1987 Rolls Royce Silver Spur Claret/ Garnet And Tan on 2040-cars

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Rolls-Royce's next bespoke project is a Dawn-based two-seater roadster

After the Sweptail, a customer-commissioned one-off coupe unveiled in 2017 and priced at $13 million, Rolls-Royce is transforming the Dawn into a two-seater roadster inspired by some of the opulent cars it made during the 1920s. The BMW-owned company released a quartet of early design sketches to preview the model. It's visibly based on the Dawn, which is a topless evolution of the Wraith, but it gains a tonneau cover that Rolls-Royce refers to as an Aero Cowling. Dark trim on both ends and a model-specific shade of silver add a finishing touch to the look. Although the interior images reveal little, Rolls-Royce noted every Silver Bullet will feature an open-pore carbon fiber insert and a quilted transmission tunnel whose design is inspired by leather jackets. All told, the company promised its next limited-edition car will "meld the nostalgia of the past with the sophisticated innovation of the future." Needless to say the Silver Bullet will be made almost entirely by hand in Goodwood, England. The firm made no mention of mechanical modifications. Power will likely come from the Dawn's 6.6-liter V12, which is twin-turbocharged to 563 horsepower and 605 pound-feet of torque in its standard configuration. We expect the Silver Bullet will benefit from the 593-horsepower, 620-pound-feet evolution of the V12 found in the Black Badge model, because the extra power would suit the model's touring pretensions rather well. Just 50 units of the Dawn Silver Bullet will be available worldwide. Pricing hasn't been announced yet, but keep in mind the standard model carries a base price of approximately $350,000. The company will encourage owners not to stash their roadster in a heated garage as an investment by organizing road trips they can participate in. Related Video:    

Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail a dark floral love letter to customization

Rolls-Royce's boat-themed custom vehicle developments have gone from the 2017 Sweptail to the 2021 Boat Tail and now the Droptail — to be precise, the La Rose Noire Droptail. This is the first of four coachbuilt Droptails, handed over in a private gathering near Pebble Beach to the family that commissioned it. The name La Rose Noire blows a kiss to the Black Baccara, a hybrid tea rose created in France around 25 years ago and a favorite of the matriarch in the family that commissioned the Rolls-Royce. The flower's petals shimmer from almost black to dark red-burgundy and pomegranate depending on the light and the angle of view. Two hues represent this fierce luster on the car: a deep red called True Love and a darker red called Mystery. Painters applied the iridescent True Love to the body with a secret base coat followed by five layers of clear lacquer, each lacquer layer blended with a slightly different tone of red. Rolls-Royce says it took more than 150 experiments to perfect the final product. True Love appears again on the Pantheon upper grille, the shade painted on the backs of the grille vanes. Rolls-Royce 3D-printed the lower intake in a composite material, accented with 202 stainless-steel ingots painted in True Love. Mystery bows on the 22-inch alloy wheels, contrasted with millwork that exposes the alloy spokes underneath. And a new chrome plating process created the darkly reflective Hydroshade tint of the brightwork. Removing the custom roof with its electrochromic glass panel reveals a cockpit that Rolls-Royce used to set new standards for its craftsmanship. The buyers wanted parquetry with a motif of scattering rose petals. Rolls-Royce decided the best way to achieve that would be to create and finish 1,603 Black Sycamore veneer triangles by hand, and lay 503 red veneer pieces asymmetrically among them to represent the petals. The woodwork runs across the instrument panel and in an element along the doors, then down the tail. The application was so intense that a single artist worked in one-hour stints no more than five hours a day in a sound-insulated room "to ensure the focus required."  Then there's the treasure in the instrument panel. The commissioning family went to Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet for a custom timepiece, a 43-millimeter Royal Oak Concept Split-Seconds Chronograph GMT Large Date.

Not every Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge comes in black

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — When Rolls-Royce recently unveiled the Cullinan Black Badge, the released press photos were of a very black car in a very black environment. But that did not match the car that was actually shown to the press. Quite the opposite, actually. The small event at the BMW Zentrum factory in South Carolina took place at night under a set of bright lights, and the car that came through the curtain wore a bright white body. We were fortunate enough to spend a brief time with the white Black Badge and snapped some photos of its details. As a reminder, all Black Badges have upgraded performance on top of the altered visual cues. Its twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V8 has been upgraded to make 600 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque, and the brakes, suspension and exhaust have been retuned as well. We spent an extremely limited amount of time in the Black Badge, so we cannot offer full comments about how it drives, but we can say the exhaust offers a nice insulated grumble in "Low" mode, the quickness off the line doesn't make any sense for a vehicle its size (trust us, it is huge), and it seemed controlled while cruising up the curves onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, where these photos were taken.  The white paint exaggerates the parts Rolls-Royce darkens on all Black Badge models. The Spirit of Ecstasy, the grille surround, the inverted badging, the side frame finishers, the trunk handle, the trunk trim, the lower air inlet finisher, and the exhaust pipes have all gone black. Inside, this particular Cullinan has a red leather interior with patterned carbon fiber accents. It also has light contrast stitching, which includes infinity signs, a symbol used on Sir Malcolm Campbell's Rolls-Royce-powered Blue Bird K3 hydroplane. Check out all the details, including the built-in event seats in the trunk, in our massive gallery above. Featured Gallery White Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan View 55 Photos Design/Style Rolls-Royce Luxury rolls-royce cullinan