1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Windovers Tourer
Ex-Maharaja of Kashmir bodywork

Registration No: OJ 7277
Chassis No: 8AL
MOT: Exempt

• A combination of the chassis and engine from ‘8AL’ and the Tourer coachwork formerly from chassis number ‘34AL’
• Windovers Tourer coachwork supplied new to Hari Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of Kashmir
• Entered from a significant private collection of predominantly Rolls-Royce and Bentley in which it has been for some four decades
• Matching chassis and engine numbers (relating to 8AL)
• A highly rewarding, worthwhile, and potentially valuable restoration project

"After seven years of experiment and test, the 40/50hp six-cylinder Phantom chassis emerged, and is offered to the public as the most suitable type possible for a mechanically-propelled chassis under present-day conditions."—New Phantom launch brochure, May, 1925

By 1925, the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost had been upstaged by a younger generation of more technically advanced luxury cars. The glory days of the 1913 Alpine Trials had long passed, and both Henry Royce and Rolls-Royce sales manager Claude Johnson felt the need to produce a new claimant to the title of "best car in the world." Just as the competition between car manufacturers was becoming increasingly fierce, so that between rival coachbuilders had intensified correspondingly. With the arrival of each faster, more powerful chassis came the opportunity to construct ever more lavish, sophisticated coachwork. To ensure that their cars could be fitted with the finest bodies in the world, Rolls-Royce introduced the "New Phantom."

While its tapered channel-section chassis, four-speed manual transmission, supple springing (semi-elliptic front, cantilever rear), and ingenious gearbox-driven servo-assisted four-wheel brakes owed much to its predecessor, the Phantom's 7,668cc engine was all new. Quoted as being an impressive thirty-three per cent. more powerful than the Ghost's unit, it featured overhead valves set in a detachable cylinder head, two-cylinder blocks with three cylinders each, an aluminium alloy crankcase, and a massive seven-bearing crankshaft. Bore and stroke dimensions of 108 x 139.7mm resulted in abundant torque, enabling the flagship Rolls-Royce to accelerate from walking speed to approximately 80mph in top gear. Unveiled at the company's London showrooms at 14-15 Conduit Street during May, 1925, the "New Phantom" remained in production until 1929, by which time some 2,269 chassis had been delivered. A further 1,253 chassis were made at the Springfield factory in America up to 1931.

This tale of two Phantoms concerns chassis 8AL and the body from 34AL, which were both ordered new in the spring of 1928 and delivered to their respective owners in the late summer. The long chassis 8AL was originally despatched to Barker & Co to be fitted with a six/seven-seater Pullman Limousine body for A. F. Adams of Grosvenor House, one of the prestigious new mansion blocks on London’s Park Lane. From May, 1929, it was registered to what was presumably his business address at Stafford House on Norfolk Street, just off the Strand (sadly, the entirety of Norfolk Street was demolished in the 1970s for high-rise development).

Another early, but undated, owner was Dr. E. T. Pheils of Birmingham, and from April, 1933, the Phantom was registered to F. H. Tinley of Solihull. The next owner, from June, 1937, was the Birmingham funeral directors W. J. Gane & Sons, which the surviving logbook shows were still the owners in 1943. Still registered as a Black Limousine, 8AL continued to be licensed in Birmingham up to 1960.

Another long chassis, 34AL was despatched to Windovers to receive a six-seater Touring body for a very prestigious client, H.H. The Maharaja of Kashmir (1895-1961). Hari Singh was the last ruling Maharaja of Kashmir until the Indian Government abolished the monarchy in 1952. The car’s specification included two side-mounted spare wheel carriers, and silver-plated chassis instruments and radiator shutters. The second owner was recorded as one K. Rajagopalacharu of K. R. Chari & Co. in Hyderabad from December, 1932, and Major G. S. E. Briggs, M.F.H., R.A.O.C. (c/o Grindley’s Bank, New Delhi), had taken ownership by December, 1947.

In more recent years, the body was purchased by the vendor’s late father from a Sotheby’s sale in 1986, when it was attached to a Silver Ghost chassis, and he acquired 8AL (complete with matching-numbers engine but no body) in the early ’90s. He intended to unite the two 1928 assemblies into one whole car (the body is presently just balanced on the chassis). Sadly, though work commenced in 1993 or ’94, he died before it was completed. With the body and chassis appearing to be largely complete, they will make a very worthwhile project for the dedicated vintage Rolls-Royce enthusiast. It is supplied with an historic buff logbook, the current V5C (for 8AL), and copies of the factory build records for both chassis.

For more information, please contact:
Paul Cheetham
paul.cheetham@handh.co.uk
07538 667452