What about the villain? Aston Martin, suppliers of automobiles to one James Bond, may be celebrating Goldfinger’s 60th anniversary with a limited-edition DB12, but surely Auric Goldfinger, the villain in the blockbuster played by Gert Fröbe, deserves some commemoration, given that it’s his name in the title?
Rolls-Royce has done just that, creating a unique Phantom Extended Goldfinger modelled after the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville in the movie.
It even has the AU 1 number plate—completely legally—of the cinematic car, as well as a series of bespoke modifications for an anonymous UK-based owner who commissioned it.
The Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective matched the original yellow colour of the 1937 car, and updated the two-tone treatment for the Phantom VIII. The 21 in disc wheels are finished in black with floating silver hubcaps, again following the original car.
The attention to detail extends to the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, which reveals gold underneath, a nod to the plot where Auric Goldfinger is smuggling gold in the panels of his car. To achieve the desired effect, Rolls-Royce created a solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy and 18 ct gold-plated it.
There is a hidden “vault” in the centre console between the front seats, re-engineered to house an illuminated 18 ct solid gold bar, in the shape of a Phantom Speedform.
The air vents, “organ stops”, the base of the front and rear centre consoles, and the inside of the glovebox are finished in gold. The inner lid of the glovebox has Goldfinger’s quote from the famous laser scene in the movie: ‘This is gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.’
The speaker frets and treadplates feature the Goldfinger poster typeface, and the 24 ct gold-plated VIN plaque bears a number ending in 007.
The artwork on the front fascia features a hand-drawn map of the Furka Pass, where the original Rolls-Royce travels on. The 3D design on stainless steel took a year of development and 10 prototypes to get the effect right. The bespoke clock features a graphic inspired by Maurice Binder’s gun barrel logo.
The Starlight headliner in the car reflects the constellations as they appeared above the Furka Pass on July 11, 1964, the last day of filming in Switzerland for the scene. There are 719 stars and eight shooting stars, individually placed by hand.
The royal walnut picnic tables have a 0·1 mm thick 22 ct gold inlay featuring a fictional map of Fort Knox, where the film’s denouement is set. These designs took six months to finalize and three prototypes.
The interior colourway with navy leather and royal walnut veneer is inspired by the original car’s.
There is even a re-created gold-plated golf putter matching the one used by Fröbe in the film, mounted on the underside of the boot lid. The club has a specially designed ‘AG’ monogram inspired by Goldfinger’s signet ring’s engraving.
Referencing the tracking device planted by Bond in the film, the Collective developed a device that projects the 007 logo on to the carpet of the luggage compartment floor when the bootlid is opened.
Even the umbrellas for the new Phantom have the same colours as the one briefly seen in the film when it is loaded into the car by Goldfinger’s henchman, Oddjob, played by Harold Sakata.
You may also like
