A newly restored and never shown, 1930 Rolls-Royce Torpedo Transformal Phaeton that is documented to have been delivered new to Marlene Dietrich, one of the greatest film icons of Hollywood's golden age, will be one of Bonhams featured cars at their inaugural Scottsdale, Arizona sale on Jan 19, 2012.
The Rolls-Royce was a gift to Marlene Dietrich from Paramount Studios when she arrived in Hollywood to film Morocco, and the car appeared prominently in the movie's final scene. The film icon did receive an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film.Dietrich was photographed several times with her sleek uber-luxury car for publicity purposes. Some of the resulting pictures are still frequently published today.
Documented ownership by an iconic movie star aside, the Rolls-Royce carries an especially attractive and important example of a patented convertible design by Parisian coachbuilders Hibbard & Darrin. "Dutch" Darrin personally designed, and held a patent for, the Torpedo Transformal Phaeton's distinctive convertible top treatment and trapezoidal-shaped side windows. With the top up, an inverted triangle-shaped flap fills the area between the retractable glass side windows, creating a weather-tight body with an elegant, intimate appearance. With top and side windows down, the style is that of a sporting dual-cowl phaeton.
The Torpedo Transformal body construction is also unusual. All major body elements are aluminum alloy; conventional custom bodies of the period were typically fabricated with metal panels over a wood framework. The Transformal's doors are single-piece aluminum alloy castings. Hibbard & Darrin marketed their innovative rattle-resistant and light-weight aluminum body structure under the trade name Sylentlite (silent-light).
For more information about Bonhams Scottsdale auction, visit www.bonhams.com