Rolls-Royce Phantom

The co-founder of the initial Rolls-Royce Motors, Frederick Henry Royce was from Cambridgeshire, England. He began with his zest for building cars at an early age of 19 and by then had already established his own motor company. He later was referred to and met Charles Rolls in Manchester through a friend. The two arrived at a consensus wherein Rolls would gain exclusive rights to sell all the cars manufactured by Royce. In 1904 the newly collaborated Rolls-Royce Motor Cars debuted in the international market at the Paris Salon. Rolls-Royce started out with 2, 3 and 4 cylinder cars until the construction of the Silver Ghost within 3 years.

The company soon grew drastically and reached great heights of success moving its factory to Derby. This factory was set up and designed by Royce. Henry Royce lost his partner Charles Rolls in a tragic air accident. Royce despite his ill health continued to labor toward his growing success and recognition. He went full swing into car production post World War I resulting in the launch of the new Phantom I and II. R-R soon spread its wings to the western shores in 1921 and built a factory at Springfield, Massachusetts in U.S.

Royce passed away on 22nd April, 1933 at the age of 70 but not before acquiring the ailing Bentley Motors. By 1946 a new factory was built at Crewe in Cheshire which eventually became home to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. In 1980 Vickers plc, a British defense company bought the car division of Rolls-Royce Motors. They continued with the production of R-R and Bentley till 1998 when it was sold off to Volkswagen. VW took care of the Bentley production and the Crewe factory while Rolls-Royce was finally acquired by BMW Group who remains the owners of it to this day. BMW began focusing on a new Rolls-Royce project with a new factory and staff and produced an all new unbeatable Phantom which debuted on 1st January 2003.

The Phantom runs on an all-aluminum V12, 6749cc engine using direct fuel injection. It delivers 531 lb ft torque maximum at only 1000rpm, which makes it 75%. The mascot of Rolls-Royce which is the famous Spirit of Ecstasy icon has been lucky for the company since 1911. This legendary lady figurine was given a makeover in 1998 after 90 years when the original mould was re-modeled, adding finer definition and detail to its cast.

The present day Phantom measures 5834mm long and weighs 2495kgs. Its acceleration power ranges from 0-60mph in 5.7 seconds to a top speed of 149mph. it comes with an Extended Wheelbase of 250mm (10 in) long and saves this space by adding to the passenger compartment. The Phantom’s run-flat tyres enable it to travel effortlessly for 100 miles speeding up to 50mph even if punctured. This keeps the hassle of a spare wheel or a jack at bay.