rolls-royce phantom iii

Celebrity Limousines for Auction by Bonhams at Brooklands

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping

If you're looking to get your hands on some celebrity automobilia, Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands in Surrey, England, is the place to be on December 6. There the venerable auction house Bonhams has got a wealth of cherishable classics on the docket.

First up is a 1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III. With a five-seat limousine configuration, a 7.3-liter V12 engine and custom coachwork by Inskip, this was the first of just 24 Phantom IIIs sold to America, and was used in the fantasy film Pan's Labrynth in a chase scene – suitably enough – against a Bentley.

But that's not the end of it: there's also a 1934 Lagonda formerly owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and a Mercedes-Benz 600 from Elvis Presley's estate, along with Ferraris, Maseratis and more.

Gallery: 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom III by Inskip

Tags: 1934 rolls-royce phantom iii by inskip, elvis, elvis presley, lagonda, mercedes-benz, nick mason, pans labrynth, rolls-royce, rolls-royce phantom iii

Fairfield Concours to Showcase 1939/47 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Vutotal

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions, Events

The star car at this year's Fairfield Concours d'Elegance will wears the Spirit of Ecstasy on her hood and no less ecstatic design all along her body. The 1939/47 Rolls-Royce Phantom III "Vutotal" Cabriolet by Labourdette, now in the John Rich Museum collection, started off as a standard Phantom III designed by Henry Royce. It was re-envisioned by coachbuilder Hooper and Co. in 1938 with a Sedanca de Ville for the chassis, then showed off in Europe before being tweaked for the U.S. market.

When that show car ended up in the Parisian studio of Henri Labourdette in the forties, he threw out everything but the running gear and rebodied the car gold-plating-and-brass-adorned aerodynamic bodywork that swooped back into a boattail. He also got rid of anything that identified it as a Rolls, save for its mascot and a couple of interior trim pieces. The final detail: the Vutotal windscreen, a thick slice of glass that appears to support itself. The conversion cost $44,000 at a time when the average price of a home was about $4,000.

Elsewhere on the Concours docket, featured judging classes will include Porsche, Bugatti, Period Hot Rods and Custom Cars from 1948 – 1964, there'll be regional vintage club gatherings, an auction conducted by Bonhams, and photographer Jesse Alexander will be the featured artist. The Barn Find category is a new one this year and is still accepting submissions to go with dusty, rusted hulks including the 1949 Willys Panel Wagon and 1961 AC Greyhound. The seventh annual Fairfield Concours opens its lawn on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

Gallery: Fairfield County Concours d'Elegance