While the sheet metal that flowed from the factories of Detroit was reaching for the stars, with its towering tailfins, an abundance of chrome trim, and jet-inspired design cues, the Rolls-Royce Phantom V drew inspiration from its past. With restrained styling and elegant proportions, the Phantom V was designed for the transportation of royalty, dignitaries, and heads of state. It was among the most expensive and exclusive luxury cars of the era, fully embracing the tradition and spirit of the classical pre-war Rolls-Royce motorcar. With modern amenities, power accessories, and elaborate interiors, the Phantom V far exceeded the pre-war creations in every detail.

The Phantom V's predecessor, the Phantom IV, had been built strictly for the ruling heads of state, and just 18 examples were built. With the Phantom V, Rolls-Royce catered to a wider audience of affluent buyers. It was based on an all-new chassis design used on the Cloud II, but strengthened and modified for the nearly 20-foot-long platform. Its 145-inch wheelbase was the same as the Phantom IV, and it stood 69 inches tall, 79 inches wide, and had an overall length of 238 inches. It was suspended by an independent front setup with coil springs and anti-roll bars, while the rear had a rigid axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs. Four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes with servo-assist provided the stopping power. Power-assisted steering was standard. The engine, the same one powering the Silver Cloud II and Bentley S2 sedans, was a 6,230cc, twin SU carbureted V8 paired with a four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic gearbox.

Since many Phantom V's were used for parade duties, they had a shallow gear which gave them a walking speed suitable for ceremonies and processions. A lower final drive ratio ensured that the top speed remained in excess of 100mph.

The bespoke aluminum coachwork was finished in the owner's choice of paint colors and trim. Although custom creations, the bodies produced for the Phantom V eventually became 'factory' bodies that were produced along the same basic lines and in relatively large numbers. Additionally, numerous unique styles were offered to suit the needs and desires of its clients.

Between 1959 and 1966, just 832 examples would roll out of the Crewe facilities and receive either Park Ward or James Young coachwork. The latter would be responsible for clothing 217 examples while Park Ward (owned by Rolls-Royce) created 607 bodies. Eight examples were bodied by H.J. Mulliner prior to the merger with Rolls-Royce in 1962, forming Mulliner Park Ward.

Coachbuilder James Young Ltd. offered three versions of the Phantom V, a touring limousine, a seven-passenger limousine, and a Sedanca de Ville. Describing the Phantom V, the James Young catalogue stated 'This luxuriously equipped limousine is designed to provide the maximum comfort, whether owner or chauffeur driven… The coachwork on this magnificent car is recognised as the finest to be found anywhere in the modern world. It is the culmination of a century of superb craftsmanship which began with the Bromley Brougham.'

The bodies created by James Young featured square push-button door handles, 'bustle-trunk' rear styling, and sharp-edge fender crowns. The interiors were fitted with the most luxurious and finest materials available, with seating trimmed in thick English Connolly hides. The carpeting was done in Wilton wool with lambs wool overlay. The nearly forty individual pieces of fitted wood trim were from exotic veneers, and beneath the division window was a bar with cocktail requisites, picnic tables and jump seats. Befitting these bespoke creations, specifications, and materials varied upon the client's request.

by Dan Vaughan

ROLLS-ROYCE ANNOUNCES 'THE JOHN LENNON PHANTOM V' WILL BE JOINING THE EXHIBITION IN LONDON

Sedan by James Young

ROLLS-ROYCE ANNOUNCES 'THE JOHN LENNON PHANTOM V' TO RETURN TO LONDON DURING 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

#GreatPhantoms

Today, Rolls-Royce has announced that it will celebrate the 50th anniversary year of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in its own way by bringing the colourful Rolls-Royce Phantom V, famous for being owned by John Lennon, back home to London for the British public to see.

Currently owned by the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, 'The John Lennon Phantom V' will travel from Canada to London to join 'The Great Eight Phantoms' – A Rolls-Royce Exhibition, at Bonhams on New Bond Street, an area visited regularly by Lennon in the late 1960s in this very car.

Members of the public will be able to see 'The John Lennon Phantom V' at Bonhams from 29 July to the 2 August.

'The John Lennon Phantom V'

On 3 June 1965 – the same day that Edward H White left the capsule of his Gemini 4 to become the first American to walk in space – John Lennon took delivery of something rather special. It was a Rolls-Royce Phantom V in Valentine Black. He would later say that he always wanted to be an eccentric millionaire, and the Phantom would become an important step towards that dream.

Lennon had the Phantom V customised in true rock-star style. The rear seat was converted to a double bed, a television, telephone and refrigerator were installed, along with a 'floating' record player and a custom sound system (which included an external loud hailer).

Then, in April 1967, just as the recording of the game-changing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was finishing, Lennon asked Surrey coachbuilders, JP Fallon, to give the Phantom a new paint job. The freshly-painted Phantom was unveiled days before the worldwide release of Sgt. Pepper's on 1 June and it seemed part of the overall concept of the album.

The new colour scheme is often described as 'psychedelic' and certainly the colours, particularly the dominant yellow, reflected the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But look carefully and you will see it is no random swirl, but a floral Romany scroll design, as used on gypsy caravans and canal barges, with a zodiac symbol on the roof.

The Phantom V was used regularly by Lennon until 1969 (Lennon also owned a slightly less conspicuous all-white Phantom V). Having used it, pre-paint change, to collect his MBE with his bandmates in 1965, he then used it again in 1969 to return his MBE to the Palace, in protest against, among other things, the Vietnam War. The car was shipped to the USA in 1970 when Lennon moved there and was loaned out to ferry other rock stars around such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Moody Blues. In 1977, after a period in storage, it was donated by billionaire Jim Pattison to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

'The Great Eight Phantoms' – a Rolls-Royce Exhibition, will take place at Bonhams international flagship saleroom and galleries in New Bond Street, London, from 29 July to the 2 August.

by Rolls-Royce

Limousine de Ville by James Young
Chassis number: 5VE21
Engine number: E10PV

This bespoke Rolls-Royce Phantom VI has limousine coachwork by James Young. They would produce eleven 'open-drive' sedanca de ville bodies for the Phantom V chassis, with most of those to the coachbuilder's PV22 or PV23 touring limousine designs. This particular example is the only one built to the Sedanca de Ville version of design number PV15. It has a formal roofline, seven-passenger seating, dual front and rear air conditioning systems, and a leather-upholstered rear compartment with a power-adjustable seat, facing a lighted bar, Mazal clock, and Motorola tape deck. It has an early body (number 9053) mounted on a later Phantom V chassis, which indicates it may have begun life as a standard limousine before it was converted to its current James Young coachwork.

The exterior is finished in ivory white and royal blue with panels of 'sham cane.' It was shown at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1965 where it was awarded a bronze medal. After the show, it was delivered to the original owner B.P. Jenks, of Astbury Hall in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. It may have been exported to the United States early in its life; in July 1972 it was advertised for sale in the New York Times. A short time later it entered the custodianship of Dr. Erle M. Heath of Pittsburgh, who later sold it to Dr. Samuel Scher, who advertised it for sale in 1981. In 1987 it was acquired by the Behring Collection, and several years later was acquired by its current caretaker.

by Dan Vaughan

Touring Limousine by James Young
Chassis number: 5LVD21

The Rolls-Royce Phantom V represents the company's final traditional limousine model, with many examples receiving coachwork by James Young of Bromley, Kent. Their design number PV15 was a traditional limousine with a generous passenger compartment, elegant flowing exterior lines, and a 'turtledeck' rear.

This particular example, chassis number 5LVD21, was ordered through the New York dealer J.S. Inskip by George J. Stewart. It wore a dark green exterior with a beige interior, with Windtone horns, an electric radio aerial, and a speedometer in miles per hour. The rear passenger compartment featured ducted air conditioning, footrests, and pencil beam reading lights. A push-button radio located in the armrest is a more recent addition.

By 1970, this Rolls-Royce was in executive use with O'Donnel-Usen Fisheries of Boston, then later that year was acquired by Ed Jurist of The Vintage Car Store in Nyack, New York. Reportedly, the car was restored by Rolls-Royce specialists Carriage House Motorcars in the late 1980s in its original livery, with a correct replacement engine and transmission fitted at that time.

The car has been on static display during its current ownership.

by Dan Vaughan

As the successor to the coveted Silver Ghost, Rolls-Royce buyers had high expectations for the original Phantom. When it was brought to market in 1925, the Phantom had no problems living up to the high standards of its intended customers. It was an excellent car of unrivaled quality that continued the traditions of Rolls-Royce while introducing a name that would eventually carry the company into a new century.

The latest Rolls-Royce Phantom is the seventh model to come from Rolls-Royce under the Phantom name. A thoroughly modern car introduced by a BMW-owned Rolls-Royce, the newest Phantom has all of the high-tech features its wealthy clientele could ever want. Its advanced V12 engine and modernistic design mark departures from the staid engineering and subtle styling of Rolls-Royce models before it. It's difficult to believe that just 12 years before the radical new Roller was released, the last of the old-style Phantoms were being produced. The antiquated Phantom VI reached the end of its run in 1991, an incredible fact given that the model could trace its origins back to the Phantom V of 1959.

The year 1959 was an important one for Rolls-Royce. The English company, which had long before bought out the coachbuilding firm Park Ward, purchased H.J. Mulliner. Mulliner was another coachbuilding firm that had done a great deal of work for Rolls-Royce. Once both long-time coachbuilding partners were under the control of Rolls-Royce, a more modern era was reached in which it was no longer necessary to contract out for the design and production of even the finest bodies.

Also for 1959, Rolls-Royce introduced a new Phantom model. Called the Phantom V, it was a substantially more modern car than its predecessor. Though H.J. Mulliner and Park Ward were now both under control of Rolls-Royce, not everybody was built in-house by them. There were 195 Phantom V bodies built by the James Young Company and styled by James Young employee A.F. McNeill.

A 6,230cc V8 was used in the Phantom V. It had a 90-degree V configuration and was made of aluminum alloy. The advanced construction was supplemented by cast-iron cylinder liners that allowed the lightweight engine to have the durability and longevity required of a fine motorcar. The engine was oversquare, a feature that further enhanced reliability and drivability. Twin SU carburetors fed the V8, and power was transmitted to a hypoid bevel rear end through a four-speed automatic transmission. The four-speed auto was an impressive and advanced feature for a car introduced in 1959.

The rest of the car was less advanced than the new engine and drivetrain. The suspension was a conventional layout with coil springs in front and leaf spring out back. Body-on-frame construction was used. The styling was traditional, using rear suicide doors that allowed entrance to a roomy and opulent rear seat with the familiar look and feel of the rest of the interior. A design update in 1963 used revised front fenders with two headlights each. A more powerful engine was included with the facelifted cars. Production lasted through 1968, by which time 516 Phantom V vehicles had been produced.

Later in 1968, the Phantom VI was introduced. H.J. Mulliner and Park Ward merged under Rolls-Royce ownership in 1962, changing their joint name to Mulliner Park Ward, and it was Mulliner Park Ward that bodied almost every Phantom VI produced. Even though Rolls-Royce owned the coachbuilding subsidiary, Mulliner Park Ward was unlike any other in-house styling agency. They built Phantom VI bodies slowly and painstakingly as traditional artisans. The bodies were handcrafted and elegant, with styling as stately as the royalty resting in the rear seat could imagine.

Originally outfitted with the 6,230cc engine of the Phantom V, the Phantom VI had its twin SU carburetors replaced with a single Solex carburetor in 1975. Its displacement was enlarged to 6,750cc in 1979 when it was given an engine based on the Silver Shadow's. For 1982, the engine of the Silver Spirit was adopted, sharing the 6,750cc displacement. The cars had become outdated, but they still trickled out slowly to privileged buyers. The use of drum brakes at all wheels continued in defiance of technology, and the four-speed transmission that seemed so advanced on earlier models was strangely replaced by a three-speed unit in 1979. The Phantom VI became the last Rolls-Royce to have a separate chassis as it limped and wheezed its way into the early 1990's.

Production was discontinued in 1991. This year, after a few final body panels were produced for the Phantom VI in case of an accident, the Mulliner Park Ward factory at Willesden was closed. The Willesden works had produced most of the bodies found on Phantom VI vehicles. Production numbers for the Phantom VI totaled just 374 in over two decades.

With so few produced and with such a high price tag, the Rolls-Royce Phantoms of 1959 to 1991 were made for a very special type of customer. Celebrity seemed a prerequisite for owning a Phantom. Queen Elizabeth II had a Phantom V, and her mother owned one as well. The king of Norway used his 1962 Phantom V limousine as an official car. The governor of Hong Kong had one for ceremonial purposes. John Lennon purchased a new, white Phantom V. He proceeded to have it covered with psychedelic paintings, turning it into one of pop culture's most vivid and expensive pieces art. The owners of the Phantom VI were no less remarkable. Rolls-Royce understood the kind of customer base it had with the Phantom models and offered an armored version of the Phantom VI for higher-profile buyers that wanted added protection.

With the end of Phantom VI production in 1991, Rolls-Royce reluctantly let go of its most antiquated and obsolete customs. When the Phantom V was being sold, it was traditional but not quite old-fashioned. With the advent of the Phantom VI, though, the series was becoming outdated. While the Phantom V was simply a top-of-the-line Roller, the Phantom VI was the swansong of Rolls-Royce tradition. It flew in the face of cheaper cars from Mercedes-Benz and other luxury brands that offered more feature content and more performance for far less money. It was an overtly dignified symbol of the auto industry's most aristocratic company.

Producing a car as obsolete as the Phantom VI into the 1990's would have been an embarrassing decision for most carmakers. For Rolls-Royce, though, it was a symbol of the company's unwillingness to stray from the core values that cemented its reputation for excellence. The Phantom VI aged like fine wine and, as the Morgan sports car continues to do even now, provided a special vehicle for special customers who wouldn't settle for anything else.

Sources:

Roßfeldt, K.J.. 'Rolls-Royce and Bentley Models: Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph.' rrab.com Web.10 Aug 2009.

'Phantom 5,' 'Phantom 6.' Rolls-Royce Phantom Web.10 Aug 2009.

by Evan Acuña

Unlike the Phantom IV, the later Phantom V and VI coach-built cars were available to anyone with the money to buy them. As well as heads of state and royal families, the Phantom was chosen by the newly wealthy: among the more famous owners of a Phantom V was Beatle John Lennon.

Built on a huge 3,683mm wheelbase, the vast majority featured Silver Cloud style bodywork built by Mulliner Park Ward.

It was produced from 1959 to 1968 and mechanically mirrored the V8 Silver Cloud II. Some 516 examples were built.

The Phantom VI, which stayed in production from 1968 right through to 1991, was built in small numbers - 373 - and was a mild evolution of the Phantom V.

Interestingly, some early examples had rear-hinged coach doors. It was to be some three decades before technical advances allowed the current Phantom to bring the elegance of coach doors back in complete safety.

by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited

by Rolls-Royce

The Rolls-Royce Phantom V was introduced in 1959 with a huge wheelbase of 145 inches, and a markedly rigid and strong chassis. A total of 516 of these models were produced during its production run until 1968. The Phantom V was based on the Silver Cloud II and shared its V8 engine and the automatic gearbox to GM's Hydra-Matic design. The chassis was the same as the Silver Cloud's layout, but it was lengthened and strengthened significantly by massive reinforcements. The front and rear track were also improved by greater dimensions. The overall length of the Phantom V was increased by 10 inches in comparison to the Phantom IV. Measuring 19 feet long, the Phantom V weighed three tons.

Manufactured in 1965 by the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, Crewe, Cheshire, the Phantom 5 was fitted with a limousine body by Mulliner Park Ward. The Phantom V received the 7% more powerful Silver Cloud III engine in 1963 along with new front winds that incorporated twin headlamps.

The Phantom V was placed at the top of the Rolls-Royce hierarchy. An ultra-luxurious Rolls-Royce model, the Phantom V came with drum brakes and featured a wheelbase of 3,683 mm. The featured engine was a 90 degree V8 with a capacity of 5,230 cc and twin SU carburetors with a 4-speed automatic transmission.

Proud owners of the Phantom V included John Lennon, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Governor of Hong Kong. It has appeared in movies such as 1965 'Help!', 'Steptoe and Son' in 1972, 'Herbie Rides Again' in 1974, 'Rosebud' in 1975, 'The Toy' in 1982, 'Trading Places' in 1983, 'Spiderman' in 2001 and 'What a Girl Wants' in 2003.

by Jessican Donaldson