More than 100 years ago, the good people at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had a meeting and concluded that further evolution of its Silver Ghost, also known as the 40/50hp, would mean compromising either smoothness or reliability. Both of these issues, as any fan of the brand will know, were considered unacceptable and thus, a replacement was needed.
Soon enough, the New Phantom, later known as the Phantom 1, arrived in 1925. Similar in style to its Silver Ghost predecessor, it featured a larger engine. The brand built its last Phantom (VI) in 1990 before BMW purchased the right to use the Rolls-Royce name and logo in 1998, introducing the cars we know today.
2003 was eventful. Finding Nemo arrived in cinemas, Apple launched its game-changing iTunes music store, and the first of the BMW-backed Rolls-Royces appeared.
Likewise, Top Gear’s season 2 episode 2 aired. ‘This is the new Rolls-Royce Phantom,’ said Jeremy Clarkson, flanked by the car’s slab-sided physique, which took up a chunk of the Top Gear studio.
As a child, I was confused. I wasn’t like most children who, back then, appeared to like only low-slung Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Instead, I had an affinity towards a luxurious barge with umbrellas lodged in its doors and a forest-worth of wood on its dashboard. It was special. Then, in 2007, the bodacious Phantom Drophead appeared, and Rolls’ owners could now drive themselves to the golf course.
'Listening to popular music while cruising around in a Phantom feels wrong; it’s a bit like filling your 92-year-old grandmother’s iPod with Doja Cat or Cardi B'
21 years later, I’m carefully backing a new Midnight Sapphire Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII onto my driveway, something built to transport those with brimmed bank accounts. A car I dreamt of simply seeing, never mind driving; I’ve driven older Rolls-Royces and a Cullinan II, but the Phantom was, and still is, the apotheosis of luxury (as it should be for a £430,000 car.
It’s remarkably luxurious and accelerates quicker than a 2.6-tonne car should, but this is information that’s been around for years. The Phantom VIII was released in 2017 and very little has changed (at least on the car) since then. Therefore, a simple birthday road test to celebrate 100 years of Phantom didn’t feel enough; something special was needed.
The world’s second-oldest Rolls-Royce is a 1905 3-cylinder nicknamed The Old Girl, and The Old Girl resides at the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford, Aberdeenshire. This meant a round trip of 236 miles; no problem for the wafty Phantom.
I tackled local towns after setting off from Stirling, a somewhat daunting task in such a gargantuan car, before hitting the A90 motorway, where I could engage cruise control and receive a massage from the Phantom’s remarkably comfortable seats. Oddly, listening to popular music while cruising around in a Phantom feels wrong; it’s a bit like filling your 92-year-old grandmother’s iPod with Doja Cat or Cardi B, so I switched to some smooth jazz.
The Perth railway station car park, like most car parks, is designed to squeeze in as many Ford Fiestas and Volkswagen T-Rocs as possible, not 5.8m-long Rolls-Royce Phantoms – as noted when attempting to collect my brother Andrew, the Phantom’s photographer. When parked, the car would overhang into the space behind, raising a few eyebrows as it rendered the space useless for anyone else. Not many people parked near it, something probably fuelled by fear of marking its £15,325 paintwork.
Progressing towards the museum, the sat-nav soon took us on a single-track bit of tarmac known as the Old Military Road. This was used in 1907 by Rolls-Royce during the Scottish Reliability Trials, a 15,000-mile run from London to the Scottish Highlands to prove the Silver Ghost was the ‘Best Car in the World’.
Within two weeks of completing the trials, the Silver Ghost (40/50hp) had covered more than 5,000 miles without once visiting a repair shop. Of course, the latest Phantom didn’t need one either.
She glided effortlessly over the Old Military Road’s pitted and coarse surface, the twin-turbocharged 563 bhp V12 emitting a slight thrum as we climbed towards Cairn O’ Mount, a hill that sits 455 metres above sea level.
A bit bigger than The Old Girl.
Soon enough, we reached the museum and the curator, Neil Thomson, introduced us to The Old Girl, positioned in the museum’s reception area beside a 1909 Albion A6 Limousine-Landaulette. ‘Quite a difference in size to the car you have out there,’ Neil quipped.
The 1905 Rolls is the only 3-cylinder to survive out of six. It was made by Royce Ltd in Manchester and was sold by C. S. Rolls & Co, London. And although Rolls-Royce wasn’t formed until 1906, it was agreed that cars made by Royce and sold by Rolls should be called Rolls-Royce.
The Old Girl, car no 26330, was the second 3-cylinder to leave the factory. It cost £545 when new (a very reasonable £57,800 in today’s money) and featured optional acetylene headlamps, and the 3.0-litre engine produced 15 hp. It had four gears, including reverse, and topped out at 39.5mph. Neil isn’t convinced it could manage such speeds today.
'It was advertised again in June 1907 and sold to the Countess of Loudon before being passed to her father in 1908. In 1920, a horse took a dislike to the car and kicked it'
Rolls-Royce used it as a demonstration car under registration LC 2782 and sold it to Capt T Dundas of Northallerton in September 1905. However, he died in November 1906, and the car was advertised in Autocar magazine in January 1907, but didn't sell.
It was advertised again in June 1907 and sold to the Countess of Loudon before being passed to her father in 1908. In 1920, a horse took a dislike to the car and kicked it. The owner was told to take it to the ‘graveyard for old cars’, but by subterfuge, the order was disobeyed. The car that remains is almost original, except for the upholstery and body restoration.
The car was gifted to the RSAC Motorsport club in 1974, but stipulations mentioned that it must remain in Scotland and be displayed there. It was loaned to the Glasgow Riverside Museum for three years before being moved to the Grampian Transport Museum in 2023.
‘We had the vinyl seats added to it when it arrived, but we also have the original seats in our library wrapped in cellophane to preserve them,’ Neil tells me. The convertible hood is also believed to be a replacement, while the original is kept safe.
The tyres have also been replaced, as the inner tubes had perished. Likewise, there’s a wooden box bolted to the car’s side that no one has the key to, but the museum believes it could house the wheel nut removal tool.
‘She still runs, but it is very complicated to start, being pre-electric ignition. Everything needs to be primed, and there are valves, etc.’ Moving to the front of the car, Neil opens the Rolls’ bonnet. ‘Rolls-Royce recommissioned the engine using apprentices before the car arrived here. It looks remarkable.’
The Old Girl is covered by the government’s indemnity scheme, protecting high-value items and museum loans. It was valued at £500,000 when the car arrived at the museum, but this was undervalued and was revalued at £2.25m. ‘This would never be sold. It won’t end up in someone’s private collection, never to be seen again,’ Neil adds.
Stepping back outside to the mighty Phantom felt strange. It might be the world’s most luxurious car, but seeing its ancestor was humbling. It was a reminder of where it all began, before the Spirit of Ecstasy cut through the air at the bonnet’s tip, and thick-pile carpets cushioned your feet.
Sadly, we couldn’t picture both cars together, but the Phantom and Old Girl were a stone’s throw from each other. But that was enough to spark delight amongst visitors and the museum staff.
I covered 550 miles in the Phantom during the week I had it, and when the loan was nearing its end, I felt glum about giving it back. This very car was introduced to its Scottish heritage, and I was honoured to be the one to have done it. Sure, there might've been a lack of birthday cake, bunting and party guests, but memories were made regardless.
Happy birthday, Rolls-Royce Phantom.
