CarBrandLogos archive · Rolls-Royce · 1925

Rolls-RoycePhantom I

A new overhead-valve six, wrapped around a chassis that was two decades old.

Photo: Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Rolls-Royce history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Rolls-Royce Phantom I, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Windover Tourer

Origins

By the mid-1920s the Silver Ghost's side-valve engine was outclassed. Cadillac and Hispano-Suiza had more power, and Rolls-Royce needed an answer without abandoning a chassis its customers trusted. The solution, launched in 1925 as the New Phantom and known afterwards as the Phantom I, was an entirely new 7,668cc overhead-valve six with a detachable cylinder head, mounted in a lightly revised version of the old frame.

1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Windover Tourer · Stephen Foskett (Wikipedia User: sfoskett) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

That combination drew criticism at the time, since the running gear was of pre-war design and the brakes, though now on all four wheels with a mechanical servo, were being asked to stop a faster car. In use it did the job, and the new engine gave the effortless top-gear flexibility that Rolls-Royce buyers valued more than acceleration figures.

Rolls-Royce wood · LSDSL · CC BY-SA 3.0

1929 Rolls Royce Phantom I Hooper Towncar - rvl

In production

Production ran to 1931: 2,269 chassis at Derby and 1,243 at Springfield, Massachusetts, where the American cars were built to their own specification with left-hand drive and largely American coachwork. As before, customers bought a chassis and commissioned a body, so Phantom Is exist as everything from formal limousines to sporting tourers.

1929 Rolls Royce Phantom I Hooper Towncar - rvl · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

The Phantom II of 1929 finally replaced the chassis as well as the engine, but the Phantom I established the name that Rolls-Royce has used for its largest car ever since.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Units built

3,512

Engine

7668 cc I6

Body

4-door saloon

Technical specification

The Phantom I, in detail.

Production: 1925–1931; 3,512 produced ; 2,269 at Derby ; 1,243 at Springfield
Class: Luxury car
Body style: 4-door saloon
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 7668 cc I6
Transmission: 3-speed manual; 4-speed manual
Assembly: United Kingdom: Derby, England; United States: Springfield, Massachusetts
Manufacturer: Rolls-Royce Ltd (UK); Rolls-Royce of America (US)