It Took Rolls-Royce Three Years To Build This One-of-One Phantom

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger is a one-off build from Rolls-Royce Bespoke. It's an homage to the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger. It took three years to build and comes with a gold bar in the center console.

Rolls-Royce doesn't shy away from interesting one-off projects, as evidenced by this two-tone Phantom. It bears a striking resemblance to the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III featured in the James Bond movie Goldfinger, and that's certainly no accident. This new model—appropriately called Phantom Goldfinger—is a rolling homage to the classic 1964 film. And the attention to detail goes way beyond a matching paint job.

It took Rolls-Royce Bespoke three years to finish this project. An entire year was devoted solely to the complex dash inlay, which is actually a contour map of the Furka Pass in Switzerland. Designers went through 10 variations of the stainless steel 3D inlay before settling on the final version. In the movie, Bond tails the villain's Rolls-Royce through the pass, but this isn't the only reference to the iconic location. A custom Starlight headliner was made that recreates the night sky over Furka Pass as it was on July 11, 1964, the last day of filming in Switzerland. And, of course, the stars emit gold light.

Speaking of gold, this Phantom has it everywhere. The Spirit of Ecstacy has gold plating in strategic places on its silver body. Speakers and climate vents have a gold-plated finish. Gold trim adorns the front and rear consoles. Open up the glovebox and you'll find more gold, this time debossed with a quote from Auric Goldfinger, Bond's nemesis in the film. In the trunk, there's a gold-plated golf club matching the one Goldfinger used. The vehicle's VIN plate has 24-carat gold plating.

And hiding in a "secret" console compartment made specifically for this Phantom, an honest-to-goodness solid gold bar shaped like Phantom Speedform. Mind you, this isn't plated. It's a solid 18-carat gold bar. Rolls-Royce makes no mention of price, but with gold currently selling for $2,750 an ounce, that bar alone could be half a million bucks.

Rolls-Royce created a fictional map of Fort Knox (Goldfinger's ultimate target) for picnic tables included with the car. That alone took six months to create, and while you're nosing around in the trunk, you'll see the 007 logo projected onto the floor. This is a nod to the tracking device Bond put in Goldfinger's trunk, and the famous door-mount umbrellas have the same color scheme as those in the movie.

The yellow-black exterior is a perfect match to the screen-used 1937 Phantom III. Special 21-inch wheels were made with "floating" center caps that mimic the old car. And the number plate AU1 isn't random, either. It was secured specifically for this car, a reference to gold's symbol on the periodic table. And it was all done for a "significant" Rolls-Royce customer in England, so don't expect to see any more like this.

Gallery: Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger

“Bringing Phantom Goldfinger into being was one of the Bespoke Collective’s greatest creative journeys to date," said Nick Rhodes, Bespoke designer at Rolls-Royce. "The elegant and whimsical features that reference the film’s most memorable moments are an exquisite demonstration of the power of Bespoke in adding a new chapter to an existing story."