1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca deVille

In 1884, Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business and made his first car, the 'Royce', in his Manchester factory in 1904. He met Charles Stewart Rolls that same year and the two agreed to a plane in which Royce would manufacture cars, to be sold exclusively by Rolls. The cars would be called 'Rolls-Royce.' The 1906 6-cylinder Silver Ghost made the company's early reputation with 6,173 cars built.

The Phantom III was introduced at the 1935 Olympia Motor Show and was the most technically advanced car in the world. It is powered by a 7.3L V12 overhead valve engine with a one-piece aluminum crankcase and cylinder block producing 165 horsepower. It featured a twin ignition system with two distributors, two coils and 24 spark plugs.

The cars rode on a 142 inch wheelbase. Only 727 (perhaps as few as 710) were built before production stopped in 1939.

This car could be regarded as a 'barn find.' The previous owner had acquired the car in 1961, but never registered it and had driven it less than 500 miles until the current owner acquired it in 2006. It is one of two Sedanca-bodied Phantom IIIs by Binder and was originally owned by Marquis de Villeroi and driven with the Marquis and King Karel Roman. The Marquis de Villeroy, Paris, France was an industrialist and uncle of Monsieur von Boch (Villeroy & Boch) and was married to Marquise Suzanne.

Body number 5916 with right-hand drive is powered by a V12 engine and a four-speed manual transmission. Shipped from London to France in 1937 onboard the SS Mallard, it was dispatched to Franco Brittanic Automobiles and bodied by Henry Binder Coachbuilder (one of two Sedanca de Villes). It returned to England later in 1937 where it remained for the duration of the war. Sometime between the late 50s and early 60s it was shipped to New York by an American serviceman.