Brewster for sale
Brewster & Company was an historical American coachbuilder and automaker that lasted from 1810 to 1937. Known for its extremely high quality work, Brewster was immortalized in the Cole Porter Song, "You're the Top." Brewster also won the Gold Meal at the Paris International Exhibition in 1878, becoming the only American company to ever do so.During the 1800s, Brewster built up branches in New York City; New Haven, Connecticut; and Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was the most successful coachbuilder in the country, designing and building carriages for the most prominent families. The Vanderbilts had a maroon Brewster, J.P Morgan's was dark green, and the Astors' was blue. Brewster coaches were considered the finest money could buy.
Brewster didn't get into the auto business until 1905 -- late in comparison to other companies -- when it began importing and selling the prestigious French automobile, the Delaunay-Belleville, sometimes fitting the chassis with Brewster's own coachwork. This practice of joining Brewster bodies with high-quality European chassis made Brewsters highly desirable. It also led to an important business arrangement with Rolls-Royce.
Brewster became sales agents for the ritzy British automaker Roll-Royce in 1914. Then in 1925, Rolls-Royce of America, which had set up in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1919, actually purchased Brewster. Brewster became the leading coachbuilder for Rolls-Royce of America until 1931, when production of the Springfield Rolls-Royce was stopped. Rolls-Royce then started sending Phantom II chassis directly from Europe to the New York Brewster plant for production. In 1934, Rolls-Royce dissolved its North American branch altogether.
In addition to building coaches on other brands' chassis, Brewster made its own automobiles. From 1905 until 1925, the company made a model known as the Brewster Knight. It had an oval shaped radiator and a 4-cylinder, 58 hp Knight sleeve-valve engine named after its designer Charles Y. Knight. The Brewster Knight was available in the Glass-Quarter Brougham, the Town Landaulet and the Falling Point Landaulet and priced at around $8,000. Brewster mixed its own colors for the paint and its sturdy oil-based finish was a guarded secret.
A second Brewster automobile was made following the Great Depression, after Rolls-Royce ended its production in the U.S. In 1934, a loyal employee of Brewster, J.S. Inskip took over Brewster in an attempt to save the company. Inskip purchased 135 Ford chassis and stretched them from 112 to 127 inches. They were fitted with Brewster bodies that featured a trademark heart-shaped radiator grill, although most of the Ford running gear was used. The cars sold for $3,500 and came in a variety of models, including Town Cars, Limousines and Convertible Sedans. Edsel Ford acquired one of the first Ford Brewsters. Other owners included Louis Comfort Tiffany, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and Gertrude Lawrence.
Initially, the deal between Ford and Brewster was profitable, but soon the company started losing money and went bankrupt in 1937. Brewster ceased operation at the time.
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