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Rolls-Royce luxes up Paddington Bear

There are few things quite as quintessentially British as Rolls-Royce and Paddington Bear. And now the two have come together in one glorious creation.
As part of a promotion for a new Paddington movie and to raise funds for the UK's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), London is decorating itself with a series of 50 sculptures reinterpreting the classic British children's character dotting the Paddington Trail across the city.
One of those installations has been created by Rolls-Royce, whose take on Paddington wears a brown leather duffel coat with a purple cravat and hat, a zebrawood suitcase and a pair of MK8 driving goggles that pay homage to the company's gentleman-racer history. He stands atop a chrome base modeled after Rolls' iconic Pantheon grille.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan's Viewing Suite seats are its tailgate party trick

It's one thing to flip down the rear bench of a Chrysler Town & Country parked at a scenic spot, sit on the folded-down backrest and look at the sunset. It's another thing to park a Rolls-Royce Cullinan on a similarly scenic spot and utilize the, ahem, Rolls-Royce Viewing Suite. Deployed at a touch of a button, the Viewing Suite is formed by two rear-facing leather chairs that emerge from the Cullinan's trunk. As well as the chairs, a cocktail table is fitted on the "luxuriously comfortable viewing platform" that enables a Cullinan owner to "take in the world's most breath-taking vistas or view a sports event or even watch their children take part in their school sports day," as Rolls-Royce suggests. While not explicitly mentioned, it's probably also perfectly suitable for a tailgate party with a couple cold ones fetched from a cooler while a ballgame plays on a portable TV. But as Rolls-Royce says, "Wherever one ventures, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Viewing Suite guarantees the best seat in the house." The Cullinan is likely to cast aside its camoflage come Geneva time next month. Recent spy shots have depicted the luxury SUV with suicide rear doors, a feature that most large SUVs do not have. Related Video: Featured Gallery Rolls-Royce Cullinan Viewing Platform Image Credit: Rolls-Royce Auto News Rolls-Royce SUV Luxury rolls-royce cullinan

The hottest modern sports cars rendered as rally racers

The modern-day World Rally Championship a monumental amount of fun to watch – I should know, as I recently was lucky enough to head to the UK to watch WRC Wales Rally GB – but even the most monstrous of the current WRC cars are based on fairly pedestrian European hatchbacks. Back in the heyday of rally, the Group B era in the 1980s, much hotter cars were the basis of even more incredible competition machines, for the most part. Take the exotic Ford RS200, or the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine. And the hatchback-based Group B cars were bonkers, too. So what would some of our favorite modern cars look like if Group B had never ended? A British site named CarWow hired an artist to reimagine everything from the Rolls-Royce Wraith to the Porsche 911 as a retro-inspired rally car, and they were kind enough to let us share the results in the gallery above. The gallery features an Alfa Romeo Giulia in Martini livery, an Audi TT in classic Ur-Quattro colors, a Fiat 500 Abarth sporting massive flares and a hood blister full of auxiliary lights, a new Ford Mustang in RS200 livery, a Lancia Delta in Alitalia colors, a Porsche 911 in Rothmans livery, a Renault-Alpine in classic blue, a Rolls-Royce Wraith tribute to the Jules cologne Corniche Coupe, and a relatively modern-looking VW Touran. So far, the favorite around the office is the incredible Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is an homage to the wonderful 300 SEL 6.8 AMG "Red Pig" that essentially put AMG on the map. Check out the gallery above and see which one you like the best. Related Video: