2000 Rolls Royce Corniche In Black / Tan Leather Interior 11,300 Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

On this Rolls Ghost, diamonds are forever in the paint

Diamonds, the hardest rocks in the world, are found in everything from jewelry to tools – and now automotive paint. Rolls-Royce, a company happy to help paying customers indulge in one-of-a-kind, specially customized cars, has produced a long-wheelbase Ghost with a paint job featuring 1,000 crushed diamonds. It's called "Elegance," which seems like a pretty fitting name. One thing is for sure, the paint is dazzling in these photos. So the two months Rolls-Royce spent testing diamond paint finishes seem to have paid off. The rest of the car is a bit more run-of-the-mill Rolls-Royce, which is to say still pretty custom. It has hand-painted coachlines in red and black along the flanks, and the 21-inch wheels have matching red pinstripes. The color scheme is continued inside. Up front, everything is black, from the leather seats to the wool carpets. The sea of black is punctuated by red stitching and piping on the seats, as well as open-pore oak wood trim on the dash. In the back, the seats are a lighter gray leather with the same red stitching and piping. Our favorite part, though, is the plaid upholstery that lines the space in the front seats into which the rear tray tables fold. The car will be on display at the Geneva Motor Show alongside a few other older Rolls-Royce Bespoke models. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Oribe has a pottery theme and high-fashion interior

Rolls-Royce has developed quite a busy business with its Bespoke division. It creates specially customized one-off models for particularly wealthy clients. The latest is the Rolls-Royce Phantom Oribe, and it's one of the prettier and more interesting ones. The car was commissioned by a Japanese entrepreneur who collects old pottery from Japan called Oribe. That pottery often features green and white glazing, which provided the inspiration for the name and the color scheme of the Phantom. This particular Phantom was also a collaboration between Rolls-Royce and the French designer fashion brand Hermes, which provided all of the interior leather and canvas. That interior is really the highlight of the car. Most surfaces feature green and white leather to match the exterior. But the headliner and rear armrests receive a canvas fabric Hermes uses on some of its handbags. Walnut wood veneers decorate the doors, rear seat tables and dashboard. A unique touch is the lack of metal speaker grates. Instead, Rolls-Royce drilled out holes in the wood trim over the speakers. Additionally, the dashboard features an equine themed pattern that was hand painted. It was inspired by a particular style of scarves offered by Hermes. Both the car and fashion companies' logos appear on the glovebox door. This car is of course a one-off, so you won't see any more of them. Of course if you have the undoubtedly massive amounts of money to commission a Bespoke Rolls-Royce, you could probably request certain aspects of it on your own special car. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Weekly Recap: Ferrari pens a provocative F1 car of the future

Scuderia Ferrari unveiled its vision of the future for Formula One this week, revealing sketches of a sleek, muscular racecar. Called the Concept F1, Ferrari is showcasing the design to start a conversation about the next generation of Formula One cars and spur interest in the sport, which has been maligned for its unattractive racecars in recent years. The Concept F1 was penned by the company's in-house studio, Centro Stile Ferrari, with input from its aerodynamics department. Though the sketches look futuristic, the company says the design could be executed without changing F1 regulations. From its beginning, Ferrari's racecars have had both form and function, winning on the track and turning heads with everything from the 250 Testa Rossa, 330 P3, Michael Schumacher's single-seaters from the early 2000s and many others. That lineage led the Scuderia's leaders to survey the paddock, wring their hands and come up with the Concept F1. As Ferrari said on its website: "Our challenge was to create something that was – to put it short – better looking." It's a philosophy that was implemented for this season's car, the SF15-T. While not groundbreaking in appearance, Ferrari cleaned up the design, particularly up front, and the racecar now has a more attractive nose that delivers better aerodynamics. It's more of the same in back, where a tighter design creates more downforce. "This year's car is certainly an awful lot better looking than last year's car," Ferrari technical director James Allison said in a video on the Scuderia's website. The updates come as Ferrari, and all F1 teams, get a better handle on the extensive 2014 rule changes that brought back turbocharged engines and altered the aerodynamic regulations for the series. Less dramatic changes also are going into effect this year. Ferrari, which is coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the World Championship, is obviously looking to the future. Appearances have always mattered for the red cars. We'll see if they bring the Scuderia success this season and beyond. Other News and Notes Next-generation Chrysler Town & Country spied Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is hard at work on the next-gen Town & Country minivan, and our spy shooters have captured heavily covered prototypes during testing on the road. We can't tell anything about the exterior design, though we see glimpses of an instrument panel (which looks vaguely Dodge Charger-esque) and infotainment screen inside.