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You want luxury? How about a 1928 Mercedes Benz Touring S. Straight 6 elegance and horn that says “Get out of my way peasant!”
Now for some Delaware history: This 1927 Rolls Royce Phantom I was originally owned by Henry Francis DuPont who owned and built the house and garden that is now known as Winterthur (pronounced “Winter-ter”) Museum and Gardens. This car is still owned by the museum today. Sadly, this is not a DuPont car. Yes, there was a DuPont car company from 1919 to 1931 and they built cars that rivaled Rolls, Mercedes, and Packard. There are usually one or two DuPont cars at Hagley, but sadly none attended this year.
Anyway, back to the Rolls. This is another straight 6, the luxury engine of the 1920s. Two coils and two plugs per cylinder ensured this engine had plenty of torque to pass the commoners in their Model Ts. This engine displaces 7.7L and made a staggering…50 horsepower. While that may not sound like a lot a Model T of the same vintage only made 20. Rolls-Royce described this output as “adequate.”
Those seats look more comfortable than most couches. No seatbelts because Physics hadn’t been invented yet.
True American luxury: a 1929 Packard 626. While the 626 was the smallest of Packard’s cars in 1929, this car still had tons of luxury features. Small is a bit of a misnomer though: this “baby” Packard's wheelbase is some 20 inches longer than our own Project IS-F. Compared to the Rolls above, this is quite a vulgar car…but that’s what makes it cool.
Here is a feature that Rolls didn’t include: this little bar was for the occupants to step onto when the driver hit the brakes. Once again, no seatbelts, so this did the job. Hmmm, maybe Physics did exist in the 1920s after all.
