1928 Rolls Royce
edited by David Barth, 11 February 2009.
Courtesy The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Photos were taken in January 2009.
Charles Stewart Rolls was the son of a Welsh earl. Frederick Henry Royce was a poor, orphaned, self-educated mechanical
genius. The two met in 1904 and Rolls, a dealer in high-quality cars, agreed to sell any cars that Royce could design
and make. This unlikely pair went on to produce what many have called "the best car in the world."
Rolls Royce's first production car was the Silver Ghost, introduced in 1906. The Ghost was a six-cylinder car with 40
to 50 horsepower. This was their only model, with periodic changes, until 1922 when the company also produced a smaller
chassis, called the Twenty.
Before World War II, Rolls Royce produced only the chassis. The bodies were built by a number of different coach builders.
Therefore, pre-war Rolls Royce cars came in a variety of sizes, shapes, and styles, ranging from the simple to the
luxurious; the subline to the ridiculous.
The Silver Ghost was succeeded by this model, the "New Phantom," also called Phamtom I. The Phantom I (PI) was produced
from 1925 to 1929. It had an improved overhead valve engine and a chassis similar to the Silver Ghost.
This particular car has a custom body by Barker on a long wheelbase chassis. The rear cowl, the metal cover over the
back seat, disappears into the back of the front seat. It has extensive instrumentation, including an altimeter,
barometer, and speedometer in both miles and kilometers. The original color was blue, but during restoration the car
was painted red on burgundy.
Model: Phantom I (also known as New Phantom)
Body Style: Dual Cowl Phaeton by Barker & Company, Ltd.
Original Factory Price: $19,000
Horsepower: 43.3
Displacement: 468.1 cubic inches (7694 cubic centimeters)
Bore: 4 1/4 inches (108 millimeters)
Stroke: 5 1/2 inches (140 millimeters)
Cylinders: 6, in-line, case in blocks of three
Wheelbase: 149.7 inches
Manufacturer: Rolls Royce, Ltd.
Location: Derby, England
Gift of Irving F. Jensen, Jr.
