The Rolls-Royce Phantom IV was a car almost nobody could buy, and its customer list reads like a guest list for a coronation. Rolls-Royce says it completed just 18 of them. By the company’s own account, 17 went to royalty and heads of state. The 18th, however, never left home: Rolls-Royce built it as a pickup truck for its own use.

That odd one out is the reason this car deserves a second look. Most people know the Phantom IV as the long, formal limousine that carried a future queen. Far fewer know that Rolls-Royce also put one of these chassis to work hauling parts.

Here’s what the Phantom IV was, who got one, and what happened to the truck.

How the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV began

The story starts before the war. According to the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub, the company built an experimental car in 1939 nicknamed “The Scalded Cat.” Rolls-Royce often loaned that car to influential people, including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The Duke liked it so much that he persuaded Rolls-Royce to build him a more formal version, the company says. That request became the Phantom IV. Rolls-Royce delivered the first one in July 1950. At first, the company says, it meant the car to be a one-off.

Instead, a short run followed. Even then, the pace stayed slow. CarsGuide reports that the factory made no more than three a year, for a total of 18.

Built only for royalty and heads of state

Rolls-Royce describes 17 of the 18 cars as “sumptuously appointed commissions for other royalty and heads of state.” In other words, you could not simply walk into a showroom and order one. CarsGuide puts it plainly: only heads of state and royalty got an approved order.

As a result, the buyers matched that rule. CarsGuide names Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the Iraqi royal family and the Shah of Iran, who had two. Meanwhile, a sales listing for chassis 4AF20 from Automotive Masterpieces adds Aga Khan III, the Emir of Kuwait, Princess Margaret and the Duke of Gloucester. That same listing says Franco owned three.

Not every royal kept theirs, though. CarsGuide says the Duke of Gloucester’s car turned out to be “too big” for him, so he sold it. Even a Phantom IV, it seems, could be more car than its owner needed.

The first car, chassis 4AF2, went to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. Rolls-Royce says it remains on front-line, if reduced, duty at the Royal Mews. CarsGuide likewise says it remains with the royal family.

What sat under the hood

The Phantom IV used a straight-eight engine. The Automotive Masterpieces listing describes it as an eight-cylinder petrol unit derived from the company’s B range. CarsGuide, for its part, says the production cars used a 5.7-litre straight-eight. By comparison, it says the wartime prototype ran a 6.3-litre straight-eight.

The chassis also grew to suit the job. According to the same listing, the Phantom IV frame started from the Silver Wraith. Rolls-Royce then lengthened and strengthened it. That gave coachbuilders a long, stout base for heavy formal bodies.

Those cars also traveled to wherever their owners lived. For example, the Automotive Masterpieces listing says Aga Khan III’s car went aboard the S. Maidstone on April 26, 1952. From there, it headed to his Villa Yakimour in Cannes, France.

The factory pickup truck

Now for the strange one. Rolls-Royce says the 18th car, “somewhat bizarrely, was built as a pick-up truck.” The company used it “as transport and on-the-road component testing.” So while kings and presidents rode in the other 17, this one carried parts and logged test miles.

That made it a working tool rather than a showpiece. CarsGuide calls it “only a test-mule.” In practice, that meant a Phantom IV chassis spent its days proving parts on the road instead of carrying a head of state.

The truck did not survive. CarsGuide says the factory took it apart in 1963. As a result, no one can buy, show or restore the one Phantom IV that worked for a living.

How many Phantom IVs survive

The limousines fared far better than the truck. CarsGuide says 16 of the original 18 cars remain, in various states of originality. The Automotive Masterpieces listing also puts the survivors at 16.

Some cars changed shape along the way. CarsGuide notes that one of the Shah’s cars even had its body moved onto the frame of a Phantom III. Even so, Rolls-Royce said in 2022 that the royal car 4AF2 remained on duty at the Royal Mews.

Today, the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV remains a car defined by who could not buy one. Rolls-Royce completed 18, delivered the first in July 1950, and kept one for itself as a pickup truck.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.