This man owned and drove the same car for 82 YEARS.
Can you imagine even HAVING the same car for 82 years?
Mr. Allen Swift ( Springfield, MA ) received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly-P 1 Roadster from his father, brand new - as a graduation gift in 1928.
He drove it, up until his death in 2010 at the age of 102.
He was the oldest, living owner of a car that was purchased new.
Just thought you'd like to see it.
It was donated to a Springfield museum after his death.
It has 1,070,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed and is in perfect, cosmetic condition at 82 years of age. That's approximately 13,048 miles per year, 1,087 miles per month.
Take 2 this was my girl .It took me 9yrs to restore her and we drove her for another 20 yrs .Good memories.
-- Edited by moamajohn on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 07:10:34 PM
moamajohn said
07:11 PM Apr 3, 2014
Bugger .I think I got excited sorry !
JRH said
07:21 PM Apr 3, 2014
Very nice looking car there Mate, congratulations on a job well done.
Vic41 said
07:51 PM Apr 3, 2014
Ditto, beaut looking car, like the colour too !!!
ST391GQ said
08:24 PM Apr 3, 2014
I guess you could say our car is a similar sort of story....
4/1984 Peugeot 505 STI....bought second hand in 1991...still going strong as a daily driver and work transport with "only" 573 680 k,s on it atm. Interior is still really good ( Genuine Australian Woolmark wool upholstery in a French car from new)...doesn't use any oil ...paintwork is getting to show its age in a few places but bodywork is good...and is really reliable still.
Cheers Keith
-- Edited by ST391GQ on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 08:27:42 PM
Vic41 said
10:16 PM Apr 3, 2014
ST391GQ wrote:
I guess you could say our car is a similar sort of story....
4/1984 Peugeot 505 STI....bought second hand in 1991...still going strong as a daily driver and work transport with "only" 573 680 k,s on it atm. Interior is still really good ( Genuine Australian Woolmark wool upholstery in a French car from new)...doesn't use any oil ...paintwork is getting to show its age in a few places but bodywork is good...and is really reliable still.
Cheers Keith
An acquaintance of mine has an old Peugeot too Keith, light green station wagon, not sure which model though, just keeps keeping on.
Do you have a pic of yours?
hako said
10:39 PM Apr 4, 2014
Vic41 wrote:
SNIP
An acquaintance of mine has an old Peugeot too Keith, light green station wagon, not sure which model though, just keeps keeping on.
Do you have a pic of yours?
Not Ross Keith with a 404 by any chance?
hako said
10:45 PM Apr 4, 2014
Westy - why did you sell the Nash when it still excites you?......or is it like the never ending story where the memory is in the heart.
Vic41 said
11:09 PM Apr 4, 2014
hako wrote:
Vic41 wrote:
SNIP
An acquaintance of mine has an old Peugeot too Keith, light green station wagon, not sure which model though, just keeps keeping on.
Do you have a pic of yours?
Not Ross Keith with a 404 by any chance?
No a WA person first name Raoul (spelling), not sure what model it is....I haven't seen him for awhile.
03_troopy said
04:13 PM Apr 5, 2014
My grandad had the same old axe for 25 years. He said he'd only replaced the handle 5 times and the head twice.
dorian said
04:34 PM Apr 5, 2014
Deleted.
-- Edited by dorian on Saturday 5th of April 2014 04:40:02 PM
dorian said
04:44 PM Apr 5, 2014
What I wanted to say (crappy forum software notwithstanding) was that the following statement is not quite true, at least not according to a museum press release:
"Mr. Allen Swift: Born: 1908 Died 2010
This man owned and drove the same car for 82 YEARS."
"New Springfield History Museum Made Possible by Connecticut Entrepreneur
General Museum News
January 30, 2006
The Springfield Museums have received a gift of $1,000,000 from Mr. Allen Swift of West Hartford to purchase the Verizon building at 85 Chestnut Street in Springfield for the purpose of creating a new history museum. Swift also donated his 1928, one-owner, Springfield-built Rolls-Royce automobile to form the basis of the new museum's transportation collection.
Swift, who died in October 2005 at the age of 102 ..."
Vic41 said
07:33 PM Apr 5, 2014
A few variations there but you can't trust museum info either, if you go to the Stockman's Hall of Fame you will see several errors in their info, the most glaring one is of Jeanie Gunn, who wrote the book, "We Of The Never Never" (she only lived there for about 13 months until her husband died, then returned to Victoria.
The blurb in the museum said she was buried in the graveyard of Elsey Station (her husband is) which is just not true.
As said there are other errors in the museum as well.
Jeanie Gunn was a remarkable woman and was awarded an OBE. She supported the soldiers who went overseas and I think she ended up marrying one eventually.
"Mr. Swift's Gift Goes To Springfield Industrial Museum April 03, 2009 | By BILL LEUKHARDT
WEST HARTFORD For nearly eight decades, M. Allen Swift drove arguably the most distinctive car in town - a two-tone green 1928 Rolls-Royce that he received new as a graduation gift.
He only stopped driving it shortly before his death in October 2005 at 102, but not before he made sure to preserve his beloved Phantom I roadster with 170,000 miles on it and an engine that still purrs like a sewing machine.
In October, the car will go on display in Springfield in a new industrial heritage museum made possible in part by a $1 million bequest from Swift."
Vic41 said
03:52 PM Apr 6, 2014
Newspaper articles....depends on the article, death notices are usually ok but not stories as a rule.
Anyway irrespective of whatever the true facts are he was an old bloke that died, had a vehicle he had all his driving age life and donated it to the museum when he did, a pretty amazing bloke and his motor vehicle. It doesn't change the basic story of him or his car, just some dates do not seem to be reported correctly.
-- Edited by Vic41 on Sunday 6th of April 2014 03:53:02 PM
dorian said
09:22 PM Apr 6, 2014
The more I research this story, the more dubious "facts" I find.
It looks like the odometer is a 4-digit type. I'd say the owner would have had to have been very fastidious with his log book(s).
Vic41 said
10:30 PM Apr 6, 2014
I wonder if they replaced the odometer to a 100,000 miles one at some time and they started at zero again at that point?
If Rolls demanded they be returned to the factory every 50,000 for examination and overhaul the owners must have had an easier way of checking the mileage in their log book, but if it was recorded up to 10,000 and then reset and the following 10,000 miles and so on I suppose it would have possible to show the total mileage travelled up to that date in the log book.
dorian said
04:51 AM Apr 7, 2014
I think that the only thing that travelled 1.07 million miles was probably the viral email.
As for Mr Swift driving his car 5 years after his death, that would be a case of a silver ghost driving a Phantom.
That said, I agree that the basic story is factual.
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 7th of April 2014 05:11:43 AM
Vic41 said
06:26 AM Apr 7, 2014
As a matter of interest, the British built a Ferret Armoured/Scout Car in 1949 that had a Rolls Royce engine in them, the Australian Army and other Commonwealth countries used them for many years, see;
Mr. Allen Swift: Born: 1908Died 2010
This man owned and drove the same car for 82 YEARS.
Can you imagine even HAVING the same car for 82 years?
Mr. Allen Swift ( Springfield, MA ) received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly-P 1 Roadster from his father, brand new - as a graduation gift in 1928.
He drove it, up until his death in 2010 at the age of 102.
He was the oldest, living owner of a car that was purchased new.
Just thought you'd like to see it.
It was donated to a Springfield museum after his death.
It has 1,070,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed and is in perfect, cosmetic condition at 82 years of age. That's approximately 13,048 miles per year, 1,087 miles per month.
British Engineering at it's best...
but that's amazing !
.
-- Edited by moamajohn on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 06:52:05 PM
Very good post.
Take 2 this was my girl .It took me 9yrs to restore her and we drove her for another 20 yrs .Good memories.
-- Edited by moamajohn on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 07:10:34 PM
Very nice looking car there Mate, congratulations on a job well done.
Ditto, beaut looking car, like the colour too !!!
I guess you could say our car is a similar sort of story....
4/1984 Peugeot 505 STI....bought second hand in 1991...still going strong as a daily driver and work transport with "only" 573 680 k,s on it atm. Interior is still really good ( Genuine Australian Woolmark wool upholstery in a French car from new)...doesn't use any oil ...paintwork is getting to show its age in a few places but bodywork is good...and is really reliable still.
Cheers Keith
-- Edited by ST391GQ on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 08:27:42 PM
An acquaintance of mine has an old Peugeot too Keith, light green station wagon, not sure which model though, just keeps keeping on.
Do you have a pic of yours?
Not Ross Keith with a 404 by any chance?
No a WA person first name Raoul (spelling), not sure what model it is....I haven't seen him for awhile.
Deleted.
-- Edited by dorian on Saturday 5th of April 2014 04:40:02 PM
"Mr. Allen Swift: Born: 1908 Died 2010
This man owned and drove the same car for 82 YEARS."
Here is the news item:
www.springfieldmuseums.org/news/view/51-new_springfield_history_museum_made_possible_by_connecticut_entrepreneur
"New Springfield History Museum Made Possible by Connecticut Entrepreneur
General Museum News
January 30, 2006
The Springfield Museums have received a gift of $1,000,000 from Mr. Allen Swift of West Hartford to purchase the Verizon building at 85 Chestnut Street in Springfield for the purpose of creating a new history museum. Swift also donated his 1928, one-owner, Springfield-built Rolls-Royce automobile to form the basis of the new museum's transportation collection.
Swift, who died in October 2005 at the age of 102 ..."
A few variations there but you can't trust museum info either, if you go to the Stockman's Hall of Fame you will see several errors in their info, the most glaring one is of Jeanie Gunn, who wrote the book, "We Of The Never Never" (she only lived there for about 13 months until her husband died, then returned to Victoria.
The blurb in the museum said she was buried in the graveyard of Elsey Station (her husband is) which is just not true.
As said there are other errors in the museum as well.
Jeanie Gunn was a remarkable woman and was awarded an OBE. She supported the soldiers who went overseas and I think she ended up marrying one eventually.
See this link on Jeanie...
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gunn-jeannie-6506
Can you trust newspaper articles?
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Allen+Swift%22+site%3Acourant.com
http://articles.courant.com/2005-10-27/news/0510260674_1_allen-swift-west-hartford
"Swift, M. Allen
October 27, 2005
SWIFT, M. Allen
M. Allen Swift of West Hartford, age 102, died Tuesday (October 25, 2005). A private burial service will be held at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford."
http://articles.courant.com/2009-04-03/news/west_hartford-_rolls_royce-m.artfriday_1_new-museum-distinctive-car-rolls-royce-foundation
"Mr. Swift's Gift Goes To Springfield
Industrial Museum
April 03, 2009 | By BILL LEUKHARDT
WEST HARTFORD For nearly eight decades, M. Allen Swift drove arguably the most distinctive car in town - a two-tone green 1928 Rolls-Royce that he received new as a graduation gift.
He only stopped driving it shortly before his death in October 2005 at 102, but not before he made sure to preserve his beloved Phantom I roadster with 170,000 miles on it and an engine that still purrs like a sewing machine.
In October, the car will go on display in Springfield in a new industrial heritage museum made possible in part by a $1 million bequest from Swift."
Newspaper articles....depends on the article, death notices are usually ok but not stories as a rule.
Anyway irrespective of whatever the true facts are he was an old bloke that died, had a vehicle he had all his driving age life and donated it to the museum when he did, a pretty amazing bloke and his motor vehicle. It doesn't change the basic story of him or his car, just some dates do not seem to be reported correctly.
-- Edited by Vic41 on Sunday 6th of April 2014 03:53:02 PM
See peterblakeboroughsblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/an-historic-rolls-royce.html
... and www.boldride.com/ride/1928/rolls-royce-phantom-torpedo
Here is a photo of the dashboard in a 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom:
cdn.boldride.com/rolls-royce/1928/thumb/rolls-royce-phantom-torpedo.654x436.Dec-15-2011_20.31.54.466268.jpg
It looks like the odometer is a 4-digit type. I'd say the owner would have had to have been very fastidious with his log book(s).
I wonder if they replaced the odometer to a 100,000 miles one at some time and they started at zero again at that point?
If Rolls demanded they be returned to the factory every 50,000 for examination and overhaul the owners must have had an easier way of checking the mileage in their log book, but if it was recorded up to 10,000 and then reset and the following 10,000 miles and so on I suppose it would have possible to show the total mileage travelled up to that date in the log book.
I think that the only thing that travelled 1.07 million miles was probably the viral email.
As for Mr Swift driving his car 5 years after his death, that would be a case of a silver ghost driving a Phantom.
That said, I agree that the basic story is factual.
Edit: Here is the museum's web page:
http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/springfield_history/exhibits/view/162-automobile_gallery
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 7th of April 2014 05:11:43 AM
As a matter of interest, the British built a Ferret Armoured/Scout Car in 1949 that had a Rolls Royce engine in them, the Australian Army and other Commonwealth countries used them for many years, see;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret_armoured_car
While I was trying to identify the items on the dashboard, I came across the following 1924 Catalogue of Parts :
http://goshawksociety.com/technical/20PartsBooks/1924Catalog%20of%20Parts.pdf
On the second page is a list of international representatives. Among the list of countries are ...
- Australia (except Queensland)
- Australia (Queensland)
- Tasmania
Goodness me Dorian, you certainly do your research and come up with some interesting facts, thank you