Are you amazed by the experimental cars that some engineers build? Do you think the money collectors invest is absurd? Believe me when I say that this is nothing new, and to discover one of the most extreme cases, we must travel back almost a hundred years. In 1926, Clarence Gasque, finance director in the United Kingdom of the F. W. Woolworth Company, commissioned the construction of a Rolls-Royce Phantom that had to surpass everything done up to that point. Named “Phantom of Love”, its design was inspired by 18th-century French aesthetics…
A Gift for Maude
The F. W. Woolworth Company was one of the American pioneers in what we now call “everything-for-a-dollar” stores. In 1926, Clarence Warren Gasque was the finance director for Woolworth’s UK division, and this wealthy gentleman concluded that he needed a custom Rolls-Royce. A year earlier, the manufacturer had launched the new Phantom as a replacement for the legendary Silver Ghost, but Gasque had no plans to acquire a “conventional” unit: His Phantom had to be above and beyond, as it would be a gift for his wife Maude, and surpass the Silver Ghosts built for his colleague Surefire Snow by Charles Clark & Son Ltd.
That is how Gasque got in touch with J. H. Barnett, owner of Clark & Son, to request his commission. In Barnett’s own words, “This gentleman wanted a car for his wife that had to be different from everything else, and better. He did not specify what he wanted, except that the design had to be French, and he left the rest in my hands, including the price.” Barnett went to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for inspiration, and there he found a litter that had belonged to Marie Antoinette. Barnett set to work, and distributed tasks among the best of each trade. The upholstery alone cost him £500... a figure that in 1926 could buy an entire house.
The Most Expensive Rolls-Royce of Its Era
In April 1927, the Rolls-Royce Phantom that the public eventually named “Phantom of Love” was delivered to Gasque, along with a receipt for £4,500 that apparently only represented the work on the interior of the car. But the satisfaction of having ordered the most expensive Rolls-Royce of its time did not last too long. Gasque died eighteen months later, in October 1928, aged just 54. In 1937, Mrs. Gasque decided to store the vehicle, and devoted the rest of her life to causes like vegetarianism and animal protection. She died on December 23, 1959.
What happened to the car? Stanley Sears, a renowned Rolls-Royce collector, bought it in 1952, and did not let it go until another Japanese collector named Takihana placed a million pounds on the table in 1986. The “Phantom of Love” passed through the hands of several Japanese enthusiasts, in 2001 it traveled to the United States, and a year later it was bought by an English dealer, Charles Howard. The car was exhibited in Paris in early 2004, but generally did not leave England again. My trail ends at a Bonhams auction in December 2016, which sold the “Phantom of Love” for £561,500... almost 620,000 euros.
Source: Bonhams
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