This may look like just another old Roller, but it's far rarer and more significant to the history of the brand.
Rolls-Royce is throwing a media circus around the 'Great Eight Phantoms' an exhibition of the history of the badge from 1925 - 2016 and intends to tell the story of each car as it travels to London. A nice homage.
It will coincide with the reveal of the eighth generation Phantom in July (the accompanying videos for each car may contain sneaky teasers). Of course these days Rolls-Royce is a subsidiary of BMW, and you could argue that back in 2003 when the first BMW Rolls was announced it was the most significant car for the brand ever.
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That may be true (and surprising they didn't mess it up, given their brief stint at the helm of Land Rover didn't go so great). But once upon a time, there was a rare and exclusive model that was never meant to be built but just might have saved the brand from obscurity.
The Phantom IV
After the second world war, Rolls-Royce was still finding coachbuilders for the Phantom IIIs that were built in the '30s. However during the war it had built and tested a 6.3-litre straight-eight engine in a Bentley chassis.
This car was loaned to Prince Phillip and, in-between ill-advised comments, he manged to murmur that he rather quite enjoyed the performance of it. Sure enough, an order came through to Rolls-Royce shorty afterward for a royal limo with the same underpinnings (although the resulting cars were fitted with a slightly different 5.7-litre engine, apparently the only Rolls to ever have a straight eight).
This was a big deal, as at the time, Daimler held the Royal warrant to produce cars for the royal family. As such, this Royce was special, and from the beginning meant only as a one-off.
It came at a time where Rolls-Royce and subsidiary, Bentley, were attempting to replicate the success of contemporary brands such as Jaguar by downsizing the range to increase the shared parts and profitability of each car.
It wasn't to be however, when a complicated order came from Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain. Three more IVs were built and after 1950 orders started rolling in. Production of the car was so time and resource consuming that no more than three were built per year, with a total of only 18 made. Only heads of state and royalty were afforded the luxury of an approved order.
Of the original 18 cars, 16 remain in various states of originality. Many have been repainted or rebodied with one of the Shah of Iran's two cars even having the body placed on the frame of a Phantom III.
Bodystyles too are as varied as the coachbuilders that made them, most being five or seven seat limos, but also featuring cabriolets, sedanca de villes (like, limo wagons...) and even a landaulet.
Oh and just for fun, it was also once a pick-up, although it was reportedly only a test-mule and was disassembled in 1963, sorry cashed-up tradies. (Although Rolls is probably keen for you to forget, it would have been worth a fortune now.)
It will be interesting to see which one of these rare and unique cars that Rolls-Royce will choose for its exhibition in July.
Update
Do you agree that the Phantom IV's history makes it the most significant Rolls-Royce ever? Tell us what you think in the comments.
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