Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Cabriolet 3-positions par - Lot 67

Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Cabriolet 3-positions par Fernandez & Darrin – 1934 Dutch registration title Sold without contrôle technique In 1906, at the Olympia Hall automobile show in London, Henry Royce, a self-taught mechanical genius, and Charles Rolls, an aristocratic engineer passionate about mechanics, presented the most famous of all their creations, the 40/50 HP, now known as the Silver Ghost, in reference to car chassis number #AX201 painted in silver gray. It is the first of the “big” Rolls-Royces, followed by the New Phantom, which appeared in 1925, then the Phantom II (the New Phantom was retroactively named Phantom I), marketed from 1929. It adopted the 7.7-liter 6-cylinder from its big sister, but benefited from a more rigid chassis and better running gear. In 1931, based on this Phantom II, Henry Royce had a short-chassis version built (everything is relative), called Continental for the most sporting drivers who wanted to take the wheel themselves... Almost shocking, since until then Rolls-Royces had long chassis and separate driving positions for salaried chauffeurs. With an engine featuring a prepared cylinder head and higher compression ratio, the Continental allowed its driver to flirt with 170 km/h, a barely believable speed for such an imposing automobile. It was certainly in the early 1930s the best car in the world, also thanks to its adjustable suspension, synchronized gearbox and power-assisted braking. Of 1,767 Phantom II examples, only 281 would be Continentals. In 1935, the Phantom III, now equipped with a V12 engine, closed the beautiful story of the luxurious and inimitable “big” 6-cylinder Rolls-Royces. This Phantom II is therefore one of the very rare short-chassis Continentals. It was ordered new by Juliette and Jacques Violet, a very prominent couple in Paris during the Roaring Twenties. He was the heir to Byrrh aperitifs, a drink that, in the mid-1930s, occupied more than 50% of the aperitif market! She was the granddaughter of Edmond Bartissol, an engineer who participated in the drilling of the Suez Canal, then deputy of the Pyrénées- Orientales (Jacques Violet’s region of origin) and creator of an aperitif that bears his name. Juliette and Jacques Violet, who divided their time between a sumptuous private mansion on the very chic avenue Foch and Villa Palauda in Thuir (actually, a palace), had a touch of megalomania. They received all of Paris at their table, were among the best clients of the very select jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels and went to Maxim’s, for example, with two Rolls-Royces, in case one of them broke down, according to legend... The British factory records indeed indicate that they ordered in 1932 two Phantom IIs shipped as chassis to Fernandez & Darrin to be bodied as Coupé de Ville. And the Phantom II that illustrates these pages, considered until then - wrongly! - as a Kellner cabriolet, is actually the third Phantom II of the Violet couple bodied by Fernandez & Darrin! The factory records are very clear on this point, since they indicate that chassis #99RY was ordered by “Mr” J. Violet (January 24, 1934), through the intermediary of FBA Ltd (actually the French importer Franco-Britannic Autos Limited), and delivered to “Fernandez” on April 19, 1934, after crossing the Channel on the “SS Volga” (steam ship). The car, bodied as “inside drive 4-doors completely collapsible” (actually a sort of 3-position cabriolet), would only be tested by FBA Ltd on March 21, 1935, and the bodywork execution delay could explain the Violets’ impatience... who seem to have resold #99RY, exported to England that same year, and registered BYM 374. We find it in the United States in the 1950s, in the hands of a US Army lieutenant-colonel, then a certain David Dangler, living in Illinois. In the 2000s, it was Dutch businessman and recognized collector Anton aan de Stegge who acquired it and prepared it to participate in the very difficult Beijing-Paris. It would not ultimately participate, but would be entered in the Borneo Experience Tour 2005, a 1,200 km tour through Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei. It was bought by Claude Gratzmüller in 2014, and little used since. This bespoke Phantom II, witness to a bygone era, awaits only its new custodian and a small service to take to the road of adventure again, in the excess of the Roaring Twenties...