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Discontinued Rolls-Royce Phantoms bow out with Zenith editions

With a ‘bold new chapter in Rolls-Royce history’ on the horizon, the Goodwood marque is discontinuing the Drophead and Coupé variants of the Phantom for good – but not before building 50 final ‘Zenith Collection’ cars…

Reserved for ‘connoisseur customers who will add them to some of the world’s most significant luxury collections’, each of the 50 Zenith Phantoms will boast a high degree of personalisation, along with several features exclusive to the Zenith models. These include a new glass shelf for Champagne served from the rear tailgate, a larger two-bottle fridge, and paint colours that hark back to Rolls-Royce’s past, including Madeira Red. Customers have also been invited to specify the materials and colour palette of the picnic hamper that accompanies all Zenith Collection Phantoms.

Deft touches

The bespoke touches continue as soon as the coach doors are opened: laser-etched armrest cappings pay tribute to the global debut locations of the experimental version of each car (Villa d’Este for the 100EX, and Lake Geneva for the 101EX), as well as the company’s Goodwood home. A piece of the Phantom production line will be housed within a polished aluminium case decorated by Best English Blacking – a technique associated with gun-making – and marked with the car’s individual identification number. The piece not only shows the co-ordinates of the exact part of the production line from which it was extracted, but also signifies the move to aluminium construction for the next generation of Rolls-Royces – hence the decommissioning of the existing production line.

All 50 Zenith Collection Phantoms have already been sold, but Rolls-Royce is now inviting ‘connoisseur customers’ to commission bespoke versions of the seventh-generation Phantom saloon, which also goes out of production this year ahead of returning in a new aluminium guise in 2018. The order books for the final Phantoms will close imminently.

Photos: Rolls-Royce

You can find several Phantom Coupés and Phantom Drophead Coupés among numerous Rolls-Royces for sale in the Classic Driver Market.