Rolls-Royce Phantom I Boat-Tail – 1928
Chassis No. 52 HF
Luxembourg registration certificate
Vehicle sold without technical inspection
Boat-Tail bodywork of great elegance
Exceptional restoration quality
Clear and documented history from the beginning
Still equipped with its original engine
Former participant in the Pekin to Paris 1997, FIVA card
The new Phantom, retrospectively nicknamed Phantom I, replaced the venerable Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost in May 1925.
Retaining its immense qualities, its refinement was pushed to the extreme as summed up by the famous magazine The Autocar in its issue of May 22, 1925 by stating that a road test "indicates further progress towards perfection. Acceleration and speed have been improved without sacrificing comfort and refinement." It will be manufactured in the United Kingdom and the United States with a production of 2,212 chassis.
Our example was ordered on 19 January 1928 by the English Pilot William Watson, head of W. Watson & Co, then the largest distributor in the north of England for the Morris and Rolls-Royce brands.
At the request of its owner The Hon. Mrs Devereux, Viscountess of Hereford, chassis 52 FH was sent to Barker on 28 April to be bodied to Pullman specifications.
According to its factory record on file, it is still equipped today with its original engine (VH65) which is none other than the largest in-line 6-cylinder engine ever produced by the brand (7,688 cm3).
We lose track of 52 FH at the dawn of the Second World War before it reappears with this superb boat-tail body built in the 1950s by the great brand specialist Wilkinson & Son in England.
It was then fully restored by Peter Jarvis in the 1970s, taking particular care to preserve the elegance of its design. Unchanged today, the car has been maintained and restored several times by its owners, as evidenced by its extensive restoration record.
In 1997, the car took part in the second edition of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, taking a route through Tibet, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and finally France. That is more than 16,000 km in 43 days...
It joined the collection of its current owner in July 2000. Since then, the car has been fully restored in bodywork and mechanics in his own workshops to a degree of perfection that is still visible today
The car has its FIVA card issued in 1995. "An elegant and thoroughbred Phantom I magnificently rebodied in the 1950s"
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Text & Image: Aguttes
