This guide covers the four separately-numbered Phantom generations that ran, without direct commercial overlap, from 1950 to 2017: the coachbuilt straight-eight Phantom IV (1950–1956, 18 chassis built), the V8-powered Phantom V (1959–1968, 516 or 518 built — see sourcing note) and its Phantom VI successor (1968–1990/91, 374 built) — the last body-on-frame Rolls-Royces to leave Crewe — and the BMW-era Phantom VII (2003–2017, 10,327 delivered) built at the purpose-built Goodwood plant. The 1998–2002 hiatus between Phantom VI and VII coincided with the Volkswagen/BMW split of Rolls-Royce and Bentley; there was no Phantom in production during those years.
A note on production figures: the coachbuilt totals are drawn from published marque histories and factory-derived museum records. The Phantom IV total of 18 chassis is settled. The Phantom V total is genuinely disputed between 516 and 518, with corresponding small differences in the per-coachbuilder splits; the RREC chassis register is the definitive arbiter, and both candidate figures are shown against each coachbuilder entry below. A much higher figure of 832 circulating in some industry sources is contradicted by every marque history and should be disregarded. The Phantom VI total is 374, and Phantom VII deliveries totalled 10,327 through the January 2017 end of production; per-body-style splits were never published.
The Phantom line is the top-of-marque Rolls-Royce across seven decades. The IV, V and VI are the last true coachbuilt Rolls-Royces — chassis delivered from Crewe, bodied by H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward, Mulliner Park Ward, James Young, Hooper, Franay and (once) Henri Chapron. The VII is the BMW-era ground-up reset that saved the Phantom nameplate. Collectively they define the ceremonial and state-car category from the post-war reconstruction era to the pre-electric present.