1937 Packard
This absolutely stunning coach built by Rollston 1937 Packard took top honors at 2024's Lime Rock Labor Day event with a Best in Show.
A little about Rollston, the coachbuilder here:
Rollston began after World War I as a body repair shop in Manhattan and soon expanded into coachbuilding. New Yorker Harry Lonschein was 16 when he became employed by Brewster & Co. He would go on to found Rollston Co. together with his partner Sam Blotkin. They were admirers of Rolls-Royce and wanted the name of their business to honor it, say, as a "son of Rolls". Why the letter "t" was added to the new name is not known, though Rollston was a somewhat familiar surname seen at the time.
Changing Rollston's primary business to coachbuilding came from work for the New York distributors for Packard and Minerva. There were often several similar designs built, but never in large quantity series. The emphasis was on the one-of-a-kind body. Relatively few Rollston bodies were built, yet their special character continues to make them well known.
From July of 1927 to April of 1931 - Rollston's all-time busiest period ? the firm produced a total of 218 bodies, an average of 50+ per year. Rollston bodies appeared on Bugatti, Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Cord, Duesenberg, Ford, Hispano-Suiza, Lancia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Rolls Royce, Stearns Knight and Stutz chassis.
From their very start, Rollston specialized in Town Cars or Town Cabriolets, a limousine that features an open chauffeur's compart-ment and leather-covered, closed rear quarters. Although it appeared to be a series-built body, in fact each one was custom-built to order, displaying subtle differences from one body to the next such as in the arrangement of the window surrounds or beltline molding. Rollston’s early bodies were very conservative and bore a resemblance to the town cars being built by Derham and Holbrook at the time, not surprising since all three firms did business with Packard’s Grover C. Parvis. His personal taste and sales experience had a con-siderable effect on the bodies he ordered.
The company survived the Great Depression, but was forced to close in 1938, because many car manufacturers had started producing their own bodies in series.
1937 Packard
This absolutely stunning coach built by Rollston 1937 Packard took top honors at 2024's Lime Rock Labor Day event with a Best in Show.
A little about Rollston, the coachbuilder here:
Rollston began after World War I as a body repair shop in Manhattan and soon expanded into coachbuilding. New Yorker Harry Lonschein was 16 when he became employed by Brewster & Co. He would go on to found Rollston Co. together with his partner Sam Blotkin. They were admirers of Rolls-Royce and wanted the name of their business to honor it, say, as a "son of Rolls". Why the letter "t" was added to the new name is not known, though Rollston was a somewhat familiar surname seen at the time.
Changing Rollston's primary business to coachbuilding came from work for the New York distributors for Packard and Minerva. There were often several similar designs built, but never in large quantity series. The emphasis was on the one-of-a-kind body. Relatively few Rollston bodies were built, yet their special character continues to make them well known.
From July of 1927 to April of 1931 - Rollston's all-time busiest period ? the firm produced a total of 218 bodies, an average of 50+ per year. Rollston bodies appeared on Bugatti, Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Cord, Duesenberg, Ford, Hispano-Suiza, Lancia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Rolls Royce, Stearns Knight and Stutz chassis.
From their very start, Rollston specialized in Town Cars or Town Cabriolets, a limousine that features an open chauffeur's compart-ment and leather-covered, closed rear quarters. Although it appeared to be a series-built body, in fact each one was custom-built to order, displaying subtle differences from one body to the next such as in the arrangement of the window surrounds or beltline molding. Rollston’s early bodies were very conservative and bore a resemblance to the town cars being built by Derham and Holbrook at the time, not surprising since all three firms did business with Packard’s Grover C. Parvis. His personal taste and sales experience had a con-siderable effect on the bodies he ordered.
The company survived the Great Depression, but was forced to close in 1938, because many car manufacturers had started producing their own bodies in series.