(FORTUNE Magazine) – For one view of what this year's economy might hold, look no further than January's Detroit Auto Show. Past the giant displays of General Motors, Ford, and Toyota was one of the tiniest stands in decrepit Cobo Hall: Rolls-Royce's. There you would have discovered that the $320,000 Phantom, which went on sale one year ago, is roaring out of showrooms.

While production snafus limited Rolls to sales of just 180 cars worldwide through November, 120 additional ones reached customers during the holiday season. Sales were similarly backloaded in the U.S.: 99 cars were delivered in the first 11 months, while another 70 found their way to the garages of the uber-rich in December. Demand was so feverish that the company airlifted cars to the U.S. from its factory in Goodwood, England. Rolls described the buyers as split evenly between celebrities and wealthy businesspeople. One Beverly Hills customer bought two: one from a dealer, the second at a charity auction.

More than 19 feet long and only slightly less imposing than the Queen Mary 2, the Phantom is not for the timid. While Rolls claims that its owners enjoy driving their own cars, piloting this behemoth provides all the sensory excitement of showering in a raincoat. The back seat, where passengers can relax shielded from public view, is where the action is.

Rolls's 2004 sales outlook continues to brighten. With its order book filled through May, it expects to sell out the factory's annual production capacity of 1,000 cars. Buyers who use ten digits to measure their net worth don't have to worry much about fluctuations in the economy, but isn't it nice to know that they're optimistic? --Alex Taylor III