Rolls-Royce celebrates 100 years of Phantom in style with a limited edition Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary Private Collection.
To honour the Phantom lineup and heritage, Rolls-Royce crafted exactly 25 Phantom Centenary Private Collection cars, with each one carrying the 100-year history of Phantom, from the Phantom I up to the Phantom VIII.
“The Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary Private Collection is our tribute to 100 years of the world’s most revered luxury item. This uncompromising work of art uses the meticulously engineered Phantom VIII as the canvas to tell the story of Phantom’s remarkable life and the people who shaped it – from the visionaries within Rolls-Royce to the owners who helped create its legend. For a century, the Phantom nameplate has expressed the pinnacle of Rolls-Royce’s abilities. To honour that legacy, this extraordinarily ambitious Private Collection introduces new techniques and is the result of over 40,000 hours of work, culminating in a motor car which reaffirms Phantom’s status as a symbol of ambition, artistic possibility, and historical gravitas,” Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said.
Each historic moment is brought to life through advanced artisanal techniques, many conceived specially for this rare and collectable tribute. Inside, couturier-designed textiles, sketch-like embroidery, laser-etched leather, and groundbreaking woodcraft – including 3D marquetry, gilding, and 3D ink layering – tell Phantom’s story in stunning, intricate detail. Outside, the grille is crowned with a unique Spirit of Ecstasy figurine, reinterpreted from the very first to grace a Phantom, and presented in solid gold to mark this milestone.
Exterior
The Phantom Centenary Private Collection is based on the Phantom Series VIII. What differentiates it from the other Series VIII Phantoms is the Spirit of Ecstasy finished in solid gold.
Evoking the timeless elegance of a black-and-white film star, the Phantom Centenary Private Collection’s exterior recalls the golden age of Hollywood, when Phantom graced premieres, carried screen icons, and became a symbol of the era’s glamour. The motor car is finished in a Bespoke two-tone paint, its long-sided application a nod to the flowing silhouette of 1930s Phantoms.
The side body is presented in Super Champagne Crystal over Arctic White, with the upper body in Super Champagne Crystal over Black. The specially developed finish gives the exterior an extraordinary metallic shimmer, achieved by infusing the clear coat with iridescent particles of crushed glass. For this celebratory Private Collection, Rolls-Royce paint specialists replaced the clear flakes with champagne-coloured particles and doubled the quantity to create spellbinding depth.
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This timeless treatment is crowned with a unique reimagining of the Spirit of Ecstasy. Using the first Spirit of Ecstasy ever fitted to a Phantom as their reference, designers created an homage to this landmark figurine, cast in solid 18-carat gold for strength, then plated in 24-carat gold for a flawless, tarnish-resistant finish. The piece was then presented to the Hallmarking & Assay Office in London, where it received a specially developed ‘Phantom Centenary’ hallmark.
The base of the figurine is finished with hand-poured white vitreous enamel delicately inscribed with the collection’s name. For the first time, the ‘RR’ Badge of Honour – positioned on the front, rear, and each side of the motor car – is presented in 24-carat gold and white enamel.
Resolving the exterior is a set of Phantom disc wheels, each engraved with 25 lines – honouring the 25 motor cars within the collection and, together, making 100 lines to celebrate the centenary year.
Interior
The interior of the Centenary Private Collection is filled with Phantom history and stories.
In homage to Phantoms of the past, Phantom Centenary’s interior combines textiles and leather, recalling the marque’s foundational years when the chauffeur’s front seat was finished in hardwearing leather and the rear cabin in luxurious fabrics. This contrast is a subtle reminder that Phantom has always balanced both authority at the wheel and absolute serenity in the passenger suite.
Front seats
The leather on the front seats features laser-etched artwork based on hand drawings by a Bespoke designer, evoking the draftsman’s craft. Among the motifs are symbolic details that elegantly carry the extraordinary weight of Phantom’s 100-year legacy, from a rabbit design by “Roger Rabbit,” the codename for the relaunch of Rolls-Royce in 2003, to a seagull, the codename for the 1923 Phantom I prototype.
Rear seats
The rear seats of Phantom Centenary are inspired by the famed 1926 ‘Phantom of Love’, commissioned with handwoven Aubusson tapestries.
The artwork on the seats unfolds across three distinct layers of storytelling.
The first is the background, rendered in high-resolution print, showing places and artefacts from Phantom’s history – from the marque’s original Conduit Street premises in London to Henry Royce’s oil paintings of Southern France.
The second layer, also printed in high resolution, portrays great Phantoms of the past in finely drawn detail. The third and uppermost layer is formed of embroideries, abstractly representing seven significant owners from every generation of Phantom.
This complex fabric was developed over 12 months in partnership with a fashion atelier, marking its first commission beyond the world of haute couture.
To meet Rolls-Royce’s exacting longevity, tactility and aesthetic standards, the high-resolution printing process was perfected with specially adapted inks and techniques devised exclusively for the Phantom Centenary Private Collection.
The high-resolution printed fabric is completed with embroideries, designed to have a uniquely hand-drawn quality. Described by the Bespoke Collective as “sketching with thread”, this embroidery process captures the expression of a pencil line in textile form.
To outline and define each image, artisans applied Golden Sands thread in sketch-like, irregular stitches, creating the illusion of lines floating lightly above the surface.
Texture and depth were added with Seashell thread, applied in high-density stitches. Across the full composition, this intricate craftwork amounts to more than 160,000 stitches.
The finished artwork spans 45 individual panels, each precisely aligned and fitted around the curvatures of the seats at the Home of Rolls-Royce: a process inspired by Savile Row tailoring techniques. The result is the most intricate seat composition ever created by Rolls-Royce.
“Conceived as a contemporary interpretation of a handwoven tapestry, the rear seats tell Phantom’s story through carefully curated details, captured in textiles and embroidery. Every embroidered element was digitally re-drawn by artisans who selected specific stitch application for every stroke. For example, in the horse motif, we used spaced stitches to recreate the hair texture, then dense stitching to define the muscle. These fine details required extraordinary precision to get right: one motif went through 24 iterations before we were satisfied. This reflects the deep personal pride we felt in creating a fitting tribute to the Phantom nameplate, and the responsibility we all share in carrying its legacy forward,” said Celina Mettang, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The interior of the Centenary Private Collection has traces of 24-carat gold, from the fine lines of 24-carat gold leaf that trace the roads of Phantom’s journeys, painstakingly crafted, cut and placed by specially trained artisans, to the Piano Black veneer infused with gold dust, echoing the central rotary dial, also plated with 24-carat gold.
The engine
The magnificent engineering masterpiece that is the 6.75-litre V12 engine is celebrated with a specially designed cover, finished in Arctic White.
The cover has been detailed with 24-carat gold, honouring the effortless power that has helped define Phantom’s modern legend and success.
Conclusion
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary Private Collection is truly a special model in the Rolls-Royce Phantom lineup, symbolising a sum up of the 100 years of Phantom itself. This model is just 100 years perfected.
