An Inkling of Brewster: Brewster and Company Automobiles and the Wealthy Who Owned Them

An Inkling of Brewster details a decade long foray into custom built automobiles by Brewster and Company of Long Island City, New York beginning in 1915. Brewster and Company was the foremost custom coachbuilder of 19th Century America. Founded in 1810, Brewster and Company began building bodies for European chassis such as Rolls Royce, Delaunay-Belleville, Fiat, and Renault in 1905. The advent of World War I and the interdiction of shipping by German U-boats on the high seas made it impossible for Brewster and Company to secure chassis from the continent, so they produced the most expensive automobile of the day bearing their name. An Inkling of Brewster examines the not only the Brewster automobile, but also the wealthy who purchased them. A Brewster owner’s list reads like a “Who’s Who” of New York Society.

The Rev. Frank E. Wismer III is the owner of a 1921 Brewster Double Enclosed Drive automobile that originally belonged to Mrs. H. D. Auchincloss of Hammersmith Farm, Newport Rhode Island. He has been researching Brewster and Company for the past two years and has been fortunate enough to study the Brewster and Company journals along with the correspondence of Mr. William Brewster.

CH (COL) Wismer is a retired United States Army Chaplain having served in the First Gulf War, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq and Kuwait. He is the author of War in the Garden of Eden: A Chaplain’s Memoir from Baghdad. He is also the author of two meditation guides published by the Episcopal Cursillo Movement.