1996 Rolls Royce Silver Spur Base Sedan 4-door 6.7l on 2040-cars

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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.

Recharge Wrap-up: Google Street View maps gas leaks, Rolls-Royce helps kids build electric racer

Google Street View is looking for gas leaks. Natural gas leaks are not only extremely dangerous, they're a terrible waste of resources and, as a greenhouse gas, a threat to the environment. Unfortunately, with the decaying infrastructure in many of America's older cities, they're pretty common, too. That's why Google is teaming up with the Environmental Defense Fund to map gas leaks. With sensors attached to the Street View cars, they are sniffing out methane leaks and documenting them. So far, they've covered Boston, Staten Island and Indianapolis, with Los Angeles and Syracuse up next. Read more over at Gizmodo. Consumer and environmental groups are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to change the way car advertisements disclose fuel economy. Nine groups, including Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists and Consumers Union, want mpg figures to be clearer and more complete. They have requested that when mpg is advertised, that it includes the EPA's city, highway and combined ratings. They also, among other requests, want mile-per-gallon-equivalent ratings for electric cars to state that they are for comparative purposes only, and to include separate gas and electric ratings for plug-ins and range extended EVs. See what else the groups have requested at Kicking Tires. Rolls-Royce has a new electric car, and it's not the 102EX. The luxury automaker worked with a group of elementary school students in the UK to build an electric car for the IET Formula Goblin project, where students build and race their own electric "car." Rolls-Royce lent the 9, 10 and 11 year-olds a bit of engineering and manufacturing assistance to build the car, which they then raced at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. Read more at World Car Fans, or check out the press release, below. ROLLS-ROYCE SUPPORTS LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOL'S RACING DEBUT A team of school children mentored and supported by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars successfully completed the Greenpower IET Formula Goblin race at the Goodwood Motor Circuit on Sunday. The group of 10 boys and girls from Years 5 and 6 built and piloted a specially developed electric car in a race against teams from schools across the UK. 'Team March', from the March CE Primary School adjacent to the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, finished well up the order and scooped the prize for 'Best Bodywork'.

Rolls-Royce Alpine Centenary Ghost makes its first North American appearance

Rolls-Royce choose this year's Shanghai Motor Show as the occasion to show off its achingly cool Alpine Trial Centenary Edition Ghost, but The Quail was the site of the car's North American coming out party.
The one-off Rolls pays tribute to a heroic moment in the marque's history, when four 1913 Silver Ghosts, three factory cars and one privateer entry, successfully completed the 1,820-mile Austrian Alpine Trials. The privateer racer in question, James Radley, is the gentleman responsible for the pretty color combination you see on this new Ghost. Radley's blue bodywork over black wheels looked great in 1913 and haven't lost any luster 100 years on to our eyes.
You can revisit the details about this historically rooted Rolls-Royce in the press release below, or simply take a stroll through our fresh gallery of images from The Quail.