[1][4] The Phantom was conceived by Mitchell as a retirement gift to himself and was also the last project for his Studio X, which had reopened to design the car.

"[2] In the words of Jerry Hirshberg, who would later become head of design at Nissan, Mitchell "was fighting old battles and withdrawing increasingly from a world that was being redefined by consumerism, Naderism and an emerging consciousness of the environment".

[3] Mitchell sent the car to the Milford Proving Grounds with the goal of impressing GM's board of directors.

However, when executive vice president of product planning and technical staffs Howard Kehrl saw the car, he ordered it to be removed from the proving grounds immediately.

[2] After designing the Phantom, Mitchell retired in 1977, holding the position of director of the General Motors Styling Division at the time.