Intro: Henry Royce was a man driven by a desire for excellence. What better credentials could the founder of Rolls-Royce have?
Within months of selling his first car to the Honourable C S Rolls, Henry Royce had forged a partnership that would endure for their remaining lives. Rolls was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1910 and Royce endured a serious operation and was forced to move to a sunnier climate to recuperate. However, as the surviving member of the partnership, he continued to design cars, until he also died in 1933. The company was also extensively involved in the manufacture of aero engines, a division of the firm that remains in operation today, albeit in different hands. However, financial troubles hit the company in 1971, which saw it going into bankruptcy. Fortunately, the car manufacturing side remained viable and Vickers acquired it, production reaching an all-time high of 4,000 units in the late-1980s. In 1998 after a few twists Bentley landed at the Volkswagen Group and Rolls in the hands of BMW.
BMW spent more than four years developing a brand new model, called the Phantom which was finally unveiled to the public at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, 2003. Its styling harks back to the classic Rollses of the 1960s with a name evoking the 1930s original Phantoms.
In 2003 502 Phantom cars were manufactured and in 2004 five motor vehicles are manufactured per day. |
