ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM III, Fawn/Black

ABOUT ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM III

The Rolls-Royce Phantom III was the final large pre-war Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1936, it replaced the Phantom II and it was the only V12 Rolls-Royce until the 1998 introduction of the Silver Seraph. It is the first of the three V12-powered Rolls-Royce Phantoms, with the 2003-2017 Rolls-Royce Phantom VII and 2018- Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII being the other two. 727 V12 Phantom III chassis were constructed from 1936 to 1939, and approximately 650 have survived. Although chassis production ceased in 1939 (with one final chassis being built in 1940), cars were still being bodied and delivered in 1940 and 1941. The last car, though the rolling chassis was completed in 1941, was not delivered with a body to its owner until 1947. The Phantom III was the last car that Henry Royce worked on.

Only the chassis and mechanical parts were made by Rolls-Royce. Car bodies were constructed and fitted by coachbuilders selected by owners or dealers, who might have cars built for showroom stock. Some of the most famous coachbuilders who produced bodies for Rolls-Royce cars are Barker, Park Ward, Mulliner, Hooper and Thrupp & Maberly. Body types as well as limousines included saloons, coupés, and convertibles. A handful of used cars have been converted to hearses and shooting brakes.

In 1964, more than 20 years after the end of production, the villainous Auric Goldfinger (played by Gert Fröbe) was driven by chauffeur Oddjob in a black and yellow Phantom III in the James Bond film Goldfinger, knowing that its great strength would be able to hold the weight of the vast amounts of gold that he smuggled around Europe