When Rolls-Royce builds a unique car, it doesn’t do things by halves. This might look like a ‘regular’ extended-wheelbase Phantom, albeit one with striking yellow and black paintwork.
But look closer and you’ll discover the details. From the real gold air vents, speaker grilles and air flow controls, to the rear picnic tables that feature a gold map of Fort Knox, the gold bullion storage facility targeted by Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 Bond movie.
The interior features real gold details and a map of the Furka Pass etched into the dashboard.
The yellow paint is the same as that applied to Auric’s 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville, and the leather interior is also of a similar blue hue. More gold is found by way of a sold 18-carat ‘Speedform’ model, displayed in the center console. The precious metal also features on the door sill tread plates, designed to look like gold bars, and there’s even a gold golf putter mounted to the underside of the trunk lid.
The car features the same ‘AU 1’ license plate as Auric Goldfinger’s own Phantom III.
That’s also where you’ll find a replica of the tracking device used by Bond in Goldfinger, only here instead of monitoring the Phantom’s whereabouts, it projects an illuminated ‘007’ logo onto the carpeted trunk floor.
Next up is the famous Rolls-Royce ‘Starlight’ headliner. Instead of a generic collection of twinkling stars, this one-off headliner uses over 700 gold-colored lights to match the starry sky over the Furka Pass in Switzerland on the night of July 11, 1964. Why? That’s where and when shooting of the driving scenes of Goldfinger concluded.
A gold golf putter is mounted in the trunk, along with a replica of James Bond’s tracking gadget.
There’s more. The base of the front and rear center consoles are lined with a golden finish, along with the inside of the glovebox. The inner lid of the gloevbox is debossed with Auric Goldfinger’s quote, “This is Gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its color, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.”
The dashboard features a 007-style gun barrel detail around the analog clock, while the Phantom’s ‘gallery’ section houses a three-dimensional map of the Furka Pass, hand-drawn and with the road itself finished in gold.
A solid 18-carat gold ‘Speedform’ model is displayed in the center console
Step outside and the famous Spirit of Ecstasy hood mascot is made from solid silver, but has a gold finish to its leading edges. This is done to make it look like the mascot is solid gold, with its silver coating being worn away. This ties in nicely to the film plot, which has Auric claim his Phantom III is made from gold.
Finally, the one-of-one car has a chassis number that ends in ‘007’, and it carries the same ‘AU 1’ license plate as Goldfinger’s car did in the movie. A British registration, the plate was secured by Rolls-Royce and is included with the car. Its builder says the car, which is right-hand-drive, will be delivered to “a significant Rolls-Royce client and collector based in England.”
The golf course at Stoke Park featured in Goldfinger
Rolls-Royce chose Stoke Park, a hotel and golf club in southern England, pictured above, to reveal the Phantom Goldfinger this week. The location was also used to shoot a game of golf between Bond and Goldfinger in the 1964 movie, making it a fitting venue. Stoke Park later also featured in the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and extensively in Layer Cake (2004), which starred Daniel Craig shortly before he took on the role of 007.
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