‘How do you improve on perfection?’ was one remark made by Rolls-Royce devotees when the New Phantom eventually succeeded the long-running 40/50 hp Silver Ghost in 1925. But this was to ignore the obvious, which was that the older car had gradually fallen behind the times, mechanically at least, and was overdue for replacement.
To replace one icon with another, Rolls-Royce decided to tackle the job in two stages, first by providing a new overhead-valve six-cylinder engine, and other chassis innovation such as four-wheel brakes; second, an entirely new chassis was developed, which would appear later, and form the basis of the Phantom II. As the new car would have the same bulk as before, and as all Rolls-Royce styling was provided by outside coachbuilders, many potential customers might not even notice the transition.
For the new car, Rolls-Royce produced its second overhead-valve engine (the first had appeared in the new ‘small’ Rolls-Royce, the 20 hp, in 1922. This was smoother, more modern, and more powerful than before, but otherwise set out to do the same unobtrusive job. Then, as ever, Rolls-Royce motoring was not about performance, but about dignity, silence, almost infallible reliability, and the ability to insulate its owners almost entirely from their surroundings. |
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The new chassis, therefore, slipped quietly into production, while principal comment seemed to be about styles (the famous radiator grille was not modified), and the details of equipment and furnishing. Rolls-Royce took the big step of producing New Phantoms at a factory in the USA, at Springfield, Massachusetts, where bodies were provided by North American coachbuilders, and were often more flamboyant than their European equivalents.
Purchasers of New Phantoms rarely worried about roadholding, performance and fuel consumption, but if their cars were less than dependable or silent, complaints would surely follow. For some large cars, in any case, this was still the era of the chauffeur, so for the owner (or the occupant, for were bought by companies) it was more important that a New Phantom should have a magnificently trimmed rear compartment with plenty of fittings with which to impress one’s colleagues.
And so it did, for no fewer than 2,212 new Phantoms were built at Derby in just four years, with another 1,241 being produced in the USA until American production ended in 1931.
The successor to the Silver Ghost, the Phantom had a new overhead six-cylinder engine, a new chassis and four-wheel brakes. The new engine was smoother and more powerful than before.
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