In July 1938, Rolls-Royce had to publish in the motoring press an announcement denying that the Phantom III fabrication would be interrupted. The following was published on 19 July 1938 in the British magazine
The Motor: However, a project had been initiated in 1937 to rein in the manufacturing costs of the Rolls-Royce and Bentley (acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1931) motor car
chassis. This involved the development of a Rationalized Range of cars that shared as many common components of the chassis as possible. As implementation of this rationalization plan, several prototypes were made. One of these, chassis 30-G-VII, was fitted with a large
Park Ward seven-seater limousine body and was called Silver Wraith 80, then Silver Phantom, though it soon became known as Big Bertha. This was the genesis of the Phantom IV. Likewise, in 1939 and before the starting of
hostilities, another straight-eight powered experimental automobile tested during and after World War II was a special
Bentley Mark V, chassis 11-B-V, fitted with a bored-out 6.3 litre eight-cylinder engine. Although the official Experimental Department name for this car was Comet, its scorching performance earned it the fond epithet Scalded Cat. This unit in particular would later play a key role in the decision of creating the Phantom IV. Such a vehicle would have to meet their official needs, which meant it must be a limousine. It would also have to have good performance, since the Prince wished to drive it himself. The car would be the first Rolls-Royce in the stables. It was originally planned to be the only Phantom IV, a strictly one-off piece. Rolls-Royce, aware that
Daimler had held the
royal warrant to provide motor cars since 1900, was very keen to ensure that the car was the best there had ever been, and a great deal of hand work was lavished on the construction of the chassis. The board members had earlier considered making a replacement for the pre-war Phantom III, but they were wary that such a large and expensive car might not have a market in the weak post-war economy. completed, 1949 Design and production of the first chassis of the new model was not at the
Crewe factory, but at the experimental Clan Foundry at
Belper, which had been the home of the motor car branch during the Second World War. The chassis 4AF2 was built under the code-name Nabha and when completed was dispatched to Mulliner on 20 July 1949 for erection of the body. Mulliner had previously submitted their design for review and approval by the Duke of Edinburgh, and the coachbuilder’s proposal drawing was accepted. This car remains in the Royal Mews and is still used occasionally for royal and state events. For example, it was used at
the wedding of
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and
Catherine Middleton in 2011 to carry
Prince Charles and
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, from
Clarence House to
Westminster Abbey. In 2018, it brought
Meghan Markle to
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for
her wedding to
Prince Harry. In 2022, it transported the new king,
Charles III, and
Queen Camilla from
Buckingham Palace to
Westminster Hall and
RAF Northolt.
The Spanish order On 18 October 1948, Crewe received an order from the Government of Spain for three armoured cars for the use of
Generalissimo Francisco Franco: two with limousine bodies and an open all-weather body; this one intended to replace a 1938
Hispano-Suiza J12 with
Carrosserie Vanvooren body. While the Phantom IV model was not specified in the order, or even known outside the company at that time, it was decided that the best way to cope with the huge additional weight would be to build the three cars as Phantom IVs, rather than over-burden the Silver Wraith chassis. Especially since the
Foreign Office suggested that Crewe could not turn down the order. and Queen
Letizia to an official act in October 2023 Without intending it, the Government of Spain's triple order in October 1948, along with the later Princess Elizabeth and Duke's commission in November that year, helped to give a decisive impulse to the existence of this model, as suggested by Martin Bennett in his book
Rolls-Royce & Bentley: The Crewe Years and the number 9 September 1990 of the British magazine
Classic Cars. All these three historical vehicles have always been property of the
Spanish Army and are still in ceremonial use for the
Spanish royal family and for heads of state on official visit in Spain, using one of the two limousines.
The "Royalty and Heads of State only" policy It is not known exactly when the "Royalty and Heads of State only" policy was decided, nor indeed whether in fact there was such an explicit company policy. It is known though, that a boardroom decision was reached that it would be impractical to attempt to build more than three Phantom IVs per year. It is also clear that no private customer other than royalty and heads of state ever took delivery of a Phantom IV. Nevertheless, a considerable number of coachbuilder's drawings exist of proposed Phantom IVs that never were built. A number of these are proposals by coachbuilders for chassis which in the event were bodied by other coachbuilders. Others were proposed but not built at all. Most are linked to a specific customer's name, such as the
King Farouk, the
Maharajas of Baroda and Mysore, as well as the Americans
Briggs Cunningham and
James Melton. It is evident that certain customers outside of the Royalty and Heads of State category believed that a Phantom IV would be available for purchase. Just how, or if, the news was broken to those customers that the firm would not supply a chassis for their proposed cars, or why they opted for other models, is open to conjecture. In 1956, the model was discontinued, by that time appropriate bodies for state use had been built on
Silver Wraiths, which worked well for the factory, making dedicated Phantom IV production no longer necessary. In 1952, the cost of the Phantom IV chassis was $10,000 (£3,500) and with a limousine body, $20,000 (£7,000), a huge price premium but perhaps still not enough to allow a profit on the small number built (eighteen made, seventeen sold). However, its role of expanding the prestige of Rolls-Royce was achieved. File:Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, 4AF18, detalle.jpg|Chassis 4AF18: Two big Lucas R-100 headlights flank the emblematic
Parthenon-style radiator. Shell top and front look dead flat but are actually a few thousandths convex, so they will look flat, in accordance with the design principles (known as
entasis) used by the ancient Greeks in that temple. File:Galdames (Vizcaya)-Museo de coches antiguos-26-Emblema de Rolls Royce 'El espíritu del éxtasis'.JPG|Chassis 4CS4: Kneeling
Spirit of Ecstasy (1934–1939 and 1946–1956) mounted on most of the radiators, except chassis 4BP7 & 4CS6 ==Table of all 18 models==