THE ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM CENTENARY PRIVATE COLLECTION - A CENTURY OF POWER, POISE, AND PERFECTION - FOR AROUND R68 MILLION

Step inside, and the Phantom’s story unfolds across every surface like a novel bound in leather and gold. The cabin contrasts butter-soft fabrics in the rear with leather-clad authority up front - a respectful nod to the days when chauffeurs drove and royalty reclined. The back seats are pure theatre. Inspired by the legendary 1926 “Phantom of Love,” they feature three layers of storytelling woven into custom textiles developed with a high-end fashion atelier. The base layer is a high-resolution printed fabric showing landmarks and artefacts from Phantom’s past - from London’s Conduit Street to Sir Henry Royce’s favourite French landscapes. The second layer features hand-drawn renderings of Phantoms through the ages. The top layer brings 160,000 stitches of embroidery, representing key owners and eras with “sketch-like” threadwork that looks hand-drawn rather than sewn. The result is 45 individually fitted panels, tailored with Savile Row precision - the most intricate seat design ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce. It’s as if history itself has been upholstered.

The driver’s quarters blend engineering and artistry. The leather is laser-etched with heritage sketches - including playful nods like a seagull for the 1923 prototype and a rabbit for “Roger Rabbit,” the internal codename for Rolls-Royce’s rebirth in 2003. Each mark tells a tale - small, clever, and deeply personal to those who know the Phantom’s lineage. Across the dashboard sits what Rolls calls the Anthology Gallery - a sculptural centrepiece made from 50 3D-printed aluminium fins that appear like pages of an open book. Each fin is etched with abstract text fragments from a century of media acclaim. When light dances across the brushed metal, the words shimmer and fade like distant memories - a subtle, moving celebration of Phantom’s place in history.

The Phantom Centenary also debuts the most technically advanced woodwork ever attempted by Rolls-Royce. Each door panel is a work of layered art - 3D marquetry, laser etching, ink layering, and 24-carat gold leafing - depicting Phantom’s most iconic journeys. The left door illustrates the 4,500-mile trans-Australian trek made by the first Goodwood-era Phantom. The right-hand door celebrates Sir Henry Royce’s winter escape in Southern France, complete with native flora carved into the wood: cypress, pine, and palm. Gold-leaf “roads” wind through the landscapes, connecting eras and continents with glittering precision. Every element - from maps etched at 0.13 mm depth to microscopic gold dots marking Royce’s homes - is executed to absurd perfection. Even the rear picnic tables carry etched silhouettes of the 1925 Phantom I and the modern Phantom VIII, with matching embroidery on the reverse side.

Above it all, the Starlight Headliner tells its own tale in 440,000 individual stitches. The scene includes the mulberry tree where Henry Royce once sat sketching with his engineers, the bees from the Rolls-Royce apiary, and even the Phantom Rose grown on the Goodwood estate. Hidden among the stars is a nod to “The Bank,” the secret studio where the first modern Phantom took shape in the 1990s.

Under that endless bonnet lies the mighty 6.75-litre V12, its engine cover finished in Arctic White and 24-carat gold detailing. No hybrid wizardry, no digital soundtrack - just smooth, silent, unflappable power. The kind that’s felt, not heard.