Sometimes, the blog posts just write themselves, you know?

If you want any further evidence about the vast transfer of wealth that has taken place over the last decade or so, look no further than this little tidbit. Rolls-Royce, makers of cars so over the top and ostentatious that even Alain de Cadenet can’t bring himself to say something nice about them are rolling out there latest coupe (or coupe’ if you want to really lather it on) in … well, RR doesn’t give specifics, oddly enough, they simply say “the Middle East”. I wonder why that is?

Speaking of specifics, RR does say that “the Coupé’s power is provided by the 6.75-litre V12 that produces 453 bhp, 720 Nm of torque and has segment-leading fuel economy.” Well, so much for never mentioning what a Rolls puts out under the hood, or at least saying that the power is “adequate”. Another tradition, forever lost, I suppose. 453 would have probably been called ‘just adequate’, since you know this thing tips the scales about equal with one of The Queen Mary’s props. Oh, and got to love the “has segment-leading fuel economy” bit. And which segment would that be Nigel, the “richer than Croesus” segment?

And get this: “The interior can be illuminated by an optional starlight headliner, more than 1,600 fibre-optics give the impression of a star-filled night sky.”

Stay classy Rolls-Royce.

Named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology, this one-off creation of Pininfarina was built at the request of Roland Hall. He apparently decided that his Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe wasn’t so special anymore, so he commissioned the good folks at Pininfarina to make his Roller look more fly than his neighbors’. The result: the interesting (odd?) creation you see here.

One thing of note: Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Pininfarina S.p.A., died while the car was being made. Roland Hall has decided to dedicate the car to his memory.

According to the press release, Pininfarina’s inspiration came from the classic luxury cars of the 1930’s. They wanted to emulate those classic proportions on the Hyperion— hence the long, surging hood, the smooth, fluid sides, and the classic two-seat grand tourer configuration. To accomplish this, Pininfarina made a rather big change to the interior of the original Rolls, because remember: though the Drophead is a coupe, it still has four seats. Pininfarina removed the rear seats, moved the cabin about 16 inches back, and then proceeded to remodel to whole exterior of the car: Continue Reading…

This is from a while back, 2007 actually, but I couldn’t help but stare at this fabulous machine. Called by Mansory the “Conquistador”, this is a Rolls-Royce Phantom that, with just a few visual changes, became something far more than a mere luxury automobile.

There are actually two versions, the 2007 and the newer 2008. I personally like the 2007 one, as Mansory made the new one two-tone white and black, which looks alright. However, pure black is so much nicer, especially on a car called “conqueror” . The old Conquistador, with its severe black suit, imparts a certain elegance and a sense of the refined, along with a darker, mightier, and more dangerous sense as well. Sort of like the Mafia godfather who absolutely NOBODY messes with. Or maybe it’s just me, once again giving cars attributes they don’t possess.

External modifications are plentiful, and, like it always is with Mansory, serve really no purpose other than to make the car look cool. Which is absolutely fine. Continue Reading…

The Geneva auto show is always an interesting event. For some reason, it always seemed to have a lot of British involvement; like they were trying to show the boys on the continent what the Brits could do, maybe it has something to do with Swiss neutrality, I don’t know.

At any rate, Roll Royce has decided to show a coupe variant of their Phantom at this years show in Geneva.

That, in and of itself, should have something to do with Bentley, and their Continental GT, Roll’s response to that upper end market segment etc., etc., etc., but it seems to be more than that.

All the specs, such as they are, are quite impressive. No doubt the power is listed as “adequate” or “more than adequate”. And it’s got enough creature comforts to make the Sultan of Brunei blush. Since it’s a coupe, however, there’s the implicit notion that “you’re driving this one yourself, guv’nor.

After all, how does m’Lord & m’Lady extricate themselves from the rear seats in a two door?

Perish the thought … best not to think about it and all that … obviously this is a vehicle intended for a self driven tour of points Continental, and a Gentleman would find the need to do that on occasion, one would have to admit.

And one would have to admit this would probably be a blast to do it in.

Now if they could just do something about that front end treatment.