The Phantom uses a unique chassis platform, body, interior, and retains traditional Rolls-Royce design cues. The body is mostly aluminium.Final assembly, including all body, paint, wood, and leather work, is completed to each customer’s individual specification at the Rolls-Royce plant in Goodwood,West Sussex. The plant is down the street from the historic Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit.
The plant contains the paint shop, body shop, leather shop, woodworking shop, assembly line, and executive offices under one roof. There are only two robots in the factory. The two robots paint the body; the paint is polished by hand after the robots spray each coat. All other work is done by hand, in keeping with the Rolls-Royce tradition.
Customers can choose from 44,000 paint colours, and specify any leather colour.
Instead of a tachometer, the car has a power reserve dial indicating how much of the engine’s power is left available to the driver. This is to provide a sense of tremendous power in reserve, and to hide “crude” underlying mechanicals from its owners. The cluster is not shared with any other vehicle. Doors are remote operated.
The rear doors are rear-hinged, a style commonly referred to as suicide doors, but called ‘coach doors’ by Rolls-Royce. Because of the rear-seating position in relation to the rear inner-door handles, buttons are mounted on both C-pillars which operate hydraulic motors in order to close the rear doors. An electronic lock prevents the doors from being accidentally opened when moving. The car will automatically brake to a walking speed if a coach door remains open when driving off. The rear doors also house umbrellas that are stored within the doors, and can only be accessed when the front or rear doors are open. The fabric of the umbrella is coated with Teflon to assist in shedding water when the wet umbrella is stored within the door.
The traditional Spirit of Ecstasy ornament has an automatic electronic retraction mechanism to prevent theft and protect pedestrians in the event of an accident. It may also be retracted by the driver at the touch of a button, and retracted when the alarm is armed. The base contains a sensor which detects movement, and will retract if tampered with.
The ‘RR’ logos on each of the wheel hubs are independent bezels in order to always remain upright while the wheel is rotating.
This behemoth was booked in for an Enhancement Detail, it was with a view to improving the overall appearance of the paintwork, adding protection in the form of Swissvax Divine wax and ensuring that future washing can be done with the minimum of effort. Inside was destined for attention too, the car of the sumptuous cream leather being a particular area of concern.
Dropping the car off at the unit on a grey, rainy morning, the light layer of grime was carefully washed off before moving the car inside. Something that takes care as it nearly fills the place front to back!
Looking around the car showed it to be in generally very good condition, the main issues being some light swirls and marring, together with some deeper ugly scratches on the flat panels, almost certainly caused by the use of a silicon water blade (prior to purchase, the owner knows better!). The picture below is quite typical of what was seen under the halogen light, and what was very evident in sunshine.
After a light clay session to remove some contaminants from the paint, particularly the sills and behind the wheels, it was time to start the machine polishing. Although this detail was not being done to carry out any severe paint correction, the paint depths were checked with a gauge as a precaution. This revealed nothing except for the amazing uniformity and quality of Rolls Royce paint which is equalled only, in my experience, by Bugatti. A number of polishes were tried, and one with a medium level of abrasion was selected to carry out the work. Areas suffering particularly with the water blade marks, characterised by long sweeping scratches, often with several running perfectly parallel, were polished first with a stronger abrasive to lessen their visual impact. To completely remove them would have involved extensive wet sanding (sometimes known as flatting), so not something this detail was booked for. Below is a picture showing the improvement on the bootlid, the difference very clear.
This process continued around the car, revealing the true depth and beauty of the glistening metallic paint beneath the haze.
Once the entire car was polished to satisfaction, Swissvax Cleaner Fluid was applied by hand, to cleanse the paint and enhance the crystal clear glossy look, before finally Swissvax Divine was applied as a final layer. This was left to cure whilst wheels were treated with Autobahn wheel wax, and the painstaking process of cleaning the huge polished grill was carried out.
The interior of this car is a truly special place to be, and the owner keeps it in fine fettle. However, as mentioned, the cream leather takes a considerable amount of upkeep and colour transfer from jeans, belts, and other clothing is an issue. After the whole interior had been carefully and thoroughly dusted, vacuumed and dressed, the leather was first prepared by using Swissvax Leather Cleaner. This is a product that has been tested and approved by Rolls Royce, the pH neutral solution being effective in removing dirt, but gentle to the delicate finish. After this, a protector was applied to all leather surfaces, including the dashboard, to provide resistance to dirt and colour transfer.
With the car finished, there was just enough time before it rained to take it outside for some photographs.
