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Corniche Comeback: New Rolls-Royce coupe spotted testing

It's been over a decade since Rolls-Royce last offered a Corniche, which was the company's name for its unibody coupe and convertible models since the early 1970s. But from the looks of what our photographers recently snapped in Munich, that drought may soon be over.
What they've spied is the 2014 Rolls-Royce Corniche coupe, a forthcoming model based on the Rolls-Royce Ghost. Never mind the fake door handles and rear doors on the test mules, the production Corniche will have just two suicide doors like its big brother the Phantom coupe.
Powertrain will probably be carried over from the Ghost sedan, meaning a 6.6-liter V12. We suspect that BMW will roll out its new Roller at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2013. Until then, our spies will keep their eyes open for more prototypes, including the oft-rumored convertible.

Lucky ducks rescued, ride in a Rolls-Royce to their new Goodwood home

The phrase "put it on the bill" has taken on a new meaning at Rolls-Royce's Goodwood, England, factory. The firm now shares its headquarters with 15 ducks that were rescued earlier in 2020 and re-released as adults. Rolls-Royce explained that James Caffrey, one of its security guards, spotted a group of seven ducklings in a company parking lot in April 2020. He spent several hours observing the unexpected visitors from a distance before realizing that the mother duck wasn't coming back. Concerned, he captured the birds with the help of colleagues and sent them to the Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital, which cares for sick, injured, and orphaned animals. Brent Lodge's goal is to release animals back into their natural habitat as soon as possible, not to keep them in captivity. The seven siblings were reared into adulthood and sent back to Rolls-Royce's headquarters, along with eight additional ducks that were also rescued locally. The group traveled to Goodwood in the back of a Cullinan, an honor that few humans — let alone birds — experience. They traveled in cages, letting ducks loose in an SUV would be disastrous, and Rolls-Royce joked its engineers are now looking into using ducks as a unit to measure trunk space. Rolls-Royce's new tenants live near the lakes that are next to its factory, so they're fully self-sufficient. There is enough food available to sustain the entire clan. We don't know whether they'll be asked to contribute something in exchange for living at Goodwood; the 250,000 bees the firm keeps make honey that's exclusively served to guests, like customers who fly in to pick up a car. If duck eggs come with your new Phantom, you'll know why. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Car companies used to cook up sales with recipe books

The evolution of automotive marketing has undergone a number of strange phases. Few, though, match the strangeness of the 1930s to 1950s, when automotive marketers turned to cookbooks as a means of promoting their vehicles. Yes, cookbooks. We can't make this stuff up, folks.
This bizarre trend led to General Motors distributing cookbooks under the guise of its then-subsidiary Frigidaire. Ford, meanwhile, offered a compilation of recipes from Ford Credit Employees (shown above). The cookbook-craze wasn't limited to domestic manufacturers, though. As The Detroit News discovered, both Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen got in on the trend, although not until the 1970s.
The News has the full story on this strange bit of marketing. Head over and take a look.