1962 Rolls-Royce Phantom V

Converted in 1997 at a cost of £89,240 plus VAT each, the seven Harrods’ Phantoms were used to ferry high-net-worth and valued customers around the capital and beyond: All were painted Harrods’ Green and finished with gold basket weave-effect side panels, a tan roof, and faux pram irons – and, of course, the interiors were every bit as luxurious as you imagine.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

In March 1962 Lord James Hanson bought it as a standard Phantom. Painted black, he hung onto it until September 1996, at which point it had racked up fewer than 32,000 miles.

Its refurbishment included a change of colour to Harrods Green with lavish appointments that included special-order Connolly leather and cloth trim, a period TV, video player, and fax machine, three mobile telephones, a cut-glass decanter and glasses, an electric privacy screen between the driver and passenger compartments with an intercom, air-conditioning, lamb’s wool rugs, and much, much more.

It stayed with the world’s most famous shop until June 2013 when it moved into the hands of its third and current owner, a classic car enthusiast with a small collection. Sadly, he died last year and the Phantom was sold to our seller. 

It had been stored under a cover in a somewhat ramshackle garage, a combination we understand caused the paintwork to ‘sweat’, ruining its finish. However, recognising the car’s importance and underlying condition, our seller had it recommissioned, including having it resprayed in its original Harrods’ Green.

As you can imagine, it comes with a huge history file, and it runs so well he had no qualms about driving it from London to our base in Oxfordshire, a journey that revealed it drives “like a three-year-old car!”

You’d have every right to expect the coachwork to be impressive given that recent respray.

And it is. 

We understand there was no need to remove and treat any rust during this work either as the seller simply didn’t find any. 

But then the work back in 1997 was comprehensive, as the Order Acknowledgement from Kenneth Evans Associates demonstrates:

• Remove front and rear screens
• Remove and completely dismantle the doors, bonnet and boot
• Carry out a complete strip of all body components to bare metal, in preparation for a coachwork quality respray in two-pack material
• Remove all brightwork and dismantle as necessary to allow for the chrome parts, 74 pieces in all, to be re-chromed and the stainless steel parts to be re- polished, all to as new appearance
• Fit new door and glass seals and draught welts to overcome draught and wind noise
• Quality coachwork respray in Harrods' green, with gold basketwork to waist-line panels and fine lines to the painted wheel trims
• Apply vinyl roof covering, with necessary edge finishers
• Manufacture and fit false pram irons.

The result is panel gaps that would still please the old boys at Park Ward who painstakingly crafted it by hand and aligned the panels by eye, achieving the sort of shutlines that were the envy of the automotive world.

It’s still free of dents, dinks, and scrapes too, and the long, perfectly-formed flanks are free of ripples and other car-park damage.

All of the chromework was removed and subjected to close scrutiny. Nothing untoward was found, so it was just polished and carefully refitted. 

The stars of the show are, of course, the Spirit of Ecstasy and the iconic radiator grille, which give the Phantom so much of its considerable presence, not forgetting the faux pram irons on the C-pillars, which work in conjunction with that tan vinyl roof to emulate the look of a convertible. 

The roof covering is in a very good condition with only a few small bubbles on the offside C-pillar. It would also benefit from being professionally cleaned, but there is no damage, so bringing it up to the same standard as the rest of the coachwork should be straightforward. 

Our Man has been over every inch of the brightwork too, finding nothing to comment on. Nor did he find any issues with the lamp lenses or the badges, all of which are excellent with no obvious flaws or damage. 

The headlights have been upgraded to halogen bulbs using Wipac headlamp units. The front fog lamps are from Lucas and appear to be period-correct. Lucas also supplied the front sidelights and the rear lamp clusters. 

The 15-inch steel wheels are embellished with a set of fine chrome hubcaps, whose finish has been further enhanced with a Harrods’ Green stripe and hand-painted gold pinstripes. 

March 2026 saw the Phantom receive four new 235/75R15 Maxxis MA-1 whitewall tyres, all of which have very good tread and no obvious damage to their sidewalls.

Plus, we will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. 

Flaws, therefore, are few. The paint on the rear of the bonnet has rubbed away in a couple of places, the scuttle has some microblisters, and the windscreen rubber and the lower edge of the vinyl roof have traces of paint on them.

The Phantom still had the distinctive gold basket weave-effect side panels when it was last sold in June 2013, and while it is a shame this isn’t still present, the photographs online from that sale provide further evidence of its provenance. 

If the coachwork is about letting the world know that you’ve arrived, the interior is designed to cosset you on the journey.

The paperwork from Kenneth Evans Associates records the following interior work:

• Install quality rear view camera system, mounted on rear parcel shelf. The camera will give a reverse image (as viewed through a mirror) with a 120° horizontal field of vision and 105° vertical field of vision. The monitor will be installed in the front compartment, for the driver's use
• Restyled quality coachwork interior to rear V.I.P. compartment, to include: Restyled rear seats, headrests and side panels, trimmed in Connolly leather with superior cloth inserts; restyled rear door pads in cloth material with contrasting green leather surrounds; removal of jump seats
• Design and construct, burr walnut veneered, centre console system incorporating: Fitment of a good quality, colour television and video.
• Ice box, sized to take champagne bottles; Champagne glass storage compartment; video storage compartment
• Install quality radio/cassette and tape cassette storage area, tissue dispenser and tissue disposal unit in centre armrest area
• Install two mobile, international direct dial telephones, one in each rear seat side armrest area, and an international direct-dial facsimile machine. (The facsimile machine and both telephones will be installed with separate telephone numbers so that they can be used independently)
• Stylish, analogue clock, from a "named" supplier
• Install inertia reel lap/diagonal seat belts to both front and rear seats, manufacturing metal bracketry as necessary
• Supply and fit custom made lambswool over rugs
• Supply and fit sliding curtains to the division, side and rear glass of the rear compartment
• Remove, renovate as required, and refit all burr walnut wood cappings.
• The front compartment to be fully refurbished in its current style and in green, with all leather work retrimmed in Connolly hide
• Install an intercom system between the front and rear compartment, operated by the rear seat passenger, so that the chauffeur can be excluded when not required
• Install additional sound insulation, to ensure that the chauffeur cannot hear what is being said in the rear compartment once the division is in the raised position
• Install darkened film to rear compartment glass, to ensure anonymity for passengers whilst still allowing them good exterior vision. 

The lamb’s wool over rugs in the back are new, and set the seller back more than £560 only a couple of months ago. 

As you can see, the result is nothing short of spectacular.

The driver sits on a taut green leather bench seat with access to a full suite of beautifully finished instruments that sit in an impeccably finished burr walnut dashboard. 

But, of course, a car like this is not about the chauffeur but about those who pay the chauffeur and the rear compartment offers every luxury you can imagine – and maybe a couple you can’t.

Like a fax machine and a video-cassette player in addition to a Clarion headunit. Not one but two Nokia telephones, and can you imagine the fun you could have telling one caller to hold as someone is coming through on the other line?

(Oh, and the driver gets a matching phone, and as theirs still has the plastic protecting the screen, it may never have been used.) 

There’s an intercom too, and a drinks cabinet with crystal glassware that, like the chauffeur’s phone, doesn’t appear to have ever been used if the stickers are anything to go by.

There’s Old School charm too by way of half-leather seats whose centre sections are trimmed in a velvet-like material. Curtains too, and some of the finest marquetry money could buy. 

And a leather-lined storage compartment to keep your tissues handy. 

The are footrests too, assuming you aren’t going to be resting your feet on those who are using the pop-up dickey seats…

The Harrods’ headlining is still clean, taut, and so wonderfully OTT that it almost comes full-circle back to unassuming. 

The boot is large, well-trimmed, and plays host to a full-sized spare wheel and the tool kit as well as a first-aid kit. 

As for issues, the driver’s seatbelt is damaged after having been caught in the door, the centre rear armrest has some wear to one edge, the carpet in the footwell has some marks, the curtain rods are held in place with zip ties, the top of the offside rear door has minor damage, and the spare tyre has a hole in the sidewall.

As for service history, the auction in 2013 made the following observation: 

“There are no service records available from 1962 until 1985 but as the service records from 1985 to 1996 show that the motor car was serviced and maintained by official Rolls-Royce Distributors and as the car was still in the hands of the original owner it seems reasonable to assume that the same applied from 1962 to 1985.”

During its time with Harrods, it is said to have been serviced in-house by Rolls-Royce-trained mechanics.

As you can see, it starts on the button, idles quietly, and revs smoothly. 

It also drives as it should; we don’t have extensive experience of the model, but the seller assures us that it drives like a much younger example and that the journey from his place in London to our HQ was accomplished with no problems and a great deal of fun. 

The engine bay is in a decent condition; it’s not presented as well as everything else but if you were to leave it as it is then few would think you slovenly. However, if you intend to pop the bonnet at your local show then you might like to consider having it professionally detailed and, perhaps, paint some of the larger components as their finish is somewhat patinated. 

The chassis and floorpans have been well protected by underseal, some of it recent. The underside appears to be straight, undamaged, and free of any obvious corrosion. There is some green overspray, but another coat of underseal would see that sorted. 

We also spotted some perished rubber bushes, so you may like to ask your local garage to go through the suspension and steering to replace them. There’s a displaced seal too (57/61).

The Phantom does not have an MoT certificate, and the online MoT history shows it’s led a gentle life since records began in 2006, racking up an almost complete run of advisory-free passes until its last in 2016. 

The recent Vehicle History Check is clear bar a marker for a change of colour.

The paperwork shows it was registered in March 1962 to Hanson Haulage Ltd and then reregistered in the name of Hanson Transport Ltd in 1978. 

It was then registered under the name Bocardo S.A. c/o A.I.T Services in September 1996, which we assume is a subsidiary of Harrods as a certain Mr Mohamed Al Fayed was shown as a Person with Significant Control of A.I.T Services until his death in 2023. A copy of the V5C Registration Certificate in this name is also supplied.

Further paperwork includes an acknowledgement of an order to refurbish the car from Kenneth Evans Associates Ltd., in which the vehicle’s chassis and registration numbers are quoted. 

The file also includes a period review of the Phantom by The Motor magazine dated the 5th of September 1962, a copy of the original order form in the name of the Hanson Haulage (London) Ltd, and some old MoT certificates. 

So, so much cooler than anything to come out of the Rolls-Royce factory for the past quarter of a century, this Phantom has the added bonus of having been refitted to ferry the ultra-wealthy around the greatest city in the world.

With seating for seven, it would make the ideal vehicle to collect customers from the airport. Or as a high-end limousine, taking high-net-worth folk to the opera or theatre.

Or even as the ultimate Goodwood transport, where you could unpack your picnic hamper and feast in considerably more style than anyone short of a Bugatti Royale owner. 

And, despite its impeccable provenance – and it would be a fantastic motorcar even without that – we suspect the virtual bidding will run out of steam at around the £60,000 mark, and it may even struggle to get past £50,000, or around half what it cost to refurbish it in the late nineties. 

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at THE MARKET HQ in South Oxfordshire. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays (apart from Bank Holidays) between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.