Phantom II Continental chassis number 114 MS was bodied by Hooper & Company of London, the famed Royal coachbuilders, as a dramatic Sports Saloon with excellent close-coupled proportions and an integrated luggage compartment. As noted in Andre Blaize’s The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental, the price of this car when new was 2,570 GBP, which would have taken the average British worker 13½ years of salary to pay. It was shipped via the SS Viceroy of India to Bangalore, India, where it was delivered to its original owner, Elizabeth Crawford Wilkin. The car was equipped for the Indian climate with an unusually well-equipped tool set, as well as with a nearly vertical-opening windshield and additional scuttle-mounted air vents (since removed).

Mrs. Wilkin was the American-born wife of a British Foreign Service officer, then stationed in Bangalore. She drove her Phantom II Continental regularly during the years that the family lived there, and eventually, it accompanied her home to Melvin Village, New Hampshire. Subsequently, it was sold to Francis A. Poole Jr. in 1949, later passing in 1954 to William Kimberly, in 1963 to Henry Curtis, and in 1966 to Monroe Mann. Mr. Mann, a president of the Rolls-Royce Owners Club, owned, drove, and enjoyed this car for a remarkable 30 years.

Following two further short-term ownerships, the Phantom II Continental was acquired by Alan McEwan, the famed longtime CCCA member and director of the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, who drove it on that annual 1,500-mile jaunt down the West Coast in 2010. It completed the event without a fault. Afterward, it was sold to its present owner, a respected East Coast enthusiast, in whose collection it has been well maintained since.

The car is featured in Mr. Blaize’s aforementioned book (p. 328–330), as well as in Raymond Gentile’s earlier work, The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental (p. 158). It is accompanied by original build and ownership information from the Rolls-Royce Foundation.

An ideal CARavan car of grace and elegance, this Phantom II Continental would still be a fine way to rush across the American continent—or to explore India!