Rolls-Royce’s Phantom Turns 100 with an Edition Limited to 25 Cars

A big milestone in the automotive domain this year, as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars raises a luxe toast to its blue-eyed boy, the Phantom, on its 100th birthday. But what’s a centenary celebration without adding a coveted limited edition to the mix? The Phantom Centenary.

Private Collection is the answer. Limited to just 25 pieces and based on the Phantom VIII, this black and white car is an artistic nod to the black and white cinematic era. In many ways, the Rolls-Royce Phantom is the very pinnacle of luxury mobility, a status symbol for the world’s top brass, owned by some of the world’s most powerful personalities.

Like with every Rolls-Royce car, the luxury lies in its handcrafting, its bespoke elements, and craftsmanship. This Centenary Private Collection car took 40,000 hours of work to ‘craft’. The story behind these 25 cars is an interesting one.

The Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective, comprising artisans, engineers, and design specialists, dug up the 100-year-old archive to pour their findings into this car, powered by a 6.5 litre V12 engine. This collective designed 77 hand-sketched motifs that are then seamlessly woven into the design elements of the car, inside and out.  

Some of the artistic extravagances include high-res printed fabrics for the rear seats, replete with 1,60,000 stitches, laser-etched front seats featuring hand sketching as well as the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy logo in solid gold with custom enamelling, a reference to the 1925 design.

Design enthusiasts have always praised the Phantom for its woodwork, and the British manufacturer, for the very first time, shows us 3D marquetry, 3D ink layering, and feuille d’or in 24-carat gold.

The Phantom was a principal figure in the golden era of Hollywood cinema, ferrying celebrities and thus, its exteriors finished in a two-tone scheme, are a nod to the black and white era, with the glamour of Super Champagne Crystal over Arctic White or Black. Look closer, and the clear coat wrapping the body is dotted with crushed glass and champagne-coloured particles, giving it that extra sheen. The unmistakable RR badging is done in 24-carat gold and framed in white enamel.

Sifting through the archives, the rear seats of the Phantom Centenary take the 1926 Phantom of Love as inspiration. The seats feature high-res prints of scenes from the brand’s Conduit Street premises in London overlaid with prints of archival Phantoms from the past. The bespoke fabric, along with intricate embroidery, took almost a year to develop and represents a culture of haute couture that prevailed in Europe in the past century. The seats feature 45 separate panels, which form the rear seats, carefully fitted by hand.

The piece de resistance of the Centenary Collection is the Anthology Gallery, which features 50 3D printed, aluminium fins, bound together like a book and bearing quotes from the Phantom’s history of positive press coverage. 

And finally, the woodwork within the car is the most intricate woodwork ever seen on a Rolls-Royce. On the Blackwood doors panels, you will see depictions of maps, landscapes, and etchings of cars. The other door panels showcase scenes from Sir Henry Royce’s life and the historic milestones of the cars, like the first-ever Goodwood-era Phantom, which drove from Perth to Sydney. Perfectly complemented by the Piano Black veneer, infused with gold dust, and the 24-carat gold central knob.

When in a Phantom, the Starlight Headliner is always a talking point, and this particular one features a whopping 440,000 stitches, depicting Henry Royce’s favourite Mulberry tree in the courtyard of Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood headquarters. 

While barely scraping the surface of the amount of artistry and craftsmanship that has gone into making this special edition, we do continue to revere this historic vehicle. And with awe and admiration, we wish a Happy 100th birthday to the Rolls-Royce Phantom.