GENERAL Montgomery’s wartime staff car that was modified at Winston Churchill’s request so he could smoke his cigars has sold for more than £100,000.
The 1936 Rolls Royce Phantom III Touring Limousine was requisitioned at the start of the war and assigned to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
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As well as Churchill, it also transported King George VI and US General Dwight D Eisenhower in the lead up to D-Day as planning for Operation Overlord intensified.
The wartime British prime minister insisted that a custom electric cigar lighter was fitted in the rear compartment for his personal use, which is still there today.
The VIPs were driven in it to Southwick House near Portsmouth where the planning for D-Day took place.
British Army supremo Monty’s chauffeur-driven vehicle became known as the ‘Green Car’ due to its British Racing Green and black livery.
After the war ended, it was reassigned to the Chief of Staff of the US Army Air Force, General Carl Spaatz.
In the 1950s, during the Suez Crisis, the car was purchased by a rubber-planter in Malaya and shipped to Penang.
The last owner bought the car, which is the only pre-war Rolls Royce powered by a V12 engine, at auction eight years ago.
And has now sold it with auctioneers Historics, of Iver, Bucks, who described it as an ‘extraordinary piece of history’.
The car sold to a UK buyer for over £100,000.
A Historics spokesperson said: “It is an extraordinary piece of history, with direct connections to some of the most iconic figures of the Second World War, including Field Marshal Montgomery and Winston Churchill.
“Montgomery used the Phantom III extensively, travelling between his homes in Virginia Water, Surrey, and London, as well as during his time at Southwick House near Portsmouth in the crucial months leading up to the D-Day invasion of Europe.
“This car was part of the tight security and secrecy surrounding those meetings.
“A particularly fascinating detail is the custom electric cigar lighter fitted in the rear compartment for Churchill’s personal use, still in place today.”
Mathew Priddy, Historics’ Head of Auctions, said: “We were thrilled to bring this hugely historical motorcar to auction and delighted that it has found a new home here in the UK.
“It’s exceptional to offer for sale a car which has such unparalleled provenance connected with British royalty and military leaders, particularly at the time of the 80th anniversary of VE Day.”
A total of 710 Phantom IIIs were built before production ceased due to the war, with fewer than 300 examples thought to exist today.
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