When I am senile and dribbling, with no control over my various appendages, with one foot shakily planted in the grave, and someone asks me, ‘Hey gramps, what were you doing on 28th May, 2004?,’ with a clear glint in my eye, a ramrod posture and an articulated tongue, I will be able to exactly describe what I was up to on that day: ‘It was a Friday, and I was driving an automobile crafted by the immortals. It was a 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental – in fact the last one ever produced – with a gorgeous Streamline Coupe body by Gurney Nutting. I was driving it on what was then the fabulous Mumbai-Pune Expressway – now of course, it’s used for parking cars. I distinctly remember the speedo nudging 65 mph, that’s over 100 kph, mind you, and that was merely walking speed for the over two-tonne Rolls. And if you know how to calculate, young man, the car was almost 70 years old then. But the moment I cherish the most was when...’
Cut to the present. As I was saying, the best part was when the Roller entered one of the tunnels along the Expressway. The six-cylinder engine was gently humming along, and I was piloting what felt like an imposing but utterly gorgeous locomotive with endless power on tap, making me feel, at least in those precious few seconds, imperious and invincible. Like the Viceroy of the British India before Independence. Suddenly, day turned into night. The Spirit of Ecstasy was bathed in yellow light, gleaming somewhere in the distance in front of me, cutting a path like a motorcycle outrider. The lights of the tunnel were moving fast, highlighting the curvilinear forms of the fender and reflecting all over the car – precious jewels rolling and dropping off a work of art. And mesmerising me with their strobe-like effect. It was hypnotic, heavenly.
Yes, there are moments in life which you will take with you till your dying day. And this was one of them. It was not the fact that I was driving one of the greatest Rollers ever built. It was not the fact that it had one of the most gorgeous bodies ever to come out of a coachbuilding firm. It was not the fact that it was the last model fully developed and engineered by the genius Henry Royce himself – he passed away before the V12-engine Phantom III got into production. The significance of all these facts did not weigh on me then – it was simply a brilliant motoring moment with the right ingredients – a very special car and a great road.
Everybody knows that all Rolls-Royce cars are special, but why is the Phantom II considered to be the best among ‘the best cars in the world’? To somebody like Ralph Stein, one of the most respected automotive writers in the world, it was the greatest Rolls-Royce ever built. And Raymond Gentile, one of the world’s greatest authorities on the marque, who’s written a full book on just the Continental, ‘it was Henry Royce’s last and greatest masterpiece surpassing in every facet of design excellence and manufacturing technique than even the Silver Ghost.’ Gentile also attributes its greatness to its lowered, shortened chassis and the finest examples of classic coachwork that complemented it.
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