Rolls-Royce Phantom V Chapron 'Rivers' Limousine

Information

A one-off design for Hollywood couple Marty and Margaret Skouras Martyn, designed by the American-born Osmond Rivers. The Martyns were highly involved in the creation of their car, with Mrs. Martyn specifying it to the tiniest detail, including designing the air-conditioning vents herself.

The actual creation of the design was carried out by Henri Chapron’s French atelier. San Francisco Society columnist Herb Caen noted, Mrs. Martyn was quite pleased with the result and reveals that she dusts the interior personally with a custom dustcloth made of imperial sables. Another more waggish news item listed the car’s accoutrements: …a built-in bar with crystal decanters, a three wave-length radio, a hidden umbrella slot, a drawer with compact and make-up mirror, and an air-conditioned humidor for cigars. It also has an engine.

The Martyns took delivery of the car from Franco-Britannic Automobiles of Paris at a rumored cost of $54,000, which would have made it the most expensive automobile in the world by far, at the time. In 1961, they took the Phantom V to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and won their class, an honor that it repeated in 1962 and 1967. William Eagleton of California, a representative of the Martyns, exhibited it at the Rolls-Royce Owners Club Western Inter-Regional Meet in 1968, winning Most Elegant Formal Car, and at the Western-California Meet in 1971, winning the Hooper Trophy. Many other regional shows were attended as well, with trophies often received.

Mrs. Martyn eventually gifted the car to the Petersen Automotive Museum, its second owner, from which it is now offered. It remains in original condition throughout and still has almost all original accessories which accompanied the car.