Rolls-Royce Phantom at Goodwood Revival: 100 Years
“No motor car has played such a pivotal role in shaping automotive and cultural history as the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Over eight generations spanning 100 years – a remarkable anniversary we’re honouring throughout 2025 – it has represented the very best in engineering, comfort and personal expression for its owners, and won admirers around the world. Goodwood Revival – on the doorstep of the Home of Rolls-Royce – is the perfect setting in which to celebrate this extraordinary motor car and its continuing legacy, with five of the most distinctive and historically important Phantoms ever created on public display. They vividly illustrate the aesthetic, technical and emotional through-lines that connect the original ‘New Phantom’ created by Henry Royce in 1925 to the highly Bespoke Phantom commissions we bring to life for our clients a century later.” Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars continues its year-long programme marking the centenary of its pinnacle luxury saloon, Phantom, at this weekend’s Goodwood Revival. The event offers a global platform for showcasing British automotive heritage and contemporary bespoke craftsmanship, attracting enthusiasts who value engineering excellence and design.
The marque will centre its annual presence on a showcase at the Aerodrome Lawn, which presents five magnificent Rolls-Royce Phantoms representing key moments and innovations from the model’s 100-year history. This curated display highlights performance, comfort and personal expression that define the world’s most celebrated luxury car.
The 1926 Phantom I Brougham de Ville, known as “The Phantom of Love”, exemplifies automotive art and craft. Clarence Warren Gasque commissioned it as a gift for his wife, Maude, heiress to the Woolworth fortune, creating both a monument to devotion and a lavish homage to her passion for 18th-century French design. The interior features bespoke Aubusson tapestries, a hand-painted ceiling with gilded cornices, and a drinks cabinet topped with a French Ormolu clock and porcelain vases filled with gilded metal and enamel flowers.
The rare Phantom II Continental Touring Park Ward traces its lineage to an experimental compact, sporting Phantom II that Rolls-Royce developed for Henry Royce’s personal use. Engineers designed it for high-speed touring over long European distances, giving equal weight to performance factors such as mass and aerodynamics alongside passenger comfort. Mr A. Y. Gowen, an American industrialist who owned 16 Rolls-Royce motor cars, commissioned this example, chassis 92PY, for his travels around Europe. It features a sunroof and a unique yellow-tinted sun visor.
Major Frederick Warren Pearl of Eaton Square ordered the elegant Phantom III in 1937. The car later crossed the Atlantic and changed hands several times in the United States. It returned to the United Kingdom in 1989, and its current owner acquired it in 1995 following a comprehensive restoration that preserved the period's authenticity while enhancing its reliability and performance.
Rolls-Royce produced just 18 Phantom IV Landaulette models between 1950 and 195, offering them exclusively to royal families and heads of state. The chassis measured 23.5 inches longer than that of the similar Silver Wraith, and the car remains the only Rolls-Royce fitted with a straight-eight-cylinder engine. The British royal family still uses Phantom IV for state occasions, underscoring its unmatched exclusivity and ceremonial presence.
James Young coachbuilt the magnificent Phantom V PV22, finished in its original Midnight Blue. Marks & Spencer ordered it in January 1963 for the use of its chairman, Lord Marks, who took delivery in March 1964. The car remains in perfect mechanical order and has covered just 92,000 documented miles from new, a testament to meticulous care and enduring craftsmanship.
During the Revival, Phantom will also appear regularly on the legendary Goodwood Motor Circuit. Four Phantom course cars will run from the assembly area between each race, demonstrating the power, precision, and dynamic ability that continue to define Phantom as “the best car in the world” after 100 years. This living history of the Rolls-Royce Phantom celebrates a century of innovation, bespoke luxury, and cultural impact at the Goodwood Revival 2025.
