08/02/2016
This beautiful coach-built Phantom III would be special on its own. But it is little bit “more special” then just special. Why?
You might have heard about this particular car as being called Monty’s Rolls-Royce but you never knew why. But we will get to that later.
This Phantom III was ordered by Alan Samuel Butler, the chairman of the de Havilland Aircraft Company. This gentleman and his company knew a lot about aerodynamics, which comes as no surprise. When the chassis no. 3AX79 was delivered from Rolls-Royce to coachbuilder H.J. Mulliner on November 20, 1936, they started working on the body specially designed for Mr. Butler. He insisted, for example, on windscreen to be reverse-slanted, V-split rather then classical upright – it was 15 per cent more aerodynamic. Other special, aeronautically-inspired features included swept tail or spare tire contained internally. Very unique feature indeed was the Smith Aneroid altimeter situated in the centre of the dashboard.
In the middle of Britain’s lonely fight against N**i Germany in 1940, Mr. Butler decided to aid the war effort by providing his unique Phantom III as a gift to War Department for the use. Of course, it was assigned to the chiefs of the British General Staff. Butler’s only condition was the assurance that the car will be maintained by qualified Rolls-Royce servicemen and that it will never go across the Channel – he didn’t want the car to be shot at in the midst of fighting.
On eve of the most famous operation of WWII - D-Day –, on June 5, 1944, after it went through hands of several British army generals, it was assigned to non-else then Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. For almost everyone best known as “Monty” (thus the famous nickname – “Monty’s Rolls-Royce”), he reportedly drove his unique 3AX79 Phantom III on the streets of Berlin after Allied victory, making it only the second British car to enter the city.
After the war, “Monty” and his Rolls-Royce could not part. “Spartan General” persuaded the officials to sell him 3AX79. He was then using the car regularly until the death of his longtime chauffeur, Sergeant Cedric Parker, in 1962. A year later, Montgomery’s estate sold the beloved Rolls to Mr. Jim Leake of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
The car served for approx. 364,000 miles, and it transported among others King George VI, President Dwight Eisenhower, or Winston Churchill.
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