Arguably the quintessential Rolls-Royce, the Phantom that relaunched the marque under BMW‘s patronage has now been discontinued. Soon, though, there’ll be a new one to take its place, and the British marque is setting the stage with an exposition of eight great Phantoms from its extensive history.
The first we already know will be Fred Astaire’s 1927 Phantom I. The second is Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s 1936 Phantom III. Now Rolls-Royce has revealed the third – owned by none other than Sir Malcolm Campbell.
The man behind the legendary Blue Bird vehicles, Campbell set numerous world speed records on both land and water – most notably becoming the first person to crack the 300-mph barrier on land. That feat was achieved at Bonneville in 1935, powered by an airplane engine furnished by (you guessed it) Rolls-Royce.
Sir Malcolm evidently enjoyed driving powerful Rolls-Royces on his own time as well. Two years before the 300-mph run, he reached 272 mph in another Rolls-powered streamliner at Daytona Beach. And he celebrated by taking delivery of this 1933 Phantom II Continental just a month later.
Shorter and sportier than the standard Phantom, the Continental was one of the most powerful road cars money could buy at the time, even if it didn’t produce the 2,300 horsepower of the 36.5-liter aero engine in his Blue Bird. He still had the road car, registered AGO 1, painted pale blue, coachbuilt by Baker, and fitted with all manner of custom extras – from the onboard fire extinguisher to the nine-inch extended tailpipes.
Along with the seven others, Major Campbell’s Phantom II will be displayed at Bonhams’ flagship gallery on New Bond Street in London’s swanky Mayfair district starting later this month. The location is no coincidence, considering that Bonhams set the record for the most valuable Rolls-Royce ever sold at auction, with a 1912 Silver Ghost known as The Corgi, which sold for £4.7 million in 2012.
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