Rolls-Royce Phantom V

Rolls-Royce Phantom V
Overview
Manufacturer	Rolls-Royce Ltd
Production	1959–1968 516 produced
Assembly	Crewe, England (engine and chassis)
Body and chassis
Body style	4-door sedan
Layout	FR layout
Related	Silver Cloud II
Powertrain
Engine	6,230 cc Rolls-Royce V8
Transmission	4-speed automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase	144 in (3,658 mm) [1]
Length	238 in (6,045 mm)
Width	79 in (2,007 mm)
Height	69 in (1,753 mm)
Kerb weight	5,600 lb (2,540 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Phantom IV
Successor	Phantom VI

The Phantom V is a large, ultra-exclusive four-door saloon that was made by Rolls-Royce Limited from 1959 to 1968. Based on the Silver Cloud II, it shared a V8 engine and General Motors Hydramatic automatic gearbox with its smaller sibling. Rolls-Royce assembled the cars' chassis and drivetrains with bodies made to standard designs by coachbuilders H. J. Mulliner, Park Ward, and James Young, former vendors absorbed by Rolls-Royce.^[2]

The engine was a 6,230 cc 90-degree V8 with twin SU carburetors, coupled to a 4-speed automatic transmission. The car had massive drum brakes and a wheelbase of 3,683 mm. Four speed automatic transmission and power assisted steering were standard.^[2]

From 1963 onward the Silver Cloud III's 7% more powerful engine and new front wings incorporating the latter's quad headlamps were fitted.

A total of 516 Phantom V's were made.

Notable owners

Notable Phantom V owners included Queen Elizabeth II and her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Those owned by Elizabeth II were official state cars, adapted for that purpose with a flag staff and illuminated heraldic shield above the windscreen. Having been retired from active service in 2002, both are now on public display: one in the royal motor museum at Sandringham, and the other in the special garage aboard HMY Britannia in Leith, Edinburgh.

The Governor of Hong Kong used a Rolls-Royce Phantom V for ceremonial occasions. It was removed from Hong Kong by the Royal Navy immediately following the handover to China on 1 July 1997.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, owned a Phantom V. Since his exile, the car has been kept in his royal residence in Tehran and is occasionally shown to the public among the other luxurious cars owned by the Shah, including a unique Rolls-Royce Phantom VI and a Phantom IV.

King Olav V of Norway owned a 1962 limousine as a state car. Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito had Rolls-Royce Phantom V in presidential collection for representative purposes.^[3] The car is now displayed at the Museum of Yugoslavia, Belgrade.

Then Beatle John Lennon's Phantom V, a 1960s counter-culture icon, came from the factory finished in white, with Lennon commissioning the custom paint job atop it in the style of a Romany gypsy wagon (not "psychedelic" as often referenced).

Rolls-Royce Phantom V

1966 State Landaulette

John Lennon's 1965 Phantom V

References

1. Cardew, Basil (1966). Daily Express Review of the 1966 Motor Show. London: Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd.
2. "Used Car Test: Rolls-Royce Phantom V". Autocar. 134 (nbr 3904): 47–49. 21 January 1971.
3. Tito's limos on the block