Rolls-Royce Haunted Monterey With 100 Years Of Phantoms

To help celebrate, Rolls brought some cars to the fanciest car show in the world, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, part of Monterey Car Week.

Rolls didn't just bring one or two cars to the event, it came out in force. It made sure that all eight generations were on hand, including past winners of the show, cars owned by British royalty, and vehicles that were used by leaders from around the world.

A Long History Means Some Very Strange Names

The oldest of the cars on hand was a 1929 Phantom Brewster Ascot Phaeton. That long name starts with Brewster, who was the builder of the car's body, then Ascot for the Royal Ascot horse race, and phaeton for the two-seat no-top design. This is actually a US-built car, too, from when Rolls-Royce had a factory in Springfield, Massachusetts. The car went through a thorough restoration before this show appearance.

Next was a 1934 Phantom II Continental Gurney Nutting Sedanca Drophead Coupe. Gurney Nutting was the coachbuilder, located in Chelsea. A Sedanca is a coupe where the front has an open top and the rear is covered. It was coined by the Spanish Rolls distributor in 1923. In this case, drophead means the enclosed part folds down, too.

That wasn't the only Sedanca on hand. The third-generation Phantom was a 1937 model built by H.J. Mulliner. Yes, it's that Mulliner, the one that later became the in-house coachbuilder for Bentley (Rolls and Bentley shared ownership for a long time). This car won Pebble Beach best of show when it was just 20 years old.

The very first Phantom IV was built for then-Princess Elizabeth in 1948. This isn't that car, but it was built specifically for the royal couple. The Royal Yacht Britannia was designed around being able to accommodate this car, which was used by the palace all around the world over the next 40 years.

This fifth-generation Phantom marked the end of the coachbuilding era for Rolls-Royce. The chauffeur was falling out of fashion as well, so this was one of just four right-drive touring limousines. It's called the Phantom V James Young Touring Sedanca, and it was one of just 11 Sedancas built by James Young on this generation.

More Phantoms Than An Episode Of Scooby-Doo

The Phantom VI is a 1972 model that was built and delivered to the Ivory Coast and President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. It was the only State Landaulette (fancy name for an open limo) built on this chassis in left-hand drive. Because this car was built for heads of state, the top was power-operated. On standard cars, the well-off owner had to lower it manually.

Phantom VII brought Rolls into the modern era. This car is one of the ultra-exclusive Coupe models, of which only 550 copies were made from 2006-2016. It used a V12 engine, with this generation the first to get 12 cylinders since before the war.

The Phantom VIII is from 2023. The Platino model includes a silk interior woven with intricate patterns. It also features an illuminated grille, a nod to the brand's modern customer base. It is filled with platinum-inspired accents inside, and was borrowed from a collector in D.C.