Rolls-Royce Phantom I

Start with what the Rolls-Royce Phantom I is: a 4-door saloon with 7668 cc I6, built from 1925 to 1931, the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold. What it meant takes a little longer.

Where it came from

The Rolls-Royce Phantom was Rolls-Royce's replacement for the original Silver Ghost. Introduced as the New Phantom in 1925, the Phantom had a larger engine than the Silver Ghost and used pushrod-operated overhead valves instead of the Silver Ghost's side valves. The Phantom was built in Derby, England, and Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States.

There were several differences in specification between the English and American Phantoms. The Phantom was replaced by the Phantom II in 1929. The designation Phantom I was never used by Rolls-Royce; it is a construct of enthusiasts applied to help distinguish it from other generations with the same model name.

Under the skin

The engine is 7668 cc I6. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual / 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 143+1/2 in / US LWB: 146+1/2 in / UK LWB: 150+1/2 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

In the Rolls-Royce line-up the Rolls-Royce Phantom I has a clear place: it replaced the Silver Ghost; it handed the line to the Phantom II; the factory was Derby, England. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Opel 10/40 PS, the Tatra 17, the Bugatti type 30 torpédo. Nearby in the Rolls-Royce catalogue sit the Rolls-Royce 100EX and the Rolls-Royce 102EX.

Owning one today

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Rolls-Royce Phantom I has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.