Rolls-Royce has introduced a one-off Phantom to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the James Bond movie Goldfinger. Appropriately named Phantom Goldfinger, the bespoke creation is a modern interpretation of the namesake villain’s 1937 Phantom III, which is evident from its two-tone exterior finish that combines bright yellow and black. Created by Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke division, the stunning automobile took three years to complete.
“We approached EON Productions, which owns the Phantom III featured in the film, with a view to creating something special to mark the 60th anniversary of the film,” said Nick Rhodes, lead designer at Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke division. “The original car was on display in Brussels, where we were able to examine it in detail. However, we didn’t want to simply create a copy. This Phantom is very much a modern interpretation.”
One of the most challenging tasks was recreating the two-tone exterior finish. The yellow on the one-off is the exact shade of yellow found on Goldfinger’s Rolls, contrasted by glossy black on the upper section of the luxury sedan. The 21-inch disc wheels with silver “floating” hubcaps are also finished in black, as a nod to the ‘37 Phantom III. Furthermore, the custom Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament subtly references the movie’s plot with its unique finish, which Rhodes calls the ‘gold reveal’ effect.
Auric Goldfinger’s favorite precious metal is more prominently used inside the bespoke Phantom. The air vents, organ stops, and speaker grilles feature a gold finish, while the tread plates are designed to look like gold bars. The inside of the glovebox gets an exquisite gold finish and is debossed with Goldfinger’s : quote: “This is Gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.” Even the vehicle’s VIN plate has 24-carat gold plating.
There’s a hidden vault inside the center console that houses an illuminated 18-carat gold bar, shaped as a Phantom ‘Speedform’ – a miniaturized version of the uber-luxury sedan. In addition to that, the walnut picnic tables included with the vehicle are inlaid with a (fictional) map of Fort Knox in 22-carat gold, which took six months to create.
Similarly, a whole year was devoted to creating the complex dash inlay, which is actually a contour map of the Furka Pass in Switzerland. The artwork required ten prototypes to get right. Furthermore, the custom Starlight headliner is a recreation of the night sky over Furka Pass as it was on July 11, 1964, the last day of filming in Switzerland. There’s no word on the price of the Phantom Goldfinger. All we know is that it was commissioned by someone in the UK who was “over the moon” with the results.
