Rolls-Royce 40/50-hp Phantom Barker Torpedo Tourer

Maharajas and other Indian rulers are regular customers of Rolls-Royce at the time when India is still a British colony. The Nawab (prime minister) of Hyderabad, named Wali-ud-Dowla, commissions Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd. in Bombay at the end of 1925 to deliver a copy of the then new Phantom I, the successor to the Silver Ghost.

Maharajas and other Indian rulers are regular customers of Rolls-Royce in the days when India is still a British colony. The nawab (prime minister) of Hyderabad, Wali-ud-Dowla, commissions Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd. in Bombay at the end of 1925 to deliver an example of the then new Phantom I, the successor to the Silver Ghost. The car is to be fitted with a body by Barker, Rolls-Royces regular coachbuilder. Because the Rolls-Royce Phantom is finished in polished aluminum, it soon becomes known as the Silver Phantom of Hyderabad. The door panels are made of polished teak. In the rear, two fold out wooden tables are fitted, and there is also a small teak cabinet containing a camera, binoculars, and water bottles. The Rolls-Royce Phantom is regularly used to drive visiting members of the British royal family around, including the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII. According to the nawabs descendants, the car brings good luck, which is why over time around one hundred brides are driven to their weddings in it. The Rolls-Royce remains in service until 1953, but stays in the family and spends many years gathering dust in the nawabs garage. The car attracts the interest of British enthusiast William Meredith-Owen in the early 1960s. The nawabs family indicates that they are considering selling the car, but first Meredith-Owen has to earn the familys trust and friendship. Two hundred pages of correspondence pass between them before the Rolls-Royce returns to England in 1966 and is restored there.