We received an e-mail the other day that told the story of a man named Allen Swift from Springfield, Massachusetts, who supposedly received a brand new 1928 Rolls Royce from his pop as a graduation gift and held onto it until he passed away last year at the age of 102 years.
Not only did he own it, he drove it. The e-mail claimed that the car has 170,000 miles on it and still looks and runs like it is brand new. Obviously Swift came from a family of wealth, and in the 1920s a manufacturing center like Springfield would have been chock full of families that had lots of cashola. Time has not been kind to the second largest city in Massachusetts and only a few years ago the murder rate was one of the the highest per capita in the nation.
But back to the car. The Rolls was a 1928 Picadilly P1 Roadster. While we have not a clue as to what that specifically means we can boil it down to the fact that this was a huge car with a convertible top that sat two people and commanded the road like nothing else of the time.
The most heady claim that the e-mail made is that Swift was the oldest living owner of a car from brand new. We have no way or reason to refute that claim, but it made us think about stuff.
The biggest question is whether or not we’ve ever owned a car that we’d want to keep for that amount of time and if it is actually possible to do such a thing with a modern car. A talented mechanic and machinist could keep the old Rolls running for another 100 years because it is a simple, elegant mind you, but simple machine. What happens when the computer in your 2010 Camaro fries in 2085?
Is this a feat that can be replicated?
Here’s a link to a story we found that seems to back this all up: AssociatedContent.com Rolls story
