1925 Rolls Royce New Phantom to Fetch $1 Million at Auction

1925 Rolls Royce New Phantom

During the famous Pebble Beach Car Week, Bonhams will again hold their much anticipated Quail Lodge sale in Carmel, California. One of the highlights of the event will be an extraordinary handmade Rolls Royce, specially customized for tiger hunting. Commissioned by Sahib Bahadur of India, the Maharaja of Kotah, the 1925 Rolls Royce New Phantom sports plenty of awesome amenities that still make it an outstanding vehicle today.

Estimated to fetch between $750,000 and $1,000,000, the car flaunts a bespoke Sports Touring body by coachbuilders Barker & Company of London and is fully equipped for hunting tigers. A mounted Howdah gun, a mountable Lantaka canon, a rifle stand in the rear passenger compartment, two searchlights for night hunting, a nickel-plated hissing snake horn, a hidden safe and even an attached matching trailer with a machine gun mounted on it: these are all part of the luxe vehicle’s arsenal.

In order to successfully tackle any terrain problems, the Rolls Royce was fitted with a powerful 8.0-liter six-cylinder engine with dual-spark ignition, coupled with a low-ratio gearbox. Even though the Indian Consulate has tried to convince a former owner of the car to repatriate it to India, where it would be respected and displayed as a piece of national history, the New Phantom is still far away from its first owner’s country of origin. So will a rich Indian buy the luxurious car at the upcoming Bonhams sale and then take it back home?1925 Rolls Royce New Phantom