Fitzgerald's favourites: the Springfield Rolls-Royces that dazzled the States

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Springfield, Massachusetts, has been home to a number of archetypal American companies. Motorcycle manufacturer Indian opened its doors there in 1901 while handgun factory Smith & Wesson has called it home since 1852, but in 1919 another company set up shop in Springfield and, unlike those aforementioned, this particular manufacturer was as British as black pudding for breakfast: Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce of America Inc. was formed that year to meet the growing luxury car market in the States, which was many times larger than Britain's home market. A manufacturing plant was set up on Hendee Street at premises where the American Wire Wheel Company had formerly been producing its wire wheels. It seemed to work just fine. Rolls-Royce’s clientèle soon expandedto encompass American business moguls, showbusiness stars and socialites, among them the wealthy Guggenheim and Bloomingdale families and even president Woodrow Wilson (whose Rolls-Royce sold for $161,000 not long ago). The company’s fame became even greater after F. Scott Fitzgerald placed the main character in his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby behind the wheel of a yellow Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.

The Springfield plant reputedly produced 1,703 Silver Ghosts and 1,241 Phantoms from 1921 to 1931. The factory may have still been thriving post-war had the stock market not crashed in 1929, which eventually led to the plant's demise.

Whitewall tyres, as seen on the Silver Ghost tourer outside the Springfield plant here, are nothing out of the ordinary for an American-made Rolls-Royce. The (wooden?) wheels, however, seem much more unusual. A special order, perhaps?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: Rolls-Royce Foundation

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