Black Rolls-Royce Limousine Phantom III from 1938, 12 cylinders, 7340 cc, 165 HP, 150 km/h. Bodied by Hooper.
Hooper & Co. was a British coachbuilding business for many years based in Westminster London. From 1805 to 1959 it was a notably successful maker, to special order, of luxury carriages both horse-drawn and motor-powered.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom III was the final large pre-war Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1936, it replaced the Phantom II and it was the only V12 Rolls-Royce until the 1998 introduction of the Silver Seraph.
It is the first of the three V12-powered Rolls-Royce Phantoms, with the 2003-2017 Rolls-Royce Phantom VII and 2018- Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII being the other two.
727 V12 Phantom III chassis were constructed from 1936 to 1939, and approximately 650 have survived. Although chassis production ceased in 1939 (with one final chassis being built in 1940), cars were still being bodied and delivered in 1940 and 1941.
The last car, though the rolling chassis was completed in 1941, was not delivered with a body to its owner until 1947.
The Phantom III was the last car that Henry Royce worked on – he died, aged 70, a year into the Phantom III’s development.
