By the late s, Italy's Isotta Fraschini had earned a reputation for both performance and luxury among discerning and well-heeled American buyers. In , chassis , an Isotta Fraschini 8A built in highest-performance Super Spinto trim, was sent to American coachbuilder LeBaron to receive a boattail cabriolet body, said to be the first constructed by the New York firm.
The businessman was reportedly a daredevil on the ground as well as in the air, and there's little doubt that he tested the 8A SS's guaranteed top speed of MPH, courtesy of its horsepower inline eight-cylinder engine.
Fortune, however, does not always favor the bold, and Williams was killed in a plane crash that also claimed the life of a company test pilot.
By the time of his death, his partners in the Wedell-Williams Aviation Company had also perished in aviation accidents, and sole control of the company fell to Helen Marguerite Clark.
Boyle acquired the car in , with less than 23, miles on the odometer. A full restoration came next, and after six-plus decades out of the public eye, the Isotta Fraschini made its reappearance at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
