A vintage Rolls Royce, once owned by a leading 20th-century artist with local roots, is to go under the hammer in America. The 1927 Phantom 1 Torpedo Tourer, pictured, is expected to fetch about £90,000 when it is auctioned at Bonhams, in Newport, Rhode Island, on August 1.

The vehicle was bought in around 1930 by the internationally acclaimed artist Edward Wadsworth, whose grandfather Elymas and great-grandfather James were both from Cullingworth.

Edward, who paid around £2,700 for the car, was passionate about Rolls Royces and owned several over the years. But he hated the design of the Silver Lady mascot and always had it removed. His Phantom 1 subsequently changed hands several times, before being shipped out to the United States after the Second World War.

In 1988 it became the property of Ace Rosner, of Washington DC, a prominent car collector and aviator. Edward, who was born in 1889, studied at Bradford School of Art.

During the First World War he served as an intelligence officer in the navy but was invalided out in 1917, and spent a year working on dazzle camouflage for ships in Liverpool and Bristol. This experience provided the subject for one of his monumental war paintings.

His reputation grew and he produced works now owned by the Tate Gallery and the British Museum, in London.

Other claims to fame during his career included helping to decorate the ocean-going liner Queen Mary and designing the initial letters used by Lawrence of Arabia in his classic book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.