The sole surviving Rainier Model D 45/50hp Seven Passenger Touring had been pulled from storage prior to being sold at Bonhams’ Philadelphia auction on 5 October. The tattered relic is the last of its type in existence, and is expected to fetch between £160,000 and £230,000 when it goes under the hammer at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum.
Throughout its 108-year history, the auction represents the first time that the car will be marketed publicly, having previously been passed between a relatively small number of owners. It was originally delivered to the Asbury family in Los Angeles and was used regularly until a cracked half shaft casing resulted in it being mothballed.
By the 1930s, the car had been given to the family’s chauffeur who, keen to get it running again, swapped the damaged rear axle for that from a Pierce-Arrow. It was in Calvin Johnston’s ownership that the car made an appearance at the second earliest meeting of the Horseless Carriage Club at Doc Shafer’s ranch in San Bernadino.
Johnston held onto the car until his death in 1947, at which point it was bought via sealed bid by California car restorer and collector Fred Buess and his father. Thanks to the Buess’s, the car remained in its preserved condition, while still being driven regularly – they even retained its original damaged rear axle.
Since then, the Rainier has passed through a number of equally studious custodians, and is described as being ‘such a find that its condition proves to be almost hypnotic’.
