Drinks Cabinet

Here's another chance to admire the drinks cabinet in the Lord Mayor of Belfast's official limousine, a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI.

You will notice the attention to detail, viz. the slots where the glass stems fit neatly into.

This photograph was taken between 1968-78, at which time Belfast City Council sold the stately automobile.

The registration number was 1 WZ (as it remains on the present mayoral car).

Phantom Revival

Eureka! I wondered what had become of the City of Belfast's Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine.

David Irvine discovered it.

The navy blue colour partly remains, though the car is now painted two-tone, grey on the sides.

The car was re-registered as WVO 338G.

The stately automobile was probably ordered at Stanley Harvey & Company Limited, Clarence Street West, Belfast.

Note the well-upholstered leather hide seating, with occasional seats.

The upholstery befits, and has supported, many illustrious and esteemed posteriors...

...and the drinks cabinet: The Bristol Cream or a wee dram today, my Lord Mayor?

It is known that the car was for sale on Ebay years ago.

Its last sighting was in Florida, USA.

First published in August, 2012.

Belfast's Phantom VI

In the late sixties and seventies, the Lord Mayor of Belfast's official mode of transport was a stately Rolls-Royce Phantom VI.

This car was, without doubt, the finest mode of transport the first citizen has ever used; and it has been peerless ever since.

I have attempted, in vain, to obtain information from Belfast City Council about earlier civic transport; perhaps First Citizens used their own forms of transport.

Sorry about the grainy image above: do any readers have better photographs?

Remarkably enough, I gather that the Lord Mayor's was the very first Phantom VI ever produced and was the official mayoral car from 1968 until 1978, when Belfast City Council sold it. 

I believe that the Lord Mayor of London still has a Phantom VI as official transport; as does the Royal Family in its fleet within the Royal Mews.

The then Councillor David Cook may have been Belfast's last mayoral occupant of the Phantom VI, which was navy blue in colour with the first citizen's registration number 1 WZ.

It even had a little pennant on the bonnet and a coat-of-arms mounted on its roof.

The Royal Family still has a few trusty Phantoms, including at least two Phantom VI state limousines.

As a boy I was in awe of this car, a true symbol of authority, power and presence.

It really was quite a spectacle to behold.

It must have been quite similar in appearance to the Monarch's car, a 1977 Phantom VI presented to Queen Elizabeth II for Her late Majesty's Silver Jubilee.

The Phantom VI was manufactured from 1968 until 1991 and a mere 374 of them were made.

The mayoral transport gradually diminished in stature when the Phantom VI was sold.

The Council subsequently bought a Daimler Limousine for the first citizen; then another Daimler; a Jaguar; etc.

What is the mayoral mode of transport today?

First published in June, 2008.

Mayoral Rolls-Royce

Royal Ulster Constabulary Training Depot, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, 1978
 (Image: David Irvine)

This stately Rolls-Royce Phantom VI was the official limousine in use by the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor of Belfast between 1968-78.

It was purchased by Belfast Corporation for the official use of the Lord Mayor.

The traditional navy blue colour is still on the bonnet, roof and boot, though elsewhere it has been re-painted.

The bonnet's considerable length is reminiscent of a concert grand piano.

Its original registration number was 1 WZ.

Of course the Council should have kept the car and continued to use it.

It could even have been converted to run on bio-fuel.

It was sold at Bonham's relatively recently.

This car was the first Phanton VI off the production line: 1969 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine. Coachwork by H J Mulliner, Park Ward. Registration number WVO 338G. Chassis number PRH4108. Engine number 4108. Sold for £36,700, including premium.

FOOTNOTES

The Rolls-Royce in-house coach-builder Park Ward Limited (later H J Mulliner, Park Ward) produced what was, in effect, the standard seven-passenger limousine coachwork for the Phantom V.

This timeless design would survive until 1990, being built in near-identical Phantom VI form from 1968, when separate air conditioning for front and rear compartments was standardised alongside the Silver Shadow-specification 6,230cc V8 engine.

The usual upholstery for the front compartment was leather, which was also included in the list of alternatives for the rear along with West of England cloth.

As one would expect in a car of this class, a cocktail cabinet incorporated into the rear compartment’s cabinet-work was one of a host of options that also included electric windows.

Phantom development tended to lag behind that of the contemporary Shadow range, and it was not until 1978 that the model received the three-speed automatic transmission and 6.75-litre engine that had featured on the latter for many years.

By this time the opulent Phantom VI was being built to special order only, with prices on application.

The very first Phantom VI produced, chassis number PRH 4108, was sold new to Belfast City Corporation for use by the Lord Mayor (as referenced in Martin Bennet's book, Rolls-Royce & Bentley: The Crewe Years) and was mostly maintained by the Crewe factory until sold by the Corporation in 1978.

The car enjoyed three subsequent owners before passing into the vendor's hands in 1991, and comes with numerous invoices for this period issued by recognised Rolls-Royce specialists.

Since acquisition it has been maintained by the engineer owners and used regularly on R-REC events, most notably Her Majesty The Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations at Windsor Castle in 2002.

Restored in the early 1990s, the vehicle is reported as being to factory specification apart from the addition of an electric radiator cooling fan.

AUCTION NOTICES

This, four previous owner car, was acquired by the current vendors in 1991 when it was then comprehensively restored underneath and new rear springs fitted.

It has since been enjoyed at many club events.

In addition to regular servicing, the car has benefited from a new radiator, brake overhaul, three new tyres, rear fog lamps and an electric radiator fan together with new front and rear bumpers.

The car comes with all MOT certificates dating back to 1977 and numerous invoices from recognised Rolls-Royce specialists.

Handbook, jack and wheel brace are all included and the cocktail cabinet is complete with decanters and glasses.

First published in August, 2012.

Mayoral Occupants

MY FASCINATION with the history of the city of Belfast's Rolls-Royce Phantom VI continues.

The following Lord Mayors enjoyed the privilege of being conveyed in that stately limousine:-

1966-69     William Duncan Geddis,

Studied at Skerries College in Belfast before becoming a clothing manufacturer; elected to the Belfast Corporation for the Ulster Unionist Party; Lord Mayor, 1966-69.

1969-72     Joseph Foster Cairns,

Managing director of a furniture retailer, and chairman of a development company; elected to the Belfast Corporation for the Ulster Unionist Party; Lord Mayor, 1969-71.

1972-75     Sir William Christie MBE JP,

Proprietor of a wallpaper company in Belfast; Lord Mayor, 1972-75. During this time his home and business were attacked several times, and his wife survived a gunshot to the head in 1972. 

His time in office coincided with the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and he was therefore the first Lord Mayor since John White in 1920 not to serve as an ex-officio member of the NI Senate. He retired in 1977.

1975-77     Sir Myles Humphreys JP DL,

Ulster Unionist Party politician, engineer and businessman; Lord Mayor, 1975-77; chaired the NI Police Authority for a decade. Sir Myles appears to have been the last Belfast Lord Mayor to be knighted.

1977-78     James Stewart.

1978-79     David Somerville Cook,

solicitor, eventually becoming a senior partner at Sheldon and Stewart Solicitors; founder member, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland; Belfast City Councillor, 1973-85. 

In 1978, he became the first non-unionist Lord Mayor since partition (the pro-home rule Liberal, William James Pirrie, having held the post in the 1890s); Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party, 1980-84. 

The Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Down is presently Mrs Fionnuala Cook OBE DL.

First published in August, 2012.