Rolls Royce Phantom II Continental Restoration I would like to share with you, in pictures and just a few words, this incredible, and sometimes frustrating journey that we have undertaken to restore our 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom II Continental back to its original glory. The internet has been an invaluable resource throughout this effort for a majority of our research. It has got us out of many a dead end and I thought it only fair to share our journey via this medium so others may benefit from us just as we learned from them.
The ultimate goal is to restore the car to a state as close to original as possible, including the original paint scheme (which I had serious misgivings about). Did we succeed? You be the judge. While the attached images provide a glimpse into the restoration process, it is by no measure a complete representation of what was done. A huge number of sub-assembly’s were taken apart, restored and rebuilt. A myriad of parts had to be sourced, manufactured, rebuilt or repaired, hours of research were carried out to get information about how it should be done, many hours were spent on the phone with international restorers to get their knowhow etc. The entire job has taken the better part of a year and is still incomplete.
In its 75+ years, this car has never been through a restoration of this magnitude. The Build Sheet states that the car was originally green on cream which was verified by remnants of this combination that we uncovered on various body parts. To the best of my knowledge, the car was repainted to a dark green sometime in the 50’s. It was repainted to a sand and sable combination in the early to mid 60’s and had the interior leather replaced to Black. Then in the 80’s, the car was repainted again to the black/cream combo as seen in the pictures and the interior was changed to red leather. In 2003, we gave the car an overcoat of paint and redid the interior to tan leather. Finally in 2008, the engine went through its first rebuild to replace a worn camshaft. And now.....THIS...
We obviously checked out images of loads of concours level cars from around the world to get a sense for the quality and finish that we were aspiring for. We had long discussions as to what we would have to do to the various parts and sub-assemblies to achieve that goal. During these discussions, I felt like some of the work that we would have to do would entail actually sanding/grinding down layers of metal before re-chroming or painting to get the desired surface finish. I was truly opposed to this. While I did want to have a car that looked great at the end of this exercise, I also wanted to ensure that this effort did not jeopardize the longevity of the metal or the car for the sake of short term benefits. Also, this is a 75 year old car and I believe that if some of the pieces look old, that is fine with me. I believe that a little pitting on some bits and minor dents on others adds character to the car as opposed to having a car that looks out of place and newer than it probably looked when it left the factory. And finally, once the car is complete, my goal is to use the car regularly like I always have so I really wanted everything to be as robust as possible. This philosophy influenced some of our decisions when it came to restoring some components like the starter, the dynamo, the firewall etc.
I will be happy to answer any questions about the restoration or any myths about this car that have been discussed elsewhere on this forum, however, I will not answer any questions related to the costs associated with this project.
A huge thanks to Marespand Dadachandji and his team. Without his help, dedication and attention to detail, this would not have been possible.
To help us along, we used the original build sheet which I happened to have a copy of. We cross checked all of the serial numbers as shown in the build sheet and everything in the car matched! - More to follow.... |