Andy Warhol's Prized One Of A Kind 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Arrow marks end of V12 coupe era

Rolls-Royce is offering luxury car fans one last taste of the velvet hammer. In marking the end of the line for the Wraith coupe and its sumptuous V-12 engine, Rolls Royce announced an extremely limited model: the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow edition. In keeping with it being the last V-12 coupe, Rolls-Royce is only making 12 of the cars — which are already subscribed to clients in other parts of the world, since Rolls delivered its last North American Wraith a little over a year ago. “As the last examples of this landmark motor car get ready to leave Goodwood, we commemorate WraithÂ’s status as the last series V12 coupe we will ever make,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos said in a statement. “This magnificent final V12 coupe Collection captures both the significance and spirit of Wraith through the marqueÂ’s hallmark and peerless Bespoke capabilities.” The Wraith debuted back in 2013 and was a big hit for Rolls-Royce fans looking for a modern interpretation of a Rolls-Royce coupe. The British automaker says it brought in a new, younger generation of buyers for the brand - with the coupe featured in popular movies and music. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In keep with RollsÂ’ bespoke capabilities as Muller-Otvos mentioned, the Black Arrow edition will use special open-pore Black Wood veneer for its internal panels, including a rear “waterfall” panel that separates the rear seats. The seats, door details, and lower dashboard panel will be lined with special new “club leather” materials, that feature enhanced color contrast and more natural leather markings. Rolls says this is to give drivers a more “club-armchair type of driving seat.” Of course the most important feature of this special edition is its V-12 engine. Here the 12-cylinder thatÂ’s so smooth one can barely hear it displaces 6.6 liters and outputs 624 horsepower and 605 lb-ft of torque. Yahoo Finance reviewed the standard Dawn Black Badge (the WraithÂ’s convertible sibling) and it was a smooth, powerful, and rather unique driving experience. Now this amount of luxury and exclusivity does not come cheap. While pricing was not released for this special edition Black Arrow, the standard Wraith coupe starts around $350,000.

The Rolls-Royce of cocktails is a coddling ride for your tastebuds

In our last installment of the irregular and irreverent series on drinks loosely connected to – or named after – automobiles, we sipped a Speedway Cocktail, a drink that was as exciting (and dangerous) as the early Indy 500. This time, we're stirring a Rolls-Royce Cocktail with a silver spoon. And, as always, enjoy cocktails (and reading about them) while you're not behind the wheel. If the rumors we hear are correct, Rolls-Royce will be unveiling an all-new Phantom this summer. The arrival of a flagship Roller isn't quite as rare as the coronation of a new member of the British Royal Family, but is tres recherche nonetheless. Since the nameplate's founding nearly 100 years ago, this will be only the eighth generation of Phantom to be delivered into the greedy hands of the world's vilest oligarchs. If you're one of the .01 percent, this is cause for a drink, and what better cocktail to raise in toast than one named for the brand itself? (For us 99.99 percenters, the answer is easy: Molotov.) As you might expect, the Rolls-Royce cocktail is kind of a classied-up version of an upscale iteration of an already elegant drink, conjugated from the classic (gin) martini and it well-married brother, the Martinez. "It's basically a very wet martini," says Paul Hletko, founder of FEW Spirits, an Evanston, Illinois gin and whiskey distillery acronymically (and winkingly) named for local maven Frances Elizabeth Willard, who helped found the Women's Christian Temperance Union – one of the forces behind Prohibition. "Two-to-one is a fantastic ratio of gin to vermouth that really lets the vermouth shine, and then having that split between dry and sweet vermouths gives you fantastic and rich complexity, with that little bit of Benedictine being that really nice herbal add," Hletko told us. It all sounds intriguingly botanical, and the drink itself has a reputation as being a favorite among bartenders, a coupe brimming with insider insight. "In the history of drinking there are many cocktails made with vermouth and gin," says legendary mixologist Charles Schumann from Schumann's Gastronomie in Munich.

Rolls-Royce builds its second Boat Tail, one with a pearl theme

Last year, Rolls-Royce introduced the stunning Boat Tail custom-built convertible. Even with a rumored cost of around $30 million, the company had three buyers. The second of the three cars has been revealed, and this one is themed around pearls. Apparently the buyer's father harvested pearls, and the buyer runs the business that stemmed from it. So that's where the theme came from, and Rolls-Royce ran with it. The exterior's rosy white paint with white and bronze flake, and the contrasting hood, are based on the oyster shells the buyer provided for inspiration. The rear deck features a walnut veneer with brushed-finish rose gold pinstripes. The Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament is also rose gold-plated. The interior has leather that matches the exterior paint. The center tunnel is again covered in the same walnut veneer as the rear deck. The clock and the gauges feature mother-of-pearl in the faces, and the clock's material came from the buyer's personal collection. As with the other Boat Tail models, the car has a split-opening rear that houses dishes and flatware, as well as an umbrella. The umbrella can be attached to the rear, and fold-out chairs allow the car to be the ultimate outdoor eating location. The entire car is also hand-built with custom aluminum panels. Powertrain details weren't given, though being based on the Phantom, it probably has the same turbocharged V12, eight-speed automatic and rear-wheel drive as the mainline sedan. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.