A Phantom with a past: the life story of chassis 3BT187

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If this car could talk… A familiar cliché — but in the case of the Rolls-Royce Phantom III, chassis number 3BT187, it almost seems true. This car embodies an interesting history spanning the turbulent 1930s, the war years, and the post-war decades of Europe.

In 1937, the rolling chassis was supplied through the Dutch Rolls-Royce importer Grund & Co to Jonkheer Johannes A.G. Sandberg of Wassenaar, a passionate admirer of the marque. Notably, he chose to have the car bodied in Germany by Voll & Ruhrbeck of Berlin, a coachbuilder he had worked with for years. It was an unusual decision given the political climate of the time.

The car’s specification differed from the standard Phantom III. Rolls-Royce delivered it with unpainted aluminium wheel discs, a bonnet with rearward-slanting louvers, and elegant aluminium trim. Voll & Ruhrbeck created an elegant four-door cabriolet body fitted with metric instruments — a rarity for a British car. In July 1939, additional parts were ordered from Rolls-Royce, suggesting completion shortly thereafter. But the world was changing rapidly: in September the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, and by May 1940 the Netherlands had fallen. Whether Sandberg ever took delivery or drove the car remains uncertain. Contemporary headlines surely gave him cause for concern.

What is known is that the car came into German military possession and was used by senior officers in the Netherlands. After the 1945 surrender, the British took control of the Phantom and used it as staff transport for high-ranking officers, including General Sir Brian H. Robertson. It was later assigned to Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, the British High Commissioner in Germany, who officially acquired it in 1951.

Kirkpatrick brought the car back to the United Kingdom, selling it in 1954 to J. Marshall Dent of Warwickshire. After Dent’s passing in 1959, the Phantom crossed the Atlantic to the United States. It ultimately settled in Chicago, Illinois, where Roger S. McCormick — of the International Harvester family — purchased it in 1964. Following his death, the car changed hands until his daughter, Charlotte Deering McCormick, repurchased it in January 1982. She had it restored and regularly exhibited it, including at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
In 2011, the Phantom moved to Liechtenstein, and in 2021 was sold via auction to Switzerland. From Europe’s battlefields to America’s open highways and the Swiss Alps — and even the lawns of Pebble Beach — this Phantom III has truly seen the world.

With its V12 engine and luxuriously inviting interior, it remains an automobile built for what it does best: to be driven and enjoyed.

The 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Voll & Ruhrbeck Four-Door Cabriolet will be offered on 1 November by Broad Arrow Auctions during their Zürich Auction. With an estimated value between 200,000 and 300,000 CHF, it is attractively priced — especially considering its previous sale in 2021 for 455,000 CHF. More information can be found here.

Text by Laurens Klein

Details:

• The Zürich Auction by Broad Arrow Auctions
• November 1,, 2025
• Messe Zürich
• See all lots >>

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