The Phantom roadster of Paris: who can shed some light on its history?

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Few body-building houses mastered the art of elegant coachwork quite like the Parisian carrossiers, among which one of the very finest was Kellner. A carriage-maker since 1861 which had started producing motor bodies as early as 1903, Kellner is especially associated with Hispano-Suiza but it also produced a considerable number of very elegant bodies for Rolls-Royce chassis. Among them was the 1926 Rolls-Royce Phantom, chassis 59TC, which we see here, still wearing its original and unique Kellner cabriolet roadster coachwork. Since 2005, it has been owned by Slovakian enthusiast and collector Oto Melcer, who has requested our help in filling in a few gaps in its history.

To begin with, we know that 59TC's bare chassis had been sold to the Paris Office for a customer curiously given as 'Mrs. J. C. Warden (now Mrs. J. C. Brennan)' and was given to Kellner to fit with a cabriolet body. Notes on the record sheet detail that it was supplied with Dunlop wire wheels, an Atlantic mirror-backed spotlamp, a 19-inch steering wheel and a polished, louvred bonnet. Mrs. Warden/Brennan seems to have been domiciled for at least some of the year in France as the Rolls-Royce remained there; records held by the RREC France show that it was serviced in Paris.

It did not reside long in France, however, as in 1930 it was sold into the hands of the Helfenbein family in America. By 1939, Henry Helfenbein Jr. (1905-1993) of Fall River, an historic textile-manufacturing city in Massachusetts, had become its official owner. Helfenbein's address of 299, Lindsey Street, suggests he would have inhabited one of the large weatherboarded houses overlooking the Taunton River. According to his obituary in the Rhode Island Jewish Herald: "Born in Fall River, he was a son of the late Harry and Sarah (Chislow) Helfenbein. Helfenbein was a graduate of the Bradford Durfee Textile School. He was a self-employed salesman and for many years specialized in dental supplies. He was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II, served in the African Theater, and as a result of military service became disabled. He was a member of the American Legion in Swansea, and the William Green Chapter, DAV. He was a violinist and viola player for the Fall River Symphony Orchestra many years ago."

In 1955, 59TC was sold out of the family by Joe Benoit, Helfenbein's brother-in-law, to another Massachusetts man, Paul Walker, resident in the town of Oxford. Mr. Walker seems to have been an enthusiast for thoroughbred vintage cars, since he subjected it to a full restoration. It needed one, since it was sold to him as a project having suffered damage in a major fire. Fall River has witnessed several serious fires in its history, and we wonder if the Rolls-Royce might somehow have been implicated in the inferno at the former textile mill of the American Printing Co., which had closed in 1934 and been taken over in 1937 by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. The main building was gutted by a fire in October, 1941, just weeks before the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the loss of 30,000 lbs. of rubber causing a terrible setback to the American war effort.

With Walker, 59TC was in very good hands. Over many years, he worked to resurrect it, ultimately presenting it at a concours in 1973, where it was awarded the Rolls-Royce Owners' Club's National Award. Walker cherished it until 1989, and in 2001 it had come to be owned by Allan Weiner and Elayne Star of Kennebunkport, Maine. 

Since 2005, 59TC has been enjoyed along with other pre-war Rolls-Royces in the Melcer Collection. While the history of the car is well-documented, with Melcer being only the fifth owner, there are still details about which he would like to learn more. For example, who was Mrs. Warden/Brennan? What did she do in Paris and why the sudden change of name? Fascinatingly, Melcer has received a tip that she might have been an Australian singer. Could there be any truth in that? And what really happened during the war to cause the Phantom to be sold to Mr. Walker in such a sorry state?

Any further information or clues as to the history will, of course, be very gratefully received.

Words: Zack Stiling; photographs: Oto Melcer
 

Kommentar abgeben...