AMERICAN businessman Jack Boyd Smith Jr was never much into cars until a friend, who was a collector, passed away.

“The executrix of the estate who is also a friend of mine asked me if I have any interest in cars and I said I don’t know. I asked what do you have?” said Smith who lives in Elkhart, Indiana.



One of the cars from the estate that got Smith into collecting cars was the 2001 Rolls-Royce Corniche, one of the 67 of its kind built.

“The Corniche has a phone which is wired into the car and it’s still operational today,” he said.



Smith’s The JBS Collection, which started in November 2012, is ranked 136th in the world and has some 60 vehicles.

Typical collectors usually take up between 40 to 60 years to build up a sizeable showcase.

Smith gravitates towards cars which are unique, one-off and “have a story to tell.”

He has cars which were once owned by personalities, among them a 1936 Cord 810 belonging to aviator Amelia Earhart, a 1936 Packard Twelve All-Weather Cabriolet of Charlie Chaplin and James Cagney’s 1934 Auburn 1250 Salon Cabriolet.





Aside from five Rolls-Royce cars which included a 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall, Smith also has rare vehicles from brands such as Ahrens-Fox, Austin, Bentley, Chrysler, Ford, Ferrari, Hispano-Suiza, Hudson, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Minerva, Pierce-Arrow and Studebaker.

Smith, who is still building up his collection, would be regularly offered classic cars and therefore unnecessary for him to have a checklist of cars to buy.

“I can’t tell how many cars were presented to me in a year and I had turned them down,” he said.

However, Smith had paid “well into seven figures” for the most expensive addition to his collection.

His cars are pristinely-maintained and have been at key competitions and shows.

“We have been to Peeble Beach Concours in California six times and my cars have won five times,” he said, adding that his 1928 Minerva AF Transformable Town Car was a multiple winner at Peeble Beach.



Smith recently added a customised 2021 Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended into his collection which featured rare Hawaiian Koa wood inlays and an exterior colour that matched his 1934 Packard Twelve Coupe Roadster.

Completing the bespoke “Koa Phantom” took over three years as Hawaiian koa was a protected plant and could not be cut down.

Smith, a regular traveller to Hawaii, had to wait as koa wood could only be harvested from private growers or trees which had fallen down by themselves.





In addition, Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective had never worked on koa wood before.

After the “Koa Phantom” commission, Rolls-Royce added koa wood, which has a golden lustre, to its list of bespoke offering.

“I wanted koa wood because it gives warmth to the interior of the Phantom,” he said.

Smith’s affinity for koa wood stemmed from a koa rocking chair that had been a centrepiece in the family home for years.



Smith also sent a front fender of the Packard roadster to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in Goodwood, England for the “Packard Blue” to be duplicated.



After 40 tries, Rolls-Royce matched the colour of the Packard which was more than 80 years old.

According to Rolls-Royce, the marque has more than 44,000 colours in its palette and customers get the colour they wanted.

The upholstery of the Phantom was also matched with the grey interior of the Packard as well.



Bespoke cars, Smith said, were difficult to be reproduced and would retain their appeal.

Smith’s collection was not static and he would drive his rare cars around.

He drives a supercharged Hummer H2 in winter as it snows in northern Indiana and roads would be salted.

During other seasons, Smith would “drive a car to the office, take a different car out for lunch and a third car home.”

“I love driving the cars because they snap necks. They turn heads,” he said, adding that he loved to see people going through cars that they had never seen before.

Smith also got his friends to drive his classic cars on public roads but they would be hesitant to do so in the beginning, fearing they might damage the cars.

“Once they had finished driving my cars, they would say the experience was phenomenal,” he said.

Smith had once turned down an offer from a buyer who gave him a blank cheque for one of his Packard cars at Peeble Beach.



Only five of the 1933 Packard Twelve Coupe were made with only two left in the world.

“It’s not about money. It’s not my driving force to buy and sell cars to make money,” he said.

When Smith received the blank cheque, his wife Laura who was next to him, nudged him to fill out the amount.

“I told her the car was not for sale. If the buyer wants it, there is another he can go get,” he said.

Photos: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and The JBS Collection
Unique Rolls-Royce Koa Phantom delivered

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