Dan In MI wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:28 am
From what I understand, that was the only place outside Britain that Rolls-Royces were built, and the venture was not a great success.
Actually it was quite successful. They started building them there in 1921 and closed 10 years later only because of the Great Depression.There were over 2,000 cars built at the Springfield factory. I remember one in particular was a roadster that used to come in for service at the R/R dealership I worked at for several years.
The owner was a woman who lived in a nearby town and owned two Rolls-Royce cars:the roadster which I believe was a 1927 model and a 1948 Silver Wraith formal sedan.
She would call the dealership and ask them to send out,"Mister Wayne" who was our pickup and delivery driver to pick up tone of the cars for service. She would not allow anyone else to drive the car but him. When the service was finished on the car she would be notified and have the other one ready when Wayne delivered the car.
I found out that her father had bought the roadster for her 16th birthday and had her initials put on the driver's door. They were still very visible and the original paint was in incredible condition.
The ironic thing was her name was Doris BENZ! And she did not like Mercedes-Benz automobiles!