To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' Amelia
Island event, 8 - 9 March 2019.
Estimate:
$350,000 - $450,000
- Offered from the Leon-Hackney Collection
- Formerly owned by Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- Highly sporting, one-off coachwork, with numerous unique
features
- Original chassis, engine, and body, as-delivered in 1934
- A prized centerpiece of the collection since 1978
- Multiple national award-winning restoration in the original
colors
- One of the finest Phantom II Continentals available in recent
memory
Hugh Tevis Jr. was part of the expatriate "Lost Generation" of
wealthy young Americans who fled overseas in the 1920s. Tevis
settled in Wynberg, South Africa, where he established a winery and
devoted his attentions to women and cars. He particularly favored
Rolls-Royces and in 1934 placed an order for the Phantom II
Continental, an ideal selection for South Africa; it was not only a
high-performance machine, but also notably durable, rugged, and
reliable, and Rolls-Royce had service facilities all over the world
to answer to any needs.
Barker, the leading London coachbuilders to Royalty, mounted a
highly sporting and dramatic "close-coupled saloon" body, with a
roofline that plunged around the canvas-covered fixed top, and
sensuously curved front fenders that exaggerated the length of the
hoodline. Tevis specified the body be finished in two shades of
pale beige, with larger Bentley 'pie plate' instruments with blue
faces, a steering column three inches longer than standard, Ace
wheel discs, Marchal headlamps, tinted 'purdah' window glass, and
silk window shades in the doors. The result was, needless to say, a
showstopper.
Ironically, Tevis seems to have never taken his Continental out of
England. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the well-known scion of an American
acting dynasty and ex-husband of Joan Crawford, bought the car for
use in London in 1937, where it remained. Later the car was
acquired by Commander P. Howes, an assistant to Lord Mountbatten,
whom it accompanied in his service in India, before returning to
England and sold to J. Graham of Farnham, Surrey, in 1951.
David Neal bought the car from Mascot Motors of London in the 1950s
and took the car to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). There it was
eventually owned by the Wright brothers, who refinished the car and
rebuilt it mechanically. It was then sold in 1973 to Obe Veldman,
who was emigrating from Rhodesia to the U.S.; unable to take his
life savings with him as currency, he bought four pre-war
Rolls-Royces, including chassis no. 83PY, and took them with him,
figuring that he could sell them profitably upon arrival. This he
did, and in 1976 the Continental was acquired from Veldman by Jay
and Berta Leon; in the 1990 book The Classic Car, Jay Leon noted
that at the time, the car still wore its Zimbabwean registration
plates.
The Leons oversaw a painstaking and authentic restoration,
including correspondence with many UK historians and coachbuilders
regarding correct finishes, and recreating the original color and
trim scheme, as well as the original registration plates. The level
of detail extended to recreating silk door pulls and other hardware
from scratch, ensuring that every nut and bolt would be correct and
authentic.
Following the restoration, the Continental appeared twice at the
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, in 1986 and 2000, and achieved
Senior status in the Classic Car Club of America, badge no. 1509;
it also won the CCCA Award at the Rolls-Royce/Bentley Experience in
June 1988. The car was featured not only in The Classic Car, but
also in Ray Gentile's The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental (p.
220) and Andre Blaize's The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental (pp.
779-781). It is accompanied today by a large and comprehensive file
of correspondence and documentation accumulated by Jay Leon during
the restoration, including letters between Leon and such
authorities as John Fasal, and even hand drawings of various
parts.
When Jay and Berta Leon were featured with their automobiles in the
1983 issue of The Classic Car, authors Betty and Hubert Cook
described the couple's stable as "one of the most selective Classic
car collections in the country . . . exemplified by the fact that
each and every car is an outstanding model of the 'best' that
marque ever produced."
No car from the collection is exemplified as much as this
Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental, a car that has been one of the
centerpieces of the Leon-Hackney Collection for over 40 years. It
combines the best chassis with the finest sporting bodywork and a
wonderful, colorful history, to create a Continental that stands
tall even among its illustrious peers.
Please note that this title is in transit.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am19.
