Regal Eagle

The new British limousine is as swift as it is opulent and cushy.

- Edric Pan

TORQUE readers of a certain vintage (like myself) may recall the burly Korean manservant to the titular villain in the 1964 Bond film, Goldfinger.

Apart from displaying surreal strength (he could crush a golf ball in his palm) and occasionally tossing his lethal steel-rimmed hat at people, Oddjob also spent part of the movie driving his boss, the bullion-obsessed Auric Goldfinger, through the Swiss Alps to the latter’s hidden lair, with 007 (played by Sean Connery) in secret pursuit.

Goldfinger’s choice of wheels? A classic 1937 Rolls- Royce Phantom III, which was, quite literally, the vehicle for Goldfinger’s gold-smuggling exploits (its huge radiator grille, dinner-plate-size headlamps and other parts were cast in gold, and the car was then simply driven across the border to Goldfinger’s hideout, where the parts were dismantled and melted down).

And 53 years later, I am retracing Oddjob’s wheeltracks on those same Swiss mountain passes. I, too, am driving a Rolls-Royce Phantom, albeit the latest Phantom VIII which has just replaced the 14-year-old Phantom VII as the marque’s flagship.

Riding with this car is the weight of history, as this is the eighth generation of a model that stretches back 92 years – the longest-running model name of all time.

Unlike Goldfinger’s part-gold Phantom, “my” car is built around an aluminium spaceframe which is 30 percent stiffer than that of the preceding Phantom VII’s, to the benefit of ride, handling and refinement.

In fact, the Phantom VIII’s chassis and body together are significantly lighter than its predecessor’s, but more equipment and sound insulation means that kerb weight remains almost the same, at about 2.6 tonnes for the extended-wheelbase version.