► Rolls-Royce rolls out Bond edition
► Based on a 2023 LWB Phantom
► But a nod to the 1937 Phantom in the 1964 film
Back off, Aston Martin – you’re not going to grab all the automotive glory from the 60th anniversary fuss around the third film in the James Bond franchise.
Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke team have built a one-off tribute for a Rolls collector and Bond fan. It’s based on a 2024 extended-wheelbase Phantom, so is mechanically different in every way from the 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville used in the 1964 film, but a combination of precision-matched colour and clever details alluding to scenes from the movie makes it a neat counterpoint to Aston Martin’s new limited-edition DB12 Goldfinger Edition, celebrating the DB5’s first appearance in a 007 blockbuster.
In the film, Bond drives his Aston on the trail of villain Auric Goldfinger and his henchman Oddjob, smuggling gold that’s built into the Rolls. Scenes that have gone into movie history include a pursuit on the Furka Pass, and an encounter at Stoke Park golf club.
Highlights of the unique new Rolls include a map of the Furka Pass on the ‘Gallery’, the piece of dash in front of the passenger, while the LEDs in the roof’s ‘Starlight Headliner’ replicate the constellation above the pass during filming.
The umbrellas that are inserted in the doors of modern Phantoms are here in a harlequin pattern, a nod to the villain’s favoured design. There’s a solid gold golf club fitted in the bootlid. The picnic tables for the rear passengers depict a fictional map of the bullion reserve at Fort Knox. The gold-plated VIN plate bears a number ending in 007.
And although the car’s aluminium body panels have not been replaced by gold, there are two clever references to gold smuggling. A block of gold in the shape of the Phantom lurks in the centre console. And the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem on the bonnet has been finished in a way that makes it look as though a silver coating is wearing off to reveal gold beneath.
The design team, which began the project three years ago, was led by Nick Rhodes. He told CAR that this project was very different from other special commissions: ‘Most cars that my team deal with are very personal to the client. But so many people can relate to this.’
They had access to the original film car – recently restored – and ‘watched the film multiple, multiple’ times, but the aim was to capture the essence rather than create a replica.
‘The easy thing would be to copy the original car, but there’s nothing inventive in that. It’s got to visually have some reference to the original, and the other aspect is reference to the film itself. Hence all the areas of hidden gold and scenes from the film we’ve incorporated into the car.’
He admits there was potential for creating something garish. ‘If you threw everything at it, it wouldn’t be very tasteful. But I think we’ve done a good job. That’s the beauty of it – you’re constantly noticing things, the longer you look at it.
‘Things like the Spirit of Ecstasy – you don’t notice at first, but then you look closer and there are small areas of gold. That was a challenge, coming up with this technique to make it appear the gold is hidden. In reality you can’t silver-plate gold, so we had a solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy, gold painted in parts.’
The car will be formally handed over to the UK-based owner at Stoke Park at a private event, but expect it to make some public appearances too.