28 Rolls

[The Beep Goes On]

This may have been posted previously, but I couldn't recall. The two stories corroborate eachother at a fundamental level ("one owner").

http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/ne...t_entrepreneur

New Springfield History Museum Made Possible by Connecticut Entrepreneur
General Museum News
January 30, 2006

The Springfield Museums have received a gift of $1,000,000 from Mr. Allen Swift of West Hartford to purchase the Verizon building at 85 Chestnut Street in Springfield for the purpose of creating a new history museum. Swift also donated his 1928, one-owner, Springfield-built Rolls-Royce automobile to form the basis of the new museum's transportation collection.

Swift, who died in October 2005 at the age of 102, was a legend among Rolls-Royce collectors for owning his green Phantom I, S273 FP Rolls longer than anyone in the world had ever owned an individual Rolls-Royce. In recognition of that fact, Rolls-Royce Motors presented him with a crystal Spirit of Ecstasy award at the Rolls-Royce Annual Meeting in 1994.

Swift and the Springfield Museums were brought together through a network of antique automobile collectors. In 2002, when he was 99 years old, he approached the Museums to discuss finding a new home for his Rolls-Royce. Confident in the Springfield Museums' ability to care for the automobile and to tell the story of Rolls-Royce manufacturing in Springfield, Swift indicated that he would donate his car if a building could be found to house it.

In the summer of 2005, the Springfield Museums became aware that the Verizon building, adjacent to the Museums, was available for purchase. Joseph Carvalho, president of the Springfield Museums, and Guy McLain, director of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, shared that information with Swift and described how the building could be converted into a museum. In September, Swift's attorney informed the Museums that Swift would donate the money to purchase the building.

The Springfield Museums will take possession of the building in June and will launch a fund-raising campaign to renovate it. When complete, the new Museum of Springfield History will display wide range of remarkable artifacts that tell the rich and multidimensional history of this city.

~~~

And, the email that made me look...

~~~

Mr. Allen Swift ( Springfield , MA.) received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Picadilly P1 Roadster

from his father, brand new - as a graduation gift in 1928.

He drove it up until his death last year.....at the age of 102 !!!

He was the oldest living owner of a car from new. Just thought you'd like to see it.

He donated it to a Springfield museum after his death. It has 170,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed and is in perfect cosmetic condition. (82 years)

That's approximately 2000 miles per year...

[worldtalker]

TBGO,That museum is across the river from me, lived here since 86,recon I'll go see it ( for the first time). God Bless Chris

[spartacus53]

I hope this was his second car, otherwise in another sense, this guy didn't go far in life.

[DigginThePast]

Awesome machine.

[spartacus53]

DigginThePast, has to go cheap too... Old car, but it does have low mileage.. I think over the lifetime, he paid more for oil changes than he did for gas and that's a first too

[The Beep Goes On]

I have a feeling I wouldn't want to get caught behind him in traffic. Or, Show me the CarFax! I'm curious as to whether it had ever been wrecked, or dinged, or if he drove it like the proverbial old lady?

[spartacus53]

From the age and mileage reported, I think he only took the car in for maintenance

[DigginThePast]

From the age and mileage reported, I think he only took the car in for maintenance

Well, he did his own maintenance so that cut down on the costs. But he did drive it, commuted to work for decades in that car and took it for a few trips on the east coast. The engine, paint and upholstery were overhauled in the 80's.