1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Convertible wins ‘Best In Show’ at Concours of Elegance 2024

Hampton Court Palace hosted 500 of the rarest cars in the world

By Bruce Brown Published September 3, 2024

Concours of Elegance / Concours of Elegance

A 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Convertible, one of just a few constructed in the U.S., was chosen Best in Show at the 13th annual Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace in London. The winning 1937 Rolls-Royce was designed by JS Inskip.

Why the 1937 Phantom III Convertible is significant

1937 Rolls-Royce Phanton III Convertible by Inskip at Concours of Elegance - 2024.
Any Rolls-Royce convertible is significant, but the Phantom III, which was the final large Rolls-Royce produced before World War II, was also the last model to which Henry Royce contributed considerable input. Royce, the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, was an engineer who contributed to the design of the company’s large cars in the last part of his career. Royce died in 1933.

Recommended Videos

The Concours of Elegance is an annual event that displays outstanding examples of rare, privately owned road cars and competition vehicles. Of more than 500 cars in total, 60 cars, the rarest of the rare, were parked in the Hampton Court Palace gardens. During the three-day event, more than 14,000 guests viewed the vehicles. Owners of the cars chose the winners in categories for each decade from the 1930s to 1970s, Future Classics, and Best in Show, which this year was the 1936 Phantom III.

The 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III and other winners

Overview of viewing area Concours of Elegance 2024 Hampton Court London.
Only 737 Phantom III cars were produced. The car is powered by a 7.3-liter V12 engine, a large engine for a car that weighs three and a half tons.

Other winning cars at the Concours of Elegance 2024 included:

1920s: 1927 Bentley 3-liter Boat Tail Speed Model
1930s: 1937 Talbot-Lago T150 C SS New York Teardrop
1940s: 1940 Aston Martin Speed Model Type C
1950s: 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Zagato
1960s: 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Coupe
1970s: 1970 BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’
Future Classics: 2023 Aston Martin DBR-22

Topics

News

A Digital Trends Contributing Editor and Contributor for TheManual.com, Bruce Brown writes e-mobility reviews and covers…

Auto

5 standout features on the Rolls Royce Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis

You can see a little of the eclipse inside a rare luxury car

Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis (1)

A Rolls Royce is always a bit special. Like a bespoke suit, the cars are packed with detail and small elements of handiwork that elevate the vehicle above most other luxury cars. However, Rolls Royce is a big fan of special edition vehicles, and that can lead to a dilemma. How do you make something already special stand out even more? One thing you can do is take inspiration from a rare astronomical phenomenon, and that’s what the British luxury car maker has done with the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis.

Solar eclipses themselves occur pretty frequently but usually involve the moon blocking out a small slice of the sun. Total eclipses are rarer, taking place every couple of years on average. However, as our planet is mostly oceanic, total eclipses you can see from a populated piece of land are still rarer. Almost as rare as the Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis -- Rolls-Royce only made 25 of them, and they have all been allocated to some of the prestigious brand’s luckiest clients.

Auto

Rolls-Royce just gave you a really good reason to never buy a Rolls-Royce — you may get blacklisted

This is what could get you on the Rolls-Royce blacklist

Flipping a desirable car can be a quick way to make a large amount of money. At the height of the pandemic several vehicles, including Ford’s F-150 Lightning and the Tesla Model S, were being flipped for tens of thousands of dollars above MSRP. But attempting to flip a Rolls-Royce in a similar way may ensure you never get your hands on one again.

The luxury auto manufacturer has stated that anyone caught flipping a particularly limited or desirable Rolls will be blacklisted for life. While speaking to Car and Dealer magazine, the company’s CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös says: ‘[If they sell the car on] they’re going immediately on a blacklist and this is it — you will never ever have the chance to acquire again.’

Auto

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Syntopia brings haute fashion to cars

Rolls claims that the one-off is the most complex Phantom ever made

Amid the electric vehicle revolution and the introduction of more semi-autonomous technology, automakers are eager to change their bios from traditional automakers to tech companies. Rolls-Royce, well, Rolls-Royce is different. While the iconic British marque has introduced its first EV with the Spectre, Rolls-Royce really does expand its reach beyond the world of cars as a luxury marque. Case in point, the latest vehicle from Rolls-Royce is the Phantom Syntopia. It was made in collaboration with Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen and blends the worlds of high fashion and cars.
You may not think that fashion and cars belong together, but the Syntopia certainly makes a case for more collaboration across the two industries. The Syntopia is very purple and is inspired by the concept of “weaving water.” The automaker, which has created some stunning vehicles over its extensive history, calls the Syntopia a “bespoke masterpiece.” Heavy words from a brand that’s known for going above and beyond with some of the most bespoke vehicles on sale. But we believe the company certainly went to great lengths to make the Syntopia, seeing as how it took Rolls-Royce four years to perfect.

Previous