Lot 130: 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1

Rolls-Royce had firmly established itself as producer of 'The Best Car in the World' with the 40/50hp Silver Ghost, an impressive automobile that had set the standard for smoothness, quietness and refinement combined with performance, flexibility and reliability. When the time came to replace the Ghost with a new model for 1925, it was thus imperative that it should incorporate all the qualities of its predecessor. Bearing this in mind, Rolls-Royce opted not for a V12, V8 or straight eight engine configuration - all of which were tested and rejected - but rather for an overhead valve, longer stroke six cylinder motor with, like on the sidevalve Ghost, seven main bearings and the cylinders arranged in two blocks of three - but this time below a single detachable cylinder head; the result was an equally smooth power unit of 7,668cc - compared to the outgoing Ghost's 7,428cc - while power was up from 70bhp to l00bhp, again using Rolls-Royce's effective twinjet carburettor, sufficient to ensure that the New Phantom's performance, via the four-speed gearbox, remained on a par with luxury models from major rivals such as Hispano-Suiza and Packard. The ladder frame chassis of the New Phantom - available in either 12ft or 12ft 6in long wheelbase form - closely followed that of the Silver Ghost, and as such was immensely strong, while suspension was by semi-elliptic front/can tilever rear springs with Hartford friction dampers all round. Genuine barn finds are a rare these days, however this 1927 P1 was recently extracted from a barn in the north of England, bearing the chassis no 37FH it still carries its original Limosine coachwork, the engine no. CA65 is also with the car and has been partially dismantled. An elegant and virtually complete restoration project it was purchased by the current owner in 1961 as a running car, however the engine was stripped in 1962 to fix a noisey tappet and alas the job never completed. Accompanying the car are the V5 logbook and a copies of the Rolls Royce service records.