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Originally Posted by 450SEL 6.9 The market for Phantoms has changed. Premiership footballers, golfers, athletes, musicians and twenty-somethings drive Phantoms today. The old Phantom IV, V were owned by royalty and only the wealthiest of industrialists so it was old money. It would have been impossible for even the most successful footballers to own a Phantom in the 1960s. Personally, I prefer the glass divider and cabinetry of Phantom V. It retains the English country estate look that I prefer. |
That is so true. The Phantom VI was outrageously expensive, costing around three times as much as the current model. This was mostly due to the fact that it was completely hand made over a period approaching nearly two years.
This Phantom VI belongs to the Japanese Royal family.
It can be quite difficult to tell the difference between a late Phantom V and a Phantom VI - most of the differences are mechanical. The early Phantom VI's had "suicide" doors like the Phantom V, but these were changed to normal doors sometime in the 1970's. 516 Phantom V's were built from 1959 to 1968, and 374 Phantom VI's from 1968 to 1991 - mostly by Mulliner Park Ward, Rolls-Royce's special coachbuilder who hand-built the most exclusive Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars.
H.J. Mulliner and Park Ward were originally two separate companies. Park ward were bought by Rolls-Royce in 1939 and H.J. Mulliner in 1959 - the company then became Mulliner Park Ward.