one time comprised many of the most significant and sought-after body styles on Silver Ghost, Phantom I, and Phantom II chassis.

Presenting as an older restoration, this car is deserving of freshening in the care of any enthusiast of fine Rolls-Royce automobiles.