I have a much smaller collection of classic cars than Clive Cussler, but I am looking for information on a ship that one of the cars was on. In January, 1941 the S S Westland docked in New York and unloaded an unfinished Rolls-Royce Phantom III, chassis 3DH11. This is the very last Phantom III made by Rolls-Royce. The chassis was finished in 1939, and it was at H. J. Mulliner, the coechbuilder during 1940. Due to the war, Mulliner was unable to complete the car. It was shipped as an unfinished car to J. S. Inskip in New York. I own the car and have the history of the past owners, but have been unable to find out anything about the S S Westland. I have no idea if it was involved in the Lend Lease program, or of it was later sunk. If anyone has any ideas of where to look for information, please let me know.

I bet you DirkPitt is researching this right now!!!! What an interesting story! :D

Welcome John B !!

Thats a tough ship to find. I did a google search and only found a match under USS Westland, but I'm afraid its not what we're after.

I'm a collector of old maritime and naval books so I'll do a bit of research when I get the time.

Cheers

DirkPitt - It arrived in New York Jan 3, 1941, according to J. S. Inskip records. The wieght was listed as 5,700 lbs. I checked with Google and found nothing. There is an old smaller ship. German, I think, with the same name, but it is from the 1800's and is not what I am looking for. I also did searches for New York shipping, and found nothing. I would have expected to find it listed as owned by a shipping fleet, but no luck so far. I couldn't find any records of it being sunk durig the war either!

The last few Phantom III's produced by Rolls-Royce were sent to J. S. Inskip in New York, mine being the last. There is some speculation that there was a "special arrangement" between the US and UK governments to allow the cars to be shipped during the war. If this is true, there may hae been some special arrangements made with the shipment. J. S. Inskip finished the car in late 1941, and kept it until 1947. It was then sold as a new 1941 model. It has 64,00 original miles and the original Inskip interior.
Thanks for any help you might be able to provide. Pictures of the car are at
http://www.john.bowyer.com

John B,

This looks interesting ;

http://www.coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussb...thweststeel.htm

A name change perhaps ?

John, what a sweet ride you have in the Ford Fairlane!! I dont care much for other cars, but I always have been, and always will be a FORD man! Not that I have ever had 'collactable' Fords or a passion for it, but I love the older style fords, especially GT 40's and the old pick up's! I did have a Ford F100 1982 once, and i have never owned any other make of car than FORD!!

John B...Is that you in that picture?? What a ride you have! I noticed a Texas license plate!! I am a state away from ya.. :D

Yes, that is me in the picture, taken some time ago. The 1959 Ford fairlane 500 Skyliner is the third Ford retractable I have owned. I had a 1958 and a 1957 Ford Skyliner in the 1960's. I have owned the Ford since 1971. I like the concept of the retractable hardtop, which was shamelessly copied by Mercedes with the SLK model. The car is a stock original other than the engine. The engine is a 1962 Thunderbird 390 with 3 dueces. I hope to repaint the car soon! I am a Ford man also, no Chevy's in the fleet!

Dirk - The Landaas/ Westland entry appears to be the one. I notice that a lot of the other ships listed were lost during WWII, so the timing should be about right. Landaas is a city in Norway, which was where this was oroginally owned, according to the web page. They don't list it as having sunk, so maybe there is more information on it somewhere.
Thanks for the tip!!!
John