One-off £4.5m Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger created for movie’s sixtieth anniversary

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the classic 1964 James Bond spy movie Goldfinger – starring Sean Connery in his third outing as 007 – Rolls-Royce has created a new one-off long-wheelbase Phantom.

Not only does it echo the Bond villain’s classic original and distinctive yellow 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville from the film, this contemporary tribute to Goldfinger’s big screen motor car is also packed with delightful gold detailing and touches that celebrate its key role in the movie.

Although no official price has been given for the new bespoke ‘one of one’ Phantom Goldfinger limousine, the record amount of gold used in its creation – the most ever used in a Rolls-Royce – means it has cost around £4.5million.

However, its gold content is considerably less than was used in the fictional movie’s version which saw side-panels used by villain Auric Goldfinger to smuggle gold from England into Switzerland.

The new Phantom Goldfinger was developed over a three year period and is based around a Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended long-wheel-base model, whose prices start at around £500,000, with previous one-off bespoke models selling for around £700,000. 

And, like gold itself, which is often used as a shelter against economic uncertainty, it could appreciate in value far beyond that.

These special touches include: a solid 18-carat gold bar in the centre console; picnic tables bearing a fictional map of Fort Knox bullion reserve in 22-carat gold inlay; a 3D steel and gold artwork running the width of the dashboard fascia ‘gallery’ and incorporating a contour map of Switzerland’s Furka Pass; and a starlight constellation headliner in the roof which matches exactly the position of the stars above the Furka Pass when these scenes were shot in 1964.

There’s even a golden putter mounted to the inside of limousine’s boot, recalling the club used by cheating Goldfinger on the greens of Stoke Park’s golf course during his first on-screen encounter with James Bond.

And it has a very special number plate – AU 1 – as used in the movie, AU being the symbol for gold.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars declined to name the lucky customer but confirmed the new Phantom Goldfinger has been commissioned by an avid car-collector and James Bond fan based in England.

Fittingly, it was unveiled at a special private event at the very same Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire. 

The Phantom Goldfinger is one of twelve Rolls-Royce appearances in 007 movies.

Exterior 

Rolls-Royce paint specialists precisely matched the exterior yellow hue to the original used in the film. 

A unique two-tone design was also developed in which the black finish wraps around the car’s coachwork as a single uninterrupted graphic.

The 21-inch disc wheels are finished in black with silver ‘floating’ hubcaps to create an effect that recalls the wheel design of the 1937 car in the film.

The solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy statue has been given a unique gold-plated finish.

Interior: Hidden Gold 

Rolls-Royce’s bespoke designers, engineers, and artisans developed unique features that incorporate 18 and 24-carat gold. These include:

A hidden vault created in the centre console between the front seats houses an illuminated solid 18-carat gold bar.

The bases of the front and rear centre consoles are lined with an exquisite gold finish.

The glovebox inner lid carries’ Goldfinger’s iconic quote: ‘This is gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.’

Air vents and ‘organ stop’ controls throughout the car have a lustrous gold finish.

Loudspeaker frets are given a gold finish and inscribed with the film’s opening title treatment.

Treadplates, designed to look like gold bars that feature Goldfinger, are gold-plated and embossed using the same font developed for 1964 film.

The 24-carat gold-plated VIN vehicle identification plaque is engraved with a specially-obtained number which ends in 007.

Furka Pass ‘Gallery’ Dashboard

Centrepiece of the car’s interior is a bespoke artwork running the full width of the ‘gallery’ on the front dashboard fascia

It comprises a hand-drawn three-dimensional map design showing the contours of the Furka Pass where, in the film, 007 in his gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 is seen discreetly following Auric Goldfinger to his gold smelting plant in the Swiss Alp.

The Furka Pass is cut out from the stainless-steel layer, revealing a gilded surface underneath.

It took a year of painstaking development and ten complete prototypes to perfect.

The Furka Pass is also the scene of Tilly Masterson (played by Tania Mallet ) trying to shoot the master-criminal – but missing – in revenge for the murder of her sister Jill (Shirley Eaton ) who was famously covered in gold paint.

Tilly’s encounter with Bond in her 1964 Ford Mustang marked the first appearance of that just-launched new car on screen in a neat bit of early product placement.

The clock surround at the centre of the dashboard gallery artwork is inspired by the opening cinematic ‘gun barrel’ sequence which has featured in every James Bond film since the first, Dr. No, in 1962.

Inspired by the original movie car, new Phantom Goldfinger is finished in Navy leather and Royal Walnut veneer to showcase its gold detailing, including gold stitching on the seats. Headrests incorporate gold ‘RR’ monograms.

James Bond’s first encounter with Goldfinger (played by Gert Froebe) takes place at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire where 007 challenges him to a round of golf for a bar of illicit Nazi gold.

Goldfinger uses a gold putter guarded by his henchman Oddjob, Despite cheating, Goldfinger loses to cunning Bond under the ‘strict rules of golf.’

The gold-plated putter has been recreated and mounted on the underside of the Phantom Goldfinger’s boot lid. It is adorned with a specially designed ‘AG’ monogram inspired by Goldfinger’s on-screen signet ring.

For the new 2024 limousine, the harlequin umbrellas that fit into the car’s rear doors have been finished in the same red, blue, green, and yellow colours used on Goldfinger’s golf umbrella.

Rolls-Royce said: ‘This will remain with Phantom Goldfinger, which has now been delivered to a significant Rolls-Royce client and collector based in England.’

The luxury car-maker noted: ‘The Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger is a one-of-one masterpiece which incorporates some of the most extensively engineered and hand-crafted bespoke features ever produced.’

The Sedanca name comes from a combination of Sedan and Cabriolet as the car has a closed compartment for the rear passengers but a removeable top for the front driver area.

Coachbuilt by Mulliner between 1936 and 1939 and powered by a vast 165 horse-power 7.3 litre V12 engine, the Phantom III Sedanca de Ville was the last luxury vehicle that Rolls-Royce co-founder Henry Royce worked on and the last V12 built by the firm until the 1998 Silver Seraph. The model cost around £3,000 new, worth about £172,000 in today’s money.

Earlier this month Aston Martin launched a limited run of 60 DB12 Goldfinger Edition 680horse-power 4.0 litre V8 twin turbo super-tourer cars – costing around £300,000 each – to celebrate the firm’s own association with James Bond which also began with the Goldfinger movie – marking the first appearance of the gadget-laden bullet-proof DB5 with machine-guns, smoke, oil-slick, water jets, tyre-shredders and , most famously, an ejector seat.