Rolls-Royce 40/50 New Phantom

Rolls Royce 40 50 Phantom 1925

Key facts

  • Year

    1925

  • Country

    Great Britain

  • Capacity

    7,668cc

  • Cylinders

    6

  • Performance

    80mph

  • Price new

    £1,850 (chassis only)

  • Owner

    Montagu Collection

  • Manufacturer

    Rolls-Royce Ltd

The New Phantom was a development of the long-lived Rolls-Royce 40/50, first seen in 1906. A new overhead valve engine was mated to the existing chassis from the Silver Ghost.

This particular car was bought at the 1925 London Motor Show by John Scott Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, and used by him until his death in 1929. It saw use as a mobile canteen during the Second World War.

Rolls-Royce started work on the improved 40/50 in late 1922 in an attempt to halt a decline in sales of the existing model. The new six-cylinder engine received an aluminium cylinder head in place of the original cast iron from 1928, in time to be matched with the all-new chassis of the Phantom II, which followed in 1929. The New Phantom then became known as the Phantom I.

The engine runs in silence at all speeds, not a tap or click being audible from the valve gear

The Motor
19 May 1925

View more

Panoramic view of the first floor of the National Motor Museum

Subscribe for updates

Get our latest news and events straight to your inbox.