Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
60 YEARS OF THE GOLDFINGER PHANTOM: A TIMELESS BOND OF LUXURY AND LEGEND
17.09.2024 Press Release
Rolls-Royce motor cars have featured in a dozen James Bond films throughout the film franchise’s history. However, the marque’s most enduring and memorable role is in the 007 film, Goldfinger. Today, on the anniversary of the film’s premiere on 17 September 1964, Rolls-Royce explores the story of Goldfinger and the British icon that featured in it – the Rolls-Royce Phantom.
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Andrew Ball
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars celebrates 60 years of the iconic James Bond film, Goldfinger
- 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III used by film’s villain, Auric Goldfinger, to smuggle gold
- Perfectly suited to the task: powerful Phantom III was the first ever V12 Rolls-Royce
- Phantom III was the final model that Henry Royce developed before his death in 1933
- Rolls-Royce will be making a special announcement on 25 October
“Today marks the 60th anniversary of Phantom’s most memorable
big-screen debut in the 1964 James Bond film, Goldfinger.
The 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville used in the film
is both the perfect accomplice for its villain, Auric Goldfinger,
and an enduring muse within our brand. The model used also holds a
special place in the Rolls-Royce canon as it was the final motor car
personally developed by our visionary founder, Sir Henry Royce. I
look forward to announcing a brilliant new chapter in this story imminently.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“This is gold, Mr. Bond. All my life, I've been in love with its
colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.”
Auric Goldfinger, Auric Enterprises
Rolls-Royce motor cars have featured in a dozen James
Bond films throughout the film franchise’s history. However, the
marque’s most enduring and memorable role is in the 007 film, Goldfinger.
This cinematic classic came to define the essential qualities of
a Bond film; the design, the locations, the gadgets, and the eccentric
adversary. Today, on the anniversary of the film’s premiere on
17 September 1964, Rolls-Royce explores the story of
Goldfinger and the British icon that featured in it – the
Rolls-Royce Phantom.
The film sees eponymous villain, Auric Goldfinger, driven by his
henchman, Oddjob, across Europe in an exquisite 1937 Rolls-Royce
Phantom III Sedanca de Ville. The coachwork of this imperious motor
car holds a secret – it is made from two tonnes of solid 18-carat
gold, which Goldfinger is smuggling from England, across the continent
and over the challenging Furka Pass into Switzerland. Once safely
installed in Auric Enterprises, he uses his alpine smelting plant to
disassemble his Rolls-Royce, melting down the body panels into gold
bars. With the original coachwork replaced, he returns his motor car
to England and repeats this nefarious crossing.
Goldfinger’s master plan, named ‘Operation Grand Slam’, is far
more ambitious; he plans to irradiate the gold stored in the Fort Knox
Bullion Depository with an atomic device, rendering it worthless,
driving the value of his own reserves into the stratosphere.
Goldfinger’s choice of a Phantom III for smuggling gold is as
brilliant as the precious metal that compels him. Its generous
proportions allow for a significant amount of contraband to be
concealed, and the gold’s ‘divine weight’ would do little to hinder
this potent motor car’s performance, even on the demanding alpine
roads. Phantom III was the first V12-powered Rolls-Royce in history,
producing 165bhp from its 7.3-litre engine, a 37.5% increase in power
from its predecessor, the 120bhp Phantom II.
Phantom III was also the last motor car to be developed by Henry
Royce himself, prior to his death in 1933. It includes a number of
innovations that would have greatly improved those smuggling runs for
Goldfinger. Its suspension system incorporates fully adjustable
hydraulic shock absorbers which can be controlled from the driver’s
seat, allowing Oddjob to fine-tune the ride depending on whether the
motor car was laden or not.
The specific motor car used by Goldfinger is equipped with an
open front and enclosed rear ‘Sedanca de Ville’ – or Town Car – body
by coachbuilders Barker. Its commanding presence prompts Bond himself
to remark, “She’s a beauty… Phantom III ‘37, isn’t she?” as Oddjob
loads Goldfinger’s signature gold golf club and harlequin umbrella
into the boot outside Stoke Park, the private sporting estate where
Bond first meets them.
Goldfinger’s Phantom III wears the numberplate ‘AU 1’, a
reference to the chemical symbol for gold on the periodic table of
elements. While this was an obvious choice for the filmmakers, its
designation has more simple origins. AU was the original British
numberplate code designating that a motor car had been registered in
Nottingham and AU 1 was issued in 1901 for one of the first vehicles
in the area. After being used in the film, it was subsequently
transferred to other Rolls-Royce motor cars, following its big-screen debut.
Prior to its role in the film, this Phantom III was originally
commissioned for American-born Huttleston Rogers Broughton, who
settled in England and became the first Lord Fairhaven of Anglesey
Abbey. Challenging the conventions of the time, it was painted almost
entirely in black, including all lamp housings, bumpers, wheel discs
and even the rear-view mirror surround. It included a white coachline,
which highlighted the bonnet sides and top, and the chrome radiator
shutters were sandblasted for a more subdued finish. The instruments
included imperial and metric measurements, as it would be used by Lord
Fairhaven on roads in Britain and Continental Europe. The motor car’s
signature two-tone yellow and black finish was then applied for its
appearance in Goldfinger.
At 14:00 BST, on 25 October, Rolls-Royce will open a new
chapter in the ‘AU 1’ Phantom story, furthering the legacy of this
extraordinary motor car, and Rolls-Royce’s connection to the James
Bond film franchise.