One-off Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger has a licence to thrill

Rolls-Royce revealed a custom one-off Phantom Extended on Friday that pays tribute to Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton’s classic 1964 James Bond film. 

Unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the spy caper’s release, it takes design cues from the 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville driven by the movie’s chief antagonist, Auric Goldfinger.

Named Phantom Goldfinger, this exclusive saloon incorporates custom features inspired by elements of the movie’s storyline. Rolls-Royce said the design required three years of development.

Key features include a dashboard display inspired by a scene on Switzerland’s Furka Pass and a gold golf putter mounted inside the boot, a nod to the club used by Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) in his first encounter with James Bond (Sean Connery).

A licence to thrill

For the exterior, Rolls-Royce paint specialists replicated the yellow colour of the movie car. A spectacular two-tone design was created, with a black finish wrapping around the car’s coachwork in a continuous graphic. The 21-inch disc wheels are finished in black with silver hubcaps that rotate independently, mimicking the style of the wheels on the model seen in the film.

The car’s Spirit of Ecstasy figurine incorporates a unique finish inspired by the movie’s plot, where gold was hidden in the vehicle’s body panels. To reflect this, the figurine reveals gold beneath its surface. Rolls-Royce specialists crafted a solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy, then gold-plated it with 18-carat gold to achieve the ‘gold reveal’ effect.

For your eyes only

Inside the cabin, Rolls-Royce's Bespoke Collective of designers and engineers created several special features that include 18- and 24-carat gold. One notable addition is a hidden vault located in the centre console between the front seats, which houses an illuminated solid 18-carat gold bar shaped as a miniature representation of the Phantom’s design.

The bases of the front and rear centre consoles, as well as the interior of the glovebox, are lined with gold while the inner lid of the glovebox features an embossed version of Goldfinger’s quote: “This is gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.”

The precious metal is also present on the air vents and ‘organ stops’ throughout the vehicle. The speaker grilles feature a similar finish and are inscribed with the film’s title. The treadplates, designed to resemble the gold bars in Goldfinger, are gold-plated and embossed with the font used in the 1964 film. Additionally, a 24-carat gold-plated VIN plaque is engraved with a specially assigned vehicle identification number ending in 007.

Another incredible interior detail is the three-dimensional artwork spanning the full width of the Phantom’s front dashboard fascia. The design, which apparently took a year to develop, is an isoline map of the Furka Pass, which features in the film as a key location.

Made from stainless steel darkened through a process called physical vapour deposition, the piece includes engraved contour lines and elevation markers that expose bright metal beneath. A cut-out of the Furka Pass reveals a gilded layer, while a central clock surround is modelled after the gun barrel sequence featured in every James Bond film since Dr No.

The car with the golden touch

Equally awe-inspiring is the Bespoke Collective’s Starlight Headliner that replicates the constellations as they appeared over Switzerland’s Furka Pass on July 11, 1964 — the final day of filming for a scene in the area. It includes 719 individually hand-placed illuminated “stars”, with a gold hue, along with eight “shooting stars”.

The Royal Walnut picnic tables feature a 22-carat gold inlay, only 0.1mm thick, depicting a fictional map of Fort Knox, the US bullion depository central to the storyline in the film. This design, developed through three prototypes over six months, marks key locations such as Gold Vault Road and Bullion Boulevard.

The Phantom Goldfinger interior is finished in Navy leather and Royal Walnut veneer, with gold stitching, gold-capped piping, and embroidered “RR” monograms on the headrests. The rear suite includes Rolls-Royce’s famed reclining Serenity Seating set-up. 

Finally, the car displays the British number plate ‘AU 1’, a reference to the chemical symbol for gold, as seen on the Phantom III in Goldfinger. This plate will remain with the Phantom Goldfinger, which has been delivered to a top secret, UK-based Rolls-Royce collector.