Rolls-Royce Celebrates 100 Years of Phantom History in 2025

In 2025, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars marks the centenary of the launch of the first Phantom. Throughout its history, the Phantom nameplate has been reserved for the pinnacle model in the marque’s portfolio.

100 years ago, Rolls-Royce launched the first motor car to bear what would become the most evocative and enduring nameplate in its history: Phantom. 

Through eight generations, Phantom’s role as the pinnacle Rolls-Royce motor car has been to be the most magnificent, desirable and effortless motor car in the world. 

“In many respects, the history of Phantom is the history of Rolls-Royce: always moving with the times and its clients’ needs and requirements, transcending fleeting trends and providing the setting for the most remarkable executions of craft and artistry, all while resolutely refusing to compromise its core engineering and design principles, said Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. 

At the start of Phantom’s anniversary year, Rolls-Royce reveals the fascinating story behind its pinnacle product, and how each iteration earned – and maintained – that reputation through a century of constant change, up to and including the eighth generation currently being handcrafted at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, UK. 

A New Beginning

Rolls-Royce first earned the accolade of ‘the best car in the world’ with the 40/50 H.P., universally known as the Silver Ghost, launched in 1906. The key to its legendary reputation was Henry Royce’s principle of constant improvement to its underlying engineering, which he conducted on an almost chassis-by-chassis basis.

By 1921, Royce realised the Silver Ghost’s design was reaching the point where no further developments would be possible without compromising either smoothness or reliability, so began work on its replacement.

The new model was announced via an advertisement in The Times newspaper, on Saturday 2 May 1925, reading:

As well as being the first recorded use of the Phantom name the advertisement was significant for being the first public acceptance by Rolls-Royce that the outgoing model would officially adopt its colloquial Silver Ghost title.  

The Game of the Name

Although there is no specific documentary evidence, the Phantom name was likely coined by Rolls-Royce’s energetic and inventive Commercial Managing Director, Claude Johnson. He recognised the potential sales benefits of naming the company’s products with inspiring titles and is credited with renaming the prosaically titled 40/50 H.P as the ‘Silver Ghost’ in 1907. 

That same year, he christened another 40/50 H.P. ‘Green Phantom’, before bestowing the more evocative ‘Silver Phantom’ on two examples in 1909.

Johnson clearly understood the power of names like Phantom, Wraith and Ghost to convey the products’ supernatural quietness and ethereal grace.  

When the first Phantom launched in 1925, Rolls-Royce only supplied the chassis, with bodywork left to individual coachbuilders (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)

The Basis for Greatness

At the time of the newspaper advertisement in 1925, Rolls-Royce supplied only rolling chassis, with the form, styling and appointment of the motor car itself in the hands of independent coachbuilders. These coachbuilders created bespoke bodywork to the owner’s specification.

Rolls-Royce offered the New Phantom in long-wheelbase form, suitable for formal saloon and limousine designs, and with a shorter wheelbase ideal for owner-driver motor cars with closed, open and ‘sportier’ coachwork.

The Phantom’s generous proportions enabled owners to specify almost any detail or indulgence they wished. Some clients asked for concealable writing desks or swivelling occasional seats in their long-wheelbase limousines, while some owner-drivers requested safes, dedicated spaces to stow golf clubs and even a secret compartment in which to carry diamonds.

Onwards and Upwards

The design of the original New Phantom had closely followed that of its predecessor, Silver Ghost – so closely, in fact, that some modern enthusiasts refer to it as a ‘Super Ghost’. 

However, over the next four years, Royce continued to refine his design until, in 1929, The Times carried a fresh advertisement announcing the arrival of Phantom II. The advertisement listed all the engineering improvements and upgraded components that justified its designation as an entirely new model.

Henry Royce himself was not a fan of the Phantom II, describing even the short-wheelbase model as too large for his personal use (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)

Vive la Différence

Seemingly the only person unimpressed by the new model was Royce himself, who insisted that even the short-wheelbase Phantom II was irritatingly oversized for his personal use. 

He instructed his design team to develop a more compact, sporting Phantom II variant which he could enjoy driving across France to his winter home at Le Canadel on the Côte d’Azur.

The designers produced a close-coupled car, 26EX – with the ‘EX’ standing for ‘Experimental’ – on an adapted short Phantom II chassis. Records show that neither the Rolls-Royce sales department nor the factory were keen on the concept but a highly successful continental sales tour demonstrated there was demand for a car capable of high-speed touring over long distances on the smooth, straight roads of Europe. 

Rolls-Royce successfully met this demand with the now highly prized Phantom II Continental – perhaps the only pre-Goodwood Phantom variant in which weight, wind resistance and other performance-related factors were given equal consideration with out-and-out passenger comfort.

A New Power Rising

By the time of Royce’s death in 1933, the company was already aware that luxury car customers were seeking models that offered more power without sacrificing comfort or excellence. American competitors including Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard were responding with straight-8, V12 and even V16-cylinder engines, which were rapidly eclipsing the large-horsepower, in-line six-cylinder units that had served Rolls-Royce for decades. 

Given this commercial pressure and the company’s proven experience in designing and building aero-engines, it was inevitable that the next Phantom would have a V12 engine. 

When it arrived in 1936, Phantom III featured many significant improvements over its predecessor, but none were more significant than its new engine, featuring 12 cylinders which Rolls-Royce claimed gave “greater engine smoothness, flexibility, silence and acceleration”.

The Phantom III featured many upgrades over its predecessor, but the fitment of a V12 engine was the most important (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)

The new V12 engine was also more compact than the old straight-6, allowing a shorter bonnet and larger passenger compartment. Most importantly, however, it delivered the increased power customers demanded – 165 H.P. (123kW) against the 120 H.P. (89kW) of Phantom II, rising to 180 H.P. (134kW) in later cars.

Comfort was further improved with independent front suspension, improving comfort in the wider and more comfortable back seats, while further enhancing road holding and cornering stability. 

Phantom III was suited to all manner of coachwork styles, and both owner-driver and chauffeured use. And while it was never able to beat its American rivals on price, such was Rolls-Royce’s reputation that it remained the only choice for those who wanted to experience the greatest possible comfort and be seen to be driving the very best.

A Changing World

When war broke out in 1939 Rolls-Royce ceased all motor car production, and when peace returned in 1945, the company found itself in an entirely different world.

In this more austere post-war austerity, the company recognised it needed to produce cars that were less complex, easier to service, much less expensive to produce and able to use common parts. 

Its solution was the Rationalised Range, which debuted in 1946 with Silver Wraith. Its new straight-6-cylinder engine was a backward step from the V12 engine of Phantom III, but relevant in difficult times. 

The Phantom IV was only offered to the British royal family and heads of state deemed worthy during its six-year run (Image: Joachim Kohler-HB/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

A Royal Intervention

The Phantom nameplate, which had graced the best cars in the world for some 14 years up until 1939, may well have ended there, but for two serendipitous events.

As part of the ongoing development process for the Rationalised Range, engineers produced four experimental EX cars on a 229.5-inch chassis with a straight-8 engine. One of these, fitted with a Park Ward & Co limousine body, was officially named Silver Phantom (and unofficially known as Big Bertha). A smaller, lighter saloon version, known as the Scalded Cat, followed.

At the same time, the Royal Household was seeking to replace its ageing fleet of Daimlers – the marque it had favoured since the motor car was invented – but was unhappy with the range then on offer.

In 1950, Rolls-Royce was asked to supply a formal limousine for Royal duties. The company had long been keen to usurp Daimler in the Royal Mews, and gladly produced a ‘one-off’ straight-eight long-chassis limousine with coachwork by H J Mulliner. During manufacture, the car was given the codename Maharajah, and remains in active service at the Royal Mews under that name to this day.

When requests for similar motor cars followed from other Royalty and Heads of State, Rolls-Royce was happy to oblige. The company decided it would be fitting that for such prestigious cars to resurrect the Phantom name. Over the next seven years, the marque produced just 18 examples of Phantom IV, including a second motor car for the Royal Mews, a landaulette named Jubilee, delivered in 1954.

After a mere 18 examples of the Phantom IV were made, this fifth-generation model saw the return to larger scale production (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)

The Last Hurrah

The pinnacle Rolls-Royce experience became somewhat more widely available once again in 1959 with the launch of Phantom V – a limousine fitted with coachwork by both the marque’s in-house coachbuilder, Park Ward & Co., and other independent companies, including James Young Ltd and H. J. Mulliner & Co. 

Rolls-Royce would later acquire H. J. Mulliner & Co, merging it with their own coachbuilder to form Mulliner Park Ward. 

In an interesting Australian twist, two motor cars, known as Canberra I and Canberra II, were built for Royal service, featuring transparent Perspex cupolas over the rear compartments and concealed lighting to better view the occupants on formal occasions.

After 13 years and 832 examples, Phantom V had received enough technical upgrades to be designated as Phantom VI. As with all its forebears, this new iteration prioritised comfort, with separate air conditioning systems for the front and rear compartments. The last Phantom VI, a landaulette, was delivered to the Sultan of Brunei in 1993.

Phantom VI was the final body-on-chassis model Rolls-Royce ever produced, and its discontinuation effectively ended the tradition of coachbuilding until it was revived at Goodwood in 2017 with ‘Sweptail’.

The Phantom VI remained in production for over 20 years, with the final example delivered to the Sultan of Brunei (Image: Pangalau/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Phantom Reborn

When the marque was relaunched at the new Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, a ‘Phantom-type’ model quickly emerged as the natural and obvious choice for its inaugural motor car. 

The design concept, included signature elements inherited from previous generations. These included a long wheelbase with the front wheels well to the fore and a minimal front overhang of the bodywork, a long bonnet comprised of a massive expanse of metal along the side, and a rising sweep of the door edge towards the front windscreen pillars.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ first Design Director of the Goodwood era, Ian Cameron, formed a specific team to create the interior design for the new model. Their remit was to express the ambience of past Phantoms and the traditional high-quality materials of coachbuilding – leather, wood, deep-pile carpeting – in a totally up-to-date way.

On 1 January 2003, the first Phantom VII was handed over to its new owner. Unlike every Phantom that had gone before, it was built entirely in-house by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, with spaceframe bodywork to a single design rather than coachbuilt. 

It retained a link with its heritage in that every car was hand-built by a team of skilled craftspeople. 

The Phantom was relaunched for the modern era in 2003, with Rolls-Royce now under the ownership of BMW (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)

The Evolution Continues

Over its 13-year lifespan, Phantom VII cemented Rolls-Royce as the world’s pre-eminent super luxury motor manufacturer, and its own place as the marque’s pinnacle product. 

In 2017, Rolls-Royce presented Phantom VIII. This was the first Rolls-Royce to be built on the Architecture of Luxury, an advance on the all-aluminium spaceframe used on Phantom VII, and designed to underpin every future motor car produced at Goodwood.

Phantom VIII was specifically designed to be the ultimate canvas for Bespoke commissions. It is the only Rolls-Royce model to feature the Gallery – an uninterrupted swathe of glass that runs the full width of the fascia, behind which the client can display a commissioned work of art or design.

This singular focus has made Phantom the subject of some of the most technically ambitious and challenging Bespoke projects ever undertaken by the marque’s designers, engineers and specialist craftspeople. 

The Essence of Phantom

For 100 years, the Phantom name has occupied a unique position in the Rolls-Royce product family and story. Phantom has always been the grandest, most impressive and, above all, most effortless motor car being built in series production by the marque at any given moment.

From Henry Royce’s original New Phantom to today’s Phantom VIII, the essential purpose behind Phantom has always remained the same: to build the motor car that offers owner-drivers and passengers alike the most comfortable, satisfying experience available in the world at that moment in time.

The current Phantom VIII was specifically designed to be the ultimate canvas for Bespoke commissions, such as this one-off 'Phantom Oribe' build (Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)