The Epitome of Luxury: Discovering JP Morgan's Rolls Royce

Irving, thanks for spending some time with us, Happy boy.Well, so were we when we walked by,
the stunning vehicle behind us.So tell us what we have behind here.Well, what we have here is a 1930 Rolls Royce Phantom 2 It's a Brewster bodied English built chassis...

The Epitome of Luxury: Discovering JP Morgan's Rolls Royce.
This car was originally ordered by J.P. Morgan Jr. and was used as his summer car until 1941 when it was donated to the Henry Ford Museum. Morgan requested some items when ordered, including a taller folding top to allow for a top hat, black wheels with SS spokes, softer riding main springs, and the Morgan crest on the rear doors. Join us as we talk to the current owner Irving and take a tour of this magnificent piece of automotive history.

The Phantom II used a refinement of the New Phantom's 7.7 L (7,668 cc or 467.9 cu in) pushrod-OHV straight-6 engine with a new crossflow cylinder head.[2] Unlike on previous 40/50 hp models, the engine was bolted directly to the 4-speed manual transmission. Synchromesh was added on gears 3 and 4 in 1932 and on gear 2 in 1935. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels using an open driveshaft, a hypoid bevel final drive, and Hotchkiss drive, replacing the torque tube from a remotely mounted gearbox used on earlier 40/50 hp models.

The chassis of the Phantom II was completely new. The front axle was mounted on semi-elliptical leaf springs as on earlier 40/50 hp models, but the rear axle was now also mounted on semi-elliptical springs instead of cantilever springs. This, along with the drivetrain changes, allowed the frame to be lower than before, improving the handling. The 4-wheel servo-assisted brakes from the Phantom I were continued, and the Bijur centralized lubrication system from the Springfield-built Phantom I was included on all Phantom II chassis.

Only the chassis and mechanical parts were made by Rolls-Royce. The body was made and fitted by a coachbuilder selected by the owner. Some of the most famous coachbuilders who produced bodies for Rolls-Royce cars are Park Ward, Brewster, Thrupp & Maberly, Mulliner, Carlton, Windovers, and Hooper. Outside the UK, cars were bodied in Australia by Martin & King, Italy by Castagna, Spain by Baltasar Fiol, Germany by Erdmann und Rossi, Sweden by Nordberg, Belgium by Van den Plas (Bruxelles,) The Netherlands by Van Rijswijk, France by Saoutchik, Kellner, Binder and Gaston Grümmer, and the United States by Brewster and F.R. Wood.