Car history nerds know that 120 years ago this year, Rolls met Royce. But did you know that a Silver Cloud once met … a Corvette?

Welcome to the latest custom-built creation of Wisconsin-based hot-rod shop Ringbrothers, a 1969 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II. Though it debuted last year at the industry-only SEMA show, brothers Mike and Jim Ring brought it to Jay Leno’s Garage last week, and we couldn’t resist another chance to savor the coolness of this lovingly crafted hot-rod.

This week’s featured car on Jay Leno’s Garage is Leno’s own Spectre, Rolls’ first all-electric car (read our review of the model here), but a ’60s Silver Cloud is probably more in line with what most people imagine when they hear the words “Rolls Royce.” Leno, ever the comedian, tells the story of driving a similar model, loaned to his shop by a friend who bought it for $15K and wanted Jay’s staff to help him fix it up. “I pull up to a light and look over, a guy gives me the finger!” Leno says. It’s all smiles and waves, he says, when he drives his McLaren F1, valued around $20,000,000. But in the Rolls? “I look like a landlord—c’mon, gimme the rent!'”

This 1961 example came to the Ringbrothers shop wearing not white but baby blue. Under its hood was the engine that Rolls built it with, an aluminum-block 6230-cc V-8 topped with two single-barrel SU carburetors and making 230 hp.

At first glance, only Rolls-Royce faithful would spot anything different about this Silver Cloud, because Brothers Jim and Mike Ring kept external modifications to an absolute minimum. The clues are in the size of the wheels—18 inches in diameter rather than 15—and in the bulbs in the taillights and front turn signals, which are LEDs.

All you have to do, of course, is click “play” on this video to realize that something is very, very different about this Rolls. A supercharger whine gives away the secret: A LT4 V-8, the same engine that Chevrolet put in the C7 Z06, sits below the center-hinged hood of this British beauty. It’s backed by a ten-speed automatic transmission and kept in rein by a beefy set of Baer brakes: Six-piston calipers clamping 15-inch rotors, hid behind a set of EVOD Industries wheels whose caps are self-leveling affairs bearing the twin Rs of the Rolls name.

Ringbrothers fit the new powertrain into the car thanks to a chassis swap. They scanned the original frame, then worked with fellow industry veterans Roadster Shop to craft a modern version in steel. The fully independent suspension is similarly modern, thanks to a six-inch RS SV coilover from Fox at each wheel. Ringbrothers shopped freely from the GM catalog to build this 640-hp beast: The sway bars use end links from a C6 Corvette. The exhaust is from a Cadillac ATS-V, chosen (and modified) by the brothers for its dual-mode function: “As you jump on it it doesn’t get a whole lot louder, but it does open a second set of pipes.”

And Leno does jump on it: In the back seat, Jim is shoved backwards by the acceleration. Mike and Leno wear giant grins, and Leno lets out a yeehaw!

Just how fast is this cosmopolitan Brit? To find out, Ringbrothers raced it against a modern Rolls, a 2023 Rolls-Royce Phantom, powered by a twin-turbo V-12 making 563 hp. We won’t spoil the surprise … have a watch below:

Changes to the interior are similarly understated: Instead of a glovebox to the right of the steering wheel, there’s an air conditioning vent. The outlines of the dash are the same, but the wood color is different—the panels are actually aluminum, hydrodipped to look like a lighter, more modern-looking wood. The headliner mimicks the $13,000 Starlight one on modern Rolls-Royces—the customer wanted the ceiling to look like that of his modern Rolls. Why not, you know?

Jay Leno repeatedly praises the build quality of the Ring brothers’ shop, honking the horn to emphasize their attention to detail, and enthusiastically declaring: “So fun having a Rolls-Royce that handles!” As always, we’re re-watching the video, wishing for our own turn behind the wheel. The combination of V-8 roar and supercharger whine, though, is good enough for now.

It’s increasingly fashionable these days to EV-swap a Rolls. If you had a Silver Cloud, what would you do: Leave it stock, swap in batteries for an ultra-silent experience, or start browsing Chevrolet crate engines?

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Barrett-Jackson has been coming to Palm Beach (technically, West Palm Beach) at the South Florida Fairgrounds since the mid-2000s, making this the auction house’s most enduring auction that’s not in Arizona. B-J’s sale here consistently brings over 600 vehicles and dozens of vendors to the venue for a smaller version of the collector car fanfare we’re used to seeing in and around Scottsdale. This year, total sales were a solid $45M and average price was rather high at more than $74,000, but there were plenty of budget-friendly four-figure classics as well.

Indeed, Palm Beach usually offers a wide range of vehicles at a wide range of prices, and this year was no different, although offerings at the top end were less diverse. Five of the top 10 sales were a Ford GT of some sort, and eight of the top 10 were built after the year 2000. Only a 1966 Corvette restomod and the replica Dodge Daytona from Joe Dirt brought some American muscle into the top 10.

We examined some of the more interesting cars and significant sales in detail below.

Lot 692: 1972 DeTomaso Pantera

Sold for $176,000

Chassis no. THPNMB02424. Red over black vinyl. Visually maintained, largely original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 351/330hp, 5-speed, Campagnolo wheels, Becker Europa radio, power windows, air conditioning.

Condition: Represented with 1592 actual miles and its preservation is impressive. It shows careful ownership and only light age inside and out, although the paint does not look original.

Bottom line: An early Pantera that hasn’t been cut up or modified is already impressive, doubly so when it is as well preserved as this. The car has been to auction a few times, and bidders have always appropriately recognized its originality by paying a premium price for it. Its auction history also does a good job of tracing the market for these Italo-American sports cars over time. At Mecum Indy in 2014, it sold for $86,400. At Indy again six years later and in a hot 2020 market, it sold for $148,500. At Kissimmee 2022 and in an even hotter market, it brought $181,500, while in 2024 among softer but still high prices it took a small step back in price.

Lot 677: 1987 Buick Regal GNX

Sold for $156,200

Chassis no. 1G4GJ1174HP451735. Black over black and gray cloth. Unrestored original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 231/276hp, automatic, Goodyear Eagle tires.

Condition: Number 438 of 547 built. Showing 1309 miles and the tires are represented as original. Very well kept and preserved.

Bottom line: The GNX was one of the fastest and most desirable American cars of the 1980s. They’ve never really fallen out of favor, but it wasn’t until the last few years that they became six-figure modern collector cars. Way back in 2000, this one sold at RM’s Phoenix auction for just $30,800. Its odometer showed 534 miles and it was in essentially the same condition as it is today. It really is worth five times as much as it was 24 years ago.

Lot 745: 2005 Ford GT Twin-Turbo by Hefner Performance

Sold for $374,000

Chassis no. 1FAFP90SX5Y400061. Midnight Blue with white stripes over black.

Equipment: Twin-turbocharged, Ford Performance exhaust, shorty headers, Penske shocks, transmission oil cooler, removed rear bumper, 6-speed, painted calipers, McIntosh stereo, BBS wheels.

Condition: Paint shows some swirling and scratching but no major issues. Oddly, neither the mileage nor the horsepower numbers are represented.

Bottom line: This is an early production GT modified by an outfit in Florida, and although there are no dyno sheets, it is surely very fast. To drive, it’s probably a blast. As a collector car, though, the mods and the signs of use are knocks against it, and there are cleaner 2005-06 GTs to choose from that hit the auction block every month. Or even the same day, as the 597-mile car Barrett-Jackson sold 20 lots earlier than this brought $451,000.

Lot 440: 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet by Gemballa

Sold for $110,000

Chassis no. WP0CB2965LS472097. Black over black leather. Original, #3+

Equipment: 3.6, 5-speed, whale tail, Gemballa wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport tires, white gauges, Pioneer stereo, carbon fiber dash.

Condition: Showing 75,514 miles. Some minor paint blemishes on the nose and mirrors. A few small cracks in the headlight covers. Clean wheels. Clean, straight top. Good interior with stretched upholstery on the driver’s side. Pretty understated for a Gemballa.

Bottom line: Uwe Gemballa founded a tuning company in 1981 and became a big name in modern coachbuilding, at least until he was murdered in South Africa in 2010. Gemballa-modified cars (mostly Porsches) are distinctive at best and ugly at worst, but they’ve never been boring, even if this is one of the more understated body kits they ever did. Body-kitted and tuned exotics like Gemballas, Koenigs, early AMGs, etc. were a bit passé for a while but collectors of a certain age are coming around to them. The bidders recognized this one for what it is, and that it isn’t just a 911 with a kit slapped on at the local body shop. Despite its use, the car sold for a big price. A regular 964-generation Carrera 4 cabriolet would never sell for this much, even in perfect condition.

Lot 356: 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

Sold for $27,500

Chassis no. SRK38123. Chestnut over biscuit leather. Visually maintained, largely underneath.

Equipment: Automatic, wheel covers, narrow whitewalls, power windows, air conditioning, original AM/FM.

Condition: Supposedly bought “nearly new” for talk show host Jack Paar as a gift from his wife. Represented with $30,000 worth of work over the past six months. Old repaint with a few blemishes but nothing serious. Lightly aged bumpers. Excellent interior. Tidy underneath. The recent mechanical work is very reassuring on any old Rolls-Royce, and the celebrity connection, while not super-relevant, is a nice bonus.

Bottom line: Jack Paar was a TV pioneer, but the number of people who really remember his tenure at The Tonight Show (1957-62) can’t be big. He also wasn’t known as a big car person (at least not the way later host Jay Leno is), and he owned this Rolls well past the peak of his career. The celebrity appeal here, then, is limited. The price, however, is on the high side for a Silver Shadow—one of the avenues to getting a true Spirit of Ecstasy on your hood. Credit the $30,000 worth of recent service, which isn’t usually lavished on affordable Rolls-Royces like this one.

Lot 675.1: 1999 Shelby Series 1

Sold for $165,000

Chassis no. 5CXSA1817XL000039. Silver with blue stripes over black and gray. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 244/320hp Oldsmobile V8, 6-speed, Nitto tires.

Condition: Some chips on the nose and dirt behind the headlight covers. Paint crack behind the left headlight. Very light wear on the driver’s seat. Showing 1360 miles and showing very light signs of age.

Bottom line: Despite its looks, the Series I wasn’t quite the Cobra successor it could have been, and people have been holding that against it ever since it came out. Original specifications called for a carbon-fiber body, Corvette transaxle, and 500 horsepower, but the reality was more modest. It got heavier, and the Olds V8 offered up less power, and the price climbed higher than anticipated. Objectively, it’s a great-looking car that’s plenty fast, but it’s always been undervalued relative to its rarity (249 built) and the famous name attached to it. Only in the past 10 years or so have prices really started to climb. In Palm Beach two years ago, this one sold for $126,500, which was on the modest side. The 2024 price is a better match for its mileage and condition.

Lot 788: 1961 Renault 4CV Jolly Beach Wagon

Sold for $36,300

Chassis no. 3607757. Cream yellow with yellow and white cloth top over wicker seats. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 747/21hp four-cylinder, 3-speed, hub caps.

Condition: Represented as one of 50 exported to the U.S. and Caribbean, and bought new by the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas. With the same family for the past 40 years and restored 10 years ago. Good paint. Light pitting on the chrome, including on the edges of the exterior grab bars. The wicker is all original and in solid shape aside from a few cracks. The dash and steering wheel are mostly clean, but the ignition around the keyhole is pitted. The top is a little dirty and aged. A perfect beach car with all the charm of a Fiat Jolly but for a lower cost.

Bottom line: Most of coachbuilder Ghia’s beach car, aka “Jolly”, bodies were on Fiats. The Italian cars are better known and more highly prized. Well-restored ones have sold for well over $100,000. But this Renault has all the charm and similar performance, or lack thereof, for a much lower cost. Are there cheaper ways to hit the beach in style? Certainly, but this is still so much charm and fun per dollar.

Lot 767.1: 2020 Porsche Boxster 718 Spyder

Sold for $126,500

Chassis no. WP0CC2A8XLS240606. Chalk with red top over red and gray. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 4.0/414hp, 6-speed, black wheels, red calipers, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.

Condition: Showing 8086 miles and no real age or wear.

Bottom line: Six figures for a Boxster just sounds wrong, but the 718 Spyder is not your hairdresser’s Boxster. Essentially an open version of the Cayman GT4, it has aero bits on the body, suspension bits and brakes from a 911 GT3, and a much more powerful engine than the base car. It can hit nearly 190 mph. A 2020 718 Spyder started at a little over $97K, so with options this has always been a six-figure car, and the fact that a high-performance Porsche didn’t depreciate after four years and 8000 miles isn’t really surprising.

Lot 370.1: 1970 AMC Rebel Machine

Sold for $69,300

Chassis no. A0M190Y171202. White, blue and red over black vinyl. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 390/340hp, 4-speed with Hurst T-handle shifter, limited-slip and Detroit Locker, Magnum 500-style wheels, BFG Radial T/A tires, high-back bucket seats, console.

Condition: Decent paint with some scratches and touch-ups on the nose and a spot of surface rust under one of the headlights. Decent chrome, but the rest of the brightwork is original and tired. Clean wheels and tires. Upholstery looks newer while the dash and switchgear looks original, and overall the interior looks good. Inconsistent presentation, but a rare piece of AMC muscle that always makes a statement, and a patriotic one at that.

Bottom line: The Rebel was a short-lived model, only lasting from 1967 to 1970, and for its final year Hurst developed a high-performance version called the Rebel Machine. Based on a Rebel SST, it had the most powerful engine available in an AMC product and was dressed up with red, white, and blue reflective stripes. For 2326 buyers, it was an economical way to get in on the peak of the muscle car craze. They’re still economical, at least relative to their style, performance, and rarity. This result is realistic for the condition of this example.

Lot 791.1: 1996 Nissan Skyline GT-R LM Limited

Sold for $105,600

Chassis no. BCNR33023215. Championship Blue over gray cloth. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: RHD. 2568/276hp, 5-speed with aftermarket shift knob, alloy wheels, Brembo brakes, aftermarket radio, aftermarket exhaust.

Condition: One of 188 LM Limited GT-Rs. Showing 118,190 km (73,440 miles) but recently serviced and looks quite good with a recent detailing. The paint and wheels are blemish-free. It’s clean underneath and the interior looks great as well.

Bottom line: Built briefly in the spring of 1996, the LM Limited was built to celebrate Nissan’s efforts at Le Mans with the R33-generation GT-R, even though those efforts were unsuccessful after four tries at La Sarthe. All 188 cars got Championship Blue paint, special decals, a carbon spoiler blade, different cooling ducts, and a bonnet lip. This is one of the more valuable variants of the R33 (1995-98). The price here seems a bit modest given the mileage and condition, but this auction was also very light on JDM favorites and the right bidders may just not have been in the room.

Lot 731: 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Mk I Vantage Coupe

Sold for $238,700

Chassis no. DB62805R. Fiesta Red over gray leather. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: RHD. 3995/325hp, 5-speed, wire wheels, Vredestein tires, wood rim steering wheel, radio.

Condition: Restored in the late 1990s in the UK by RS Williams. Good older paint and chrome. Tidy, visibly but lightly run engine. Lightly aged and wrinkled leather. Older paint. Grimy underbody. Lightly aged restoration on a well-equipped Aston.

Bottom line: This DB6 isn’t perfect and the RHD is a knock to its desirability, but it’s a genuine Vantage wearing a high-quality (if older) restoration by a well-known specialist. It sold for $240,00 on Bring a Trailer just a few months ago in February, with unanswered questions and a lien on the car putting off bidders there. A $240K sale price is very low, low enough that taking it straight to Barrett-Jackson for a flip probably seemed like easy money. But it wasn’t, and given the fee structure of Bring a Trailer vs. B-J, the seller actually lost quite a bit of money here.

Lot 742: 2022 Ford GT Alan Mann Heritage Edition

Sold for $1,292,500

Chassis no. 2FAGP9EW4NH200027. Alan Mann Red, gold and white over black. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 213/660hp V6, paddle-shift 7-speed.

Condition: 16 miles, looks new, and pretty much is.

Bottom line: Ford spun off 10 different special editions of the 2016-22 GT, many of them playing on the theme of “Heritage.” The Alan Mann version is a tribute to Alan Mann Racing, the English team that raced GT40s in the ’60s as well as other Ford products like the Falcon, Lotus Cortina, and Escort. Alan Mann also gave the Mustang its first race victory in 1964. Just 30 examples of this special edition GT were produced for 2022. There were seven different Heritage Edition GTs, and whereas base cars typically sell for just under $1M these days, somewhere around $1.2M is more the norm for the Heritage cars.

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It’s perhaps the most auspicious date in British motoring history. May 4 1904 was the day that The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce first met and the hyphenation was almost immediate.

Actually, the Rolls-Royce origin story truly begins in 1902 as that’s when, 200-miles apart, both Rolls and Royce were making their first moves in the fledgling automobile business.

In London, Rolls, an aviation enthusiast and early racing pioneer, set up one of the capital’s first car dealerships, selling Peugeots and Minervas imported from France and Belgium. These cars were perfect for his well-heeled clients in posh Fulham, but Rolls would much rather that they bought British.

In Manchester, electrical engineer Henry Royce had similar ideas. Cheaper imports were undercutting his business and he needed to diversify. Inspired by reading The Automobile: Its Construction and Management by Lavergne Gerard, Royce purchased a 10 H.P. Decauville from France and set about dismantling it, and working out how to improve it. He redesigned the bearings, radiator, carburation, transmission, reduced the weight, and built his own twin-cylinder engine.

The Royce 10 H.P. had its first road test on April 1 1904 and its inventor began loaning it out to potential customers. Among them was Henry Edmunds, a friend of Rolls who waxed lyrical to his chum about the new motor car. Rolls travelled to Manchester to see it for himself.

When Rolls met Royce the chemistry was instant. The aristocratic Cambridge graduate and the northern engineer couldn’t have been much further apart in background, or indeed, in manner, yet they bonded over their passion for the car. That very day Rolls declared that he would sell every car Royce could build and to mark their partnership a new company would be formed: Rolls-Royce.

Before the year was out the first Rolls-Royce 10 H.P. was on sale, featuring a raft of improvements over Royce’s first iteration. “Take the best and make it better,” was Royce’s dogma that the company still lives by 120 years later.

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Silver Needle is among the most expensive, most prized tea varietals in the world. Traditionally grown in the mountains of China’s Fujian Province, Silver Needle is made exclusively from the fuzzy, shoot-shaped top buds of the tea plant, plucked before they open. Harvesting of the most prized buds takes place during the March-April “first flush,” and ideally in the early morning when the sun has dried any overnight dew. Plucked shoots are then laid out in baskets to further dry under the sun, lightly oxidizing before they are baked at low temperature. Silver Needle tea is savored worldwide for its delicacy, light sweetness, and exquisitely refined flavor lacking any astringency. It is, in many ways, the Rolls-Royce of fine teas. The Spectre is that British automaker’s latest brew.

Rolls-Royce has always been about outright elegance and extreme refinement. I’ve ridden in a handful of old ones, including a ‘50s Silver Cloud, and driven newer examples—the Wraith, Ghost, and Cullinan. Each felt wonderful in its own way. The 2024 Spectre, Rolls-Royce’s first all-electric car, is remarkable not because of any particular advancement, but rather for how effectively it harnesses EV technology to deliver the brand’s trademark characteristic: effortlessness.

An electric drivetrain has scarcely ever been more suited to its intended use. Everything that makes EVs impractical as daily drivers (cost, available charging infrastructure, charging speeds) and uninspiring for sports cars (vapid-feeling motors, lack of sound, weight) is unimportant for an ultra-luxury machine like this. A range of 266 miles (for models with 23-inch wheels, or 291 miles with 22-inch wheels) should be plenty when the average Spectre owner has seven cars, any number of which may have gas engines for longer trips. Still, it’s not much for a car costing this much money, and it should be noted that newcomer Lucid’s base Air claims more than 400 miles of range. Contrary to reputation, Rolls owners in the United States tend to drive their cars themselves and don’t have a chauffeur. Which is to say, they drive because they want to, not because they need to. When a car trip isn’t to their preference, yachts or private jets suffice. 

Barge-like mass is practically a requirement for a Rolls-Royce, and exquisite quietude has long been a hallmark of these cars, whether they packed V-8s or V-12s. Spectre engineers targeted a 0-60-mph sprint of 4.4 seconds—optimal, in their view, to deliver immediate passing power that nevertheless remains smooth and doesn’t throw passengers around. The sheer concept of Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode, to the comfort-obsessed boffins in Goodwood, must seem, well, ludicrous.

Specs: 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre

• Price: $500,000+ (est.); $424,750 (base)
• Powertrain: 102-kWh lithium-ion battery, 2 separately excited synchronous motors (190 kW front; 360 kW rear)
• Output: 584 hp; 663 lb-ft
• Layout: Twin-motor, four-passenger, all-wheel-drive coupe
• EPA Range: 266 miles (23-inch wheels); 291 miles (22-inch wheels)
• 0-60 mph: 4.4 seconds
• Competition: Strictly speaking, nothing lines up apples-to-apples.

New for 2024, the Spectre rides on the same Architecture of Luxury platform as the Cullinan SUV and Ghost sedan. According to a company press release, the all-aluminum spaceframe was engineered and designed from the outset to accommodate pure electric power “as and when the technology became available.” The Spectre uses a 400V electrical system and includes two separately excited synchronous electric motors, one on each axle, capable of producing 584 hp and 663 lb-ft of total output. The battery is a 102-kWh lithium-ion unit, shared with the BMW i7, and alone accounts for 1543 of the Spectre’s 6371 pounds. Rolls-Royce boasts that by integrating the battery into the body structure, the spaceframe is 30 percent stiffer than any prior model from the brand. Another bonus: the battery’s low position serves as a large brick of insulation from road and wind noise.

The base price for a 2024 Spectre is $424,750, before options. Most owners will spec their cars beyond $500,000. Our Arctic White test car wore no official window sticker, but the spec sheet glittered with the following goodies: Aero Two-Tone paint, polished 23-inch wheels, a Navy and Charles Blue interior scheme, open-pore Mimosa Negra wood interior trim, contrast stitching in white, stowable blue umbrellas, a “bespoke” clock, illuminated treadplates, ventilated massage seats, and a “Starlight” headliner that extends onto the doors with 4796 individual points of lights.

The interior is eerily quiet, such that the HVAC system produces substantially more noise than the powertrain. Every single object and texture within reach is utterly beautiful to touch or look at. Knobs find their little detents with satisfying precision. The steering wheel is gorgeous, simple, and has a pleasant but controllable heft at any speed. The exposed wood is finished in such a way that you can appreciate the grain of the wood while also sensing that it is almost perfectly even and smooth in its curvature. Despite this downright overwhelming exuberance, the interior’s fundamental layout is crisp and simple—a far cry from the tech-laden, pixelated song-and-dance in BMW, Audi, and Mercedes flagships. This is intentional, as if the car wants you to say “hmm,” and “oh,” rather than an immediate “wow.” The lambswool carpet on the floor of the back row feels orders of magnitude softer than any piece of clothing I’ve ever owned. The new instrument cluster is all-digital, but the display mimics traditional gauges and is blessedly free of corny gimmicks.

The Spectre seats four, but only nominally in the way that the Porsche 911 does. What oil baron is going to shame their friends, colleagues, or even children by asking they duck in the back row, plush and extraordinary as it is? That sloping roofline does not allow for generous rear-seat headroom. More so than the Cullinan or Ghost, the Spectre is for the driver rather than the passenger. Even without a companion on board, you can feel like an entire orchestra is there with you thanks the the 18-speaker, 1400-watt Bespoke Audio system. It offers a stunning tapestry of sound that is all the more impressive and enjoyable with no competing sound from the rest of the car to distract your ears.

Out on the roads in metro Detroit’s more posh suburbs, the Spectre glides over potholes and rough pavement like they’re not even there. The floatiness is at first bizarre and even disconcerting, especially when approaching a corner, but you quickly learn to trust the car’s electronic body control. Using a variety of sensors and GPS data, the Spectre can automatically disconnect its anti-roll bars on straight roads to let each wheel react to road conditions without disrupting the wheel on the other end of the axle. Over highways with repeated, visible expansion joints, it works so well you’d think the road was runway-smooth. (Not having to think about it at all is more the point.) When a corner approaches, the system reconnects and stiffens suspension dampers in anticipation.

It is not an exaggeration to say I could have one-handed the steering wheel and comfortably sipped a cup of hot tea. Probably wouldn’t have spilled a drop, either.

Part of what makes all this possible is a new software architecture known as Decentralized Intelligence; the setup features dedicated data processors positioned close to their sensor source, rather than through a single central processing unit, to “respond more quickly to driver inputs and changing road conditions.”

A four-wheel steering system aids handling; engineers chose to use a 12-volt motor for this application, rather than a 48-volt unit, because the latter’s torque would have required a stiffer attachment where the half-shaft meets the wheel, resulting in harsher feedback for the driver. The system is most noticeable at low speeds and in parking lots. At 215.55 inches long, the Spectre is less than an inch shorter than the outgoing Wraith, so every bit of help turning it on its axis is necessary. It’s no tougher to park than a mid-size sedan, which feels odd when you remember this behemoth is six inches longer than a regular-cab F-150.

Out of curiosity, I floored the accelerator from a dead stop on an empty, picket-fence-lined road. There was no scramble of clawing wheels, no cheesy Tron-like whir noises pumping through the speakers, no dramatic thrust back into the leather throne as the car reared on its ample haunches. The Spectre simply… went. Not unpleasantly, mind you, but rather in the very English sense of simply getting on with it. For me, the real achievement of this car is that driving it doesn’t feel like an artificial cloud devoid of feedback. The body moves when you swing it into a hard corner, but just so. Braking hard from a high speed does elicit a sense of sheer mass, communicated through the pressure in the brake pedal, that’s quite distinct from what you feel slowly rolling to a stop. It’s one of the only moments you remember what a large vehicle you’re driving. One-pedal driving in max-regen “B mode” is also possible, but at times the brake pedal felt strange and unnatural when used in this mode.

We didn’t have the opportunity to use any charging services, but Rolls-Royce claims that the Spectre’s battery takes 34 minutes on a 195-kW DC fast charger (Level 3) to go from a 10 to 80 percent charge. Just don’t expect to see a Spectre parked at a city charging station or the dinky setup at to your local Kum & Go—Rolls owners drive their cars, on average, just 3200 miles a year and one can expect that almost all EV charging will happen at owners’ homes, luxury hotels, or similar tucked-away locations.

Rolls-Royce has said it plans to have a fully electric lineup by 2030. The brand’s embrace of EV technology is strategic not just because of the perceived benefits to its products, but also as a means of aligning with its customer base’s preferences. According to PR spokesperson Gerry Spahn, Rolls has been working hard to lower the average age of its clientele over the past decade or so. The average owner is now 43, which is “considerably less stodgy” than when the modern Phantom launched in 2003. “That first Phantom was very formal, targeted at older drivers,” said Spahn. “By 2009-2010, the Ghost was bringing in younger, newer wealth in the 40-to-50 age range. Then, the Dawn and Wraith, around 2015, brought in a whole wave of young entrepreneurs who struck it big.” 

Forty percent of Spectre buyers will be taking delivery of their first Rolls-Royce, and, Spahn said, many of these customers “want the car for its social benefits.” Translation: the ability for an owner to say that they drive an EV, rather than an emissions-spewing gas car. Notwithstanding the ongoing debate around the true environmental impact of electric cars and batteries, let alone the contradiction of an average owner of six cars and a $425,000-plus Rolls-Royce trying to make any statement about sustainability, it’s obvious that cachet and status are important considerations in this ultra-elite social stratum. 

The Spectre is, in many ways, the slab-sided silent hovership of the ultra-elite’s dreams. It can be completely personalized to the customer’s taste, such that it represents not only their preferences but functions “as a monument to their achievements,” in Spahn’s words. Rolls-Royce points out that, in 1900, company co-founder Charles Stewart Rolls saw potential in the electric car: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.” 

Charging stations are being arranged nationwide, albeit piecemeal and with inconsistent reliability for the masses. A Rolls-Royce, however, makes a highly convincing use case as the ideal application of EV technology—among the most economically privileged class, anyway. These fortunate few can lay back in their gorgeous leather seats, stare at the simulated stars in the headliner, and fondle the painstakingly crafted materials in their cockpit that have been shaped from untold man-hours of expert processing. It is a haven from which the astringency of life is reduced to less than a whisper, quiet enough to practically hear the steam rising from a cup of Silver Needle.

2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre

Highs: As quiet as a car could reasonably be. Rides like a dream. Looks, feels, smells, sounds like a Rolls-Royce ought to.

Lows: Occasionally odd braking feedback in regen mode. Though it may not strictly be necessary (no element of such a car is), more than 300 miles of range should be doable for a car at this price point.

Takeaway: That the Rolls-Royce Spectre is a damn-near perfect EV (and a damn-near perfect ultra-luxury coupe) is a strong indicator of the class to which this technology, in its current state, is most suited.

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When Hollywood actor Jason Momoa decided to convert his 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II to electric power he turned to British specialists Electrogenic.

The car, which features in Momoa’s documentary show On The Roam, took more than 18 months to build in Electrogenic’s Oxfordshire workshop. Electrogenic boss Steve Drummond believes electrifying the Phantom was “probably the most complicated project [of its type] anybody in the world has ever done.”

Momoa was actively involved from the outset, defining the car’s specifications based on how he planned to use it. “Jason is particularly visual,” explains Drummond. “So he was very interested in the visuals under the bonnet, in particular, and also in keeping the car original externally and in the cabin.”

“We couldn’t just fill the space under the bonnet with batteries, because the engine is quite narrow in the bay. So we designed the batteries to maintain that sort of feel. Then in terms of the visuals, we had a talk with him, we came up with some visualizations and some 3D renders designs and renders. He chose what he preferred and then tweaked it a little bit and so he was he was very much involved.”

The ornate aluminum housing was hand-formed and riveted to become a sculptural element of the vehicle that would be worthy of proud display, unlike most EV conversions with their bland battery boxes.

However, it was the engineering rather than the aesthetics that was hardest to pull off. Removing the Phantom’s 7.7-liter pushrod straight-six engine and transmission had unusual implications thanks to the car’s ingenious “through-flow” chassis lubrication system and its brakes.

“The lubrication system and the brakes that were perhaps the biggest challenge, because once you’ve done away with the engine, you lose the drive for those features,” explains Drummond. “The way it works is it has a lot of push rods and pivot points that deal with all sorts of things including the brakes. And they are lubricated by a central system which simply sends oil down a series of pipes to the various bushings. By removing the gearbox we had to modify that system. The braking system was complex for two reasons. One is the brakes themselves, as they’re cable-operated through a series of pivots and levers which sit between the chassis rails in just the area where we wanted to put batteries. So we removed them and then fixed them elsewhere in the car which means we have all the same linkages with same ratios and so on, but just relocated.”

The next trick was how to make the setup work in conjunction with regenerative braking, which is vital to providing the Phantom’s 150-mile range. Electrogenic designed a new brake pedal with a hydraulic booster connected to the cable while the regenerative braking on the rear motor helps maintain the car’s original 40:60 front-to-rear brake bias.

The drivetrain and its control systems are similar to Electrogenic’s Land Rover Defender kits, albeit with a whopping 93 kWh of batteries installed. As you can imagine these cells aren’t exactly light, but the original engine weighed around 1650 pounds so the conversion is almost weight neutral. “It’s plus or minus a few kilograms—it’s almost nothing,” says Drummond.

Inside, the elegance of the Phantom has been maintained, but the original clocks serve new functions. The amp meter is now a power meter, and the oil temperature and water temperature gauges now show charger and motor temperatures, while the vertical sight glass which showed the fuel level has been swapped for an LED unit. Momoa also requested a high-end hifi stereo, which is discretely hidden from view.

“The challenge with the Rolls Royce was how to fit all this into such an amazing car without changing its character and in a sympathetic way.”

It appears to be a job well done, with Momoa a very happy customer. “In order to pull off this dream project, I had to find the right partner,” he says. “I needed a team that would appreciate the storied history of this car while updating its technology. Electrogenic is all about honoring vintage cars. Making them electric without losing any of the vehicle’s character. They were the perfect fit.”

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You may notice a few unfamiliar, British turns of phrases in the following article, written for our sister site across the pond. While we have adjusted spelling to reflect an American lexicon, we have left such UK-specific phrases untouched for the sake of authenticity. Mr. English is writing about a Rolls-Royce, after all. —Ed. 

What’s the first Rolls-Royce Phantom like to drive? In a word, stately—a little like all the subsequent Phantom models, including the first BMW-developed model of 2003.

The 7.7-liter six crackles discreetly as it starts, a bit like the soft sizzle of paraffin-soaked newspapers igniting under a bonfire of autumn leaves. Compared to a contemporary Bentley, there aren’t many instruments on the wooden dashboard, and the needles move gently as befits the first of the breed—and indeed any car that follows the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot.

The engine revs slowly and the car gathers speed surely and irrepressibly, like that seventh wave foaming up the beach determined to catch you and fill your wellingtons.

Then comes time to change gear and the refined progress is interrupted as you grapple with the sliding-pinion four-speed. No two are alike, and at first some Phantoms are undrivable, except by their owners, who seem to surpass the clash and gnash of gears and slide the lever through like a teaspoon stirring a porcelain cup of lapsang souchong.

The main aim is to get up into top gear and then use the ignition advance and mixture control to let the big engine do the rest. With each aluminum piston displacing almost 1.3 liters, pulling power is not an issue.

The brakes are pretty good, but you don’t really use them, instead drafting this big car along like a Venetian gondolier slipping his charge under the Rialto Bridge. It’s a different style of driving, not always appreciated by the modern motorist, but more suited to a French Routes Nationale, old turnpike routes through national parks, or straight German A roads traversing the plains under the Alps.

Refinement, yes, utterly, but technological sophistication? Forget it. In 1925, when the Phantom I made its debut, Rolls-Royce finally caught up with the 1904 Buick Model B and fitted overhead valves to this replacement for the old 40/50 Silver Ghost, which was only subsequently known as Phantom I. It’s a measure of the innate conservatism of Henry Royce that it took over 20 years to get ’round to it…

His command to “strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better,” might be one of the most famous motoring aphorisms, but if you abide by it totally, you’ll spend a lot of your time catching up with your rivals in what was even then a fast-moving industry.

For while the head of Rolls-Royce’s test and experimental department Ernest (later Lord) Hives had written to Henry Royce in 1922 saying, “We expect that we shall get beaten for pure speed and hill climbing, when we compare against cars with larger engines,” the fact remained that even the very rich didn’t like being overtaken by cheap Buicks, or Vauxhalls for that matter. And although competition for the big Rolls-Royce model had once been only the Napier, Hispano-Suiza and Isotta-Fraschini were making inroads into the Silver Ghost’s market, and W.O. Bentley was about to enjoy an injection of cash from entrepreneur Woolf Barnato …

Times, they were a-changing, or as J.R. Buckley puts it in his deliciously snobby Cars of the Connoisseur: “In the post-war [WW1] world, in which values were to change more in three to four years than they had in the preceding 40, where reputations were as ephemeral as the tropical sunset…”.

Such was the position with the Ghost in the early 1920s, when despite Henry Royce’s determination to produce what he thought of as the best cars for the market, the Rolls-Royce board finally accepted the inevitable and commissioned a new car. This was brave at a time when sales were slumping, though in 1925 when the new Phantom was introduced, the main differences between it and the Silver Ghost were its engine, its front brakes, and a different way of mounting the steering column to the chassis.

It was that A.G. Elliot–designed, 7668-cc long-stroke pushrod OHV engine, however, which was the main change, introducing a lot more power into the equation. Rolls-Royce had even considered a V12 for that first Phantom, as well as a straight-eight plus overhead-camshaft and supercharged engine designs. But no, a seven-bearing six it was to be, cast, like its predecessor, in two blocks of three cylinders. On top (at first) was a steadfast cast-iron head with the cylinders fed by a single carburetor of Rolls-Royce design and sparked with twin plugs using separate coil and magneto ignition systems.

It had been developed in secret with the misdirecting codename of Eastern Armoured Car (EAC), with Hives dropping off bits of real armor ’round the factory to maintain the pretense.

Conditions in Britain, however, were not good and about to get worse. In 1926, just one year after the introduction of the Phantom I, the first General Strike hit Britain and at Rolls-Royce, Claude Johnson, the man whose commercial sense, organizational skills, and humane management style had saved the company as a separate entity (he was known as the hyphen in Rolls-Royce), contracted pneumonia and died. With Rolls already dead and Royce infirm and living in France, Johnson was sorely missed.

Phantom I was far from the vanguard of technical merit at the time. While its main claim to fame was that pushrod engine design, a year after its introduction, Sunbeam introduced its 3-liter Super Sports, the first production car with a double-overhead-camshaft engine. Yet despite that, the first Phantom model was superbly engineered.

There’s an irresistible story about the car attributed to Maurice Olley, who had worked for Rolls-Royce’s US Springfield plant, but when it closed had gone to work for General Motors. In 1924, when “The General” opened its 4.5-mile speed loop in Milford, Michigan, not a single model tested could survive two full power laps without ruining its main bearings. Enter a Phantom I with a gargantuan, seven-seat landaulette body on top, which proceeded to gracefully perform lap after lap at its top speed of 80mph with no sense of jeopardy. Subsequently stripped and inspected, it spurred US carmakers to fit more robust bottom ends and bearings to their cars from then on.

Even so, it took the next Phantom II model before Rolls-Royce made catch-up with its rivals with improvements to the rear axle, gearbox, frame, and springing. With the Phantom I experience, Henry Royce had gradually caught on. As he wrote: “Now we all know it is easier to go on the old way, but I so fear disaster by being outdated and having a lot of stock left, and by the sales falling, by secrets leaking out, that I must refuse all responsibility for the fatal position unless these improvements in our chassis are arranged.”

Again, as ever, Royce was perfectly happy to take what he thought best and improve it. So, the Phantom I’s front brakes were based on a Hispano-Suiza design of alloy drums with iron liners, with a servo motor based on that of Louis Renault. Licenses were paid…

Of course, at this time you didn’t just walk into a Rolls-Royce showroom and drive out in a car. What you purchased was an order for a rolling chassis with a scuttle and Grecian column radiator, ready for your chosen coachbuilder to clothe in aluminum. It had ever been thus, though the Phantom I’d overhead-valve engine meant it was taller than the Silver Ghost’s side-valve unit, so bonnet heights would be higher and that increase in power (and braking) meant more sporting pretensions could be accommodated.

Those early cars tended to be straitlaced big saloons, open tourers with straight side panels and cycle wings, but the coachbuilding trade was becoming more adventurous. Barker and Butler did some stupefyingly beautiful bodies on Phantom I and subsequent models including a reverse-sloping windscreen design on a Phantom III for Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. And just check out the Jonckheere Carrossiers of Belgium’s rebody on a 1925 Phantom I. It’s just a wild, wild coupe.

The difference in body styles and weight also meant that estimations of performance were difficult as aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, and even engine power would differ between one body and another. Culshaw and Horrobin’s Complete Catalogue of British Cars lists the Phantom I’s 7668cc six as delivering a peak of 95bhp at 2750rpm, some 500rpm more than in the last Ghost models.

The chassis came with two choices of wheelbase – 12ft and 12ft 6in – which cost respectively £1850 or £1900 in 1925 – about £93,000 and £95,438 in today’s values. The springing was via half-elliptic leafs all round, and the wheels were a 21-inch Rolls-Royce centre-lock design. The track was 4ft 10in and the rolling chassis weighed 1811kg, without spare wheels and lamps. Culshaw and Horrobin give the top speed as 90mph and list the Phantom II as having 0–50mph acceleration in 14.5sec.

The Phantom name is, along with the 1935 Chevrolet Suburban, one of the longest surviving in the history of the automobile. Although the Phantom was introduced in 1925 and the Suburban in 1935, Rolls-Royce hasn’t always had a Phantom on its books, so you take your pick with these sorts of statistics. The Phantom I got upgrades during its production run, including an aluminum cylinder head, but in the end, Rolls-Royce had to make the chassis changes the car so badly needed, which begat the Phantom II in 1929.

The fate of these first machines was ignoble. Many ended up on farms pulling machinery, some had truck bodies attached and were used as beasts of burden, others became NAAFI (Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes) wagons in World War Two.

Lord Montague found his father’s 1925 Phantom I gently rotting beside the playing fields of a school in Somerset, where it had been cut down to pull the gang mowers. At a time when commercial engines were more likely to be petrol as diesel, the big Rolls with its separate chassis and torquey engine was easy to convert, and so they did. And to buy they were dirt cheap. My mother went out with a young doctor training at The London in the 1950s who ran a Phantom and a Bentley Speed Six, and neither was worth more than 50 quid at the time.

Fortunately, these days they’re rather more valued by their owners for all their size and quirks. Like having an elderly elephant in the garage, a Phantom I is to be loved for what it is rather than what it isn’t.

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It’s a who’s who of hypercars at a brace of upcoming auctions in Paris. Think of a headline-grabbing machine from Modena, Stuttgart, Molsheim, Detroit, or Woking and you’ll find it on the roster. Collectors with a need for speed will be spoiled for choice as the star cars of the last two decades all go under the hammer.

Topping the bill at RM Sotheby’s, by estimate at least, is a Ferrari LaFerrari (top) that is classified as still brand new. Built in 2016, it wasn’t registered by its keeper until 2018 and has been driven fewer than nine miles. It’s finished in Bianco Avus with a Nero Alcantara interior that adds contrasting Rosso stitching and seatbelts for a dash of color. Seemingly every option was ticked when the car was specified including a sports exhaust, front suspension lift, telemetry, and track packs. Behind black 21-inch rims sit red brake calipers. The very limited mileage would appear to be mostly down to regular servicing, which has included the fitment of a new hybrid battery and an upgraded lithium-ion auxiliary battery. One of 499 LaFerraris built between 2013 and 2016, the 6.3-liter V-12 hybrid hypercar is estimated to sell for up to €4.8 million ($5.2M).

If you fancy its forebearer then, as luck would have it, there’s a 2003 Enzo up for grabs for €3–3.5M ($3.3–$3.8M). It’s had a bit more use than the LaFerrari, with around 9,000 miles on the clock, but it does come with Rosso Corsa paintwork, a Nero leather cabin, and a Ferrari Classiche “Red Book” certifying its origins. If you miss out at RM, then another Enzo will be on the block at Bonhams in Paris just a day later, although the 2004 Nero black example (one of just 12 in this hue) is pitched to hit as high as €4.5M ($4.9M),

The related Maserati MC12 Versione Corsa from 2007 cuts quite the dash in its bright orange hue. It’s one of just 12 streetable versions of Maserati’s GT1 racer. Unhampered by FIA racing rules, the roadgoing MC12 was able to eke 745 horsepower out of its six-liter, dry-sump V-12 motor. It cost a cool one million Euros when new, but is now expected to match the Enzo and sell for up to €3.5M ($3.8M).

Just down the road at Sant’Agata Bolognese Lamborghini had some celebrating to do in 2018. To mark 100 years since the birth of founder Ferruccio, the company launched the Centenario. Only 20 coupes and 20 roadster versions, based on the venerable Aventador, were built and it’s an open-topped edition that’s being offered by RM Sotheby’s. The one-owner car has a shade over 40 miles on the odometer and comes in a fetching combination of Rosso Efesto, Nero Ade Alcantara, and Rosso Alala. Anticipated to sell for between €3-€4M ($3.29-4.38M), it is described as “an unblemished example of arguably the most extreme and advanced Lamborghini ever produced.”

For similar outlay by RM’s estimate, you could become the keeper of a 2017 Bugatti Chiron ‘La Mer Argentée’. It’s quite the bobby dazzler with its factory chrome wrap covering an original Nocturne over Argent Metallic color scheme. The car had some $130,000 spent on a Performance Package in 2019 and the owner actually made some use of the upgrades as the Molsheim monster has covered almost 3,000 miles. It should fetch somewhere between €2,750,000 and €3,500,000 ($3–$3.8 M) according to the auction house.

Next to these, a 2014 Porsche 918 estimated at €1.6–€1.8M ($1.75–$1.97M), a 2005 Carrera GT at €1.3M ($1.42M), a 2015 McLaren P1 at €900,000–€1.2M ($985,000–$1.3M) and a 2022 Ford GT Carbon Series at €750,000–€1,000,000 ($821,000–$1.1M) seem almost like bargains.

Porsche fans could face an interesting conundrum as two 1990s rarities vie for bidders’ attention. Racing aficionados will be tempted by a 1991 962C that finished tenth at the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours and is expected to achieve up to €1.5M ($1.64M), but hot on its heels is a 1996 911 GT2 that’s just been fully restored. One of 194 road cars built, it has had just two owners and is tipped to sell for up to €1.4M ($1.5M).

Step further back in time and there’s plenty of fascinating machinery under the million-dollar mark. For €300,000–€400,000 ($328,000–$438,000) you could pick some pre-war coachbuilt excellence in the form of a 1930 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Transformable Cabriolet or a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Coupé Chauffeur. Perhaps a Rolls-Royce is more to your taking, in which case a 1920 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Tourer, a 1936 Phantom II Saloon, or a 1933 Phantom II Continental Berline could all be yours.

Other highlights of these sales include awesome oddballs such as a 1980 BMW M1, a 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ, and a 1981 Rolls-Royce Camargue. and even a 1994 Lamborghini LM002. If Porkers with flat-nosed snouts are up your strasse then you can pick from a one-of-a-kind 928 GT from 1989 or a 1986 911 Turbo Flachbau. Choices, choices.

Of all the eclectic and exotic on offer, however, it’s two Italian oddities that have captured our hearts. A 1958 Fiat 500 Spiaggina Boana beach car is simply bellisimo. Only two were built by Mario Boano and this stunning original example was first registered to none other than Gianni Agnelli himself. If it gets to its €290,000 ($317,500) estimate, that will be a lot of money for not a lot of metal. A 1955 Alfa Romeo T10 Autotutto camper is a delightful deviation from the de rigeur VW buses. Powered by a two-cylinder supercharged diesel engine, it is anything but ordinary, which is reflected in the price estimate of €90,000–€110,000 ($98,500–$120,400).

The bidding for all of this automotive art begins on January 31 at RM Sotheby’s at the Salles du Carousel in the Louvre Palace of Paris and on February 1 at Bonham’s sale at The Grand Palais Éphémère.

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Rolls-Royce officially declared that its future is electric when it unveiled the Spectre super coupe, and now the British luxury brand’s past is being reinvented in the same way.

The Spectre has a two-year waiting list and at least two potential customers aren’t prepared to hold on, commissioning electrified classics instead.

A 1960 Silver Cloud II, once owned by Sophia Loren, was sent to Lunaz in the U.K. for a complete restoration, followed by the replacement of its 6.3-liter V-8 engine with an all-electric powertrain. The Oscar winner’s Roller has been repainted in Shale over Rich Gold and retrimmed in Sage leather and refreshed burr walnut. Beyond the EV updates the car also has heated seats, USB chargers, an electronic parking brake, and parking cameras linked to a dashboard display. Loren’s luxury car is set for a new life as part of Lunaz’s Hotel Programme where it will be used to whisk VIPs around. Under the scheme, which costs from around $700,000, Lunaz will provide a swanky EV-swapped classic and provide training for chauffeurs.

“Every Rolls-Royce elevated by Lunaz has its own unique and fascinating story to tell, but few can match this exceptional Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II,” says Lunaz Founder David Lorenz. “In elevating this beautiful, historically-important classic to fully-electric power, we’ve remained absolutely faithful to its original spirit and purpose: to use the most advanced technology available to convey passengers in perfect serenity, privacy and comfort. Through this car, and other vehicles built through the Lunaz Hotel Programme, we’re enabling the world’s leading hotel and residence operators to add a new dimension to their guests’ experience.”

Stepping silently back in time even further is Electrogenic, which has just finished switching a 1929 Phantom II to electric power in its most complex conversion to date. Out went the car’s 7.7-liter pushrod straight-six in favor of a 93 kWh battery pack and a single-speed direct-drive electric motor. No modifications were made to the Phantom’s original structure, with batteries fitted in the former engine bay and between the chassis rails. Further challenges included powering the car’s ‘through-flow’ chassis lubrication system and modifying the cable-operated brakes to work with a regeneration system. A range of 150 miles is claimed.

The cabin has been kept as it left coachbuilder H.J. Mulliner, with its patinated leather and wood trim, but the gauges have been repurposed to show battery charge and other EV info, while a modern audio system has been secreted away as well.

“While it sounds like we’ve carried out a great deal of modifications—and we have—I’m particularly proud of the fact that, as with all Electrogenic conversions, nothing has been drilled or cut on the car,” says boss Steve Drummond. “All the parts can be reassembled, and the car returned to its original state, if required.”

There’s no word on what the conversion cost, but it’s probably not that far short of the $400,000 Rolls-Royce would charge for a Spectre.

The post The Spectre effect means more classic Rollers are being electro-modded appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If you’re a fan of the newest and wildest cars from the world’s most chic automakers, there are only a few places you can see them en masse and IRL. One of those places is Monterey Car Week, an annual smattering of glamorous automotive events held in California each August. Hagerty attends each year, with much of its focus on the vintage metal at the collector-car auctions, historic races, and the swanky Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. However, we’d be remiss if we left out the newcomers scattered on the various manicured lawns of the Monterey Peninsula.

The automakers present say much about the status of Monterey Car Week: Bugatti, Aston Martin, Maserati, and Lamborghini all told us to expect new vehicles, and a few of their compatriots, like Ferrari and Automobilia Pininfarina, showed up with their own. Here are eight exotics, each one headed for production—most, in very limited quantity—and a few that are one of a kind. We’ve even included a bonus concept car from Acura. Whether it will be built, who could say.

Enjoy!

Bugatti Chiron “Golden Era” — 1 built

The Chiron was introduced to the world seven years ago at the Geneva motor show, another destination event for exotic-car seekers. Though EV pioneer Mate Rimac, who took leadership of Bugatti in 2021, says that there’s a future for the internal-combustion engine under his reign, he hasn’t been any more concrete than that. The Chiron, with its sixteen cylinders and four turbochargers is enjoying a sort of early nostalgia—a reminder of gas-powered supercars that may be in their twilight era. The slew of one-off variants, typical for a high-end manufacturer such as Bugatti, is leaning heavily into that emotion.

The “Golden Era” Chiron shown for the first time at Monterey is a bit … on the nose. It’s a Super Sport model—the long-tail one with 1577 rather than 1500 hp—tailored by Bugatti’s customization department, Sur Mesure. The stand-out details: sketches of past Bugattis hand-drawn on the car’s sides, a project that took over 400 hours. The passenger door has 26 drawings, spanning milestones in Bugatti’s history from 1909 to 1956. The chronology is completed by the 19 sketches on the driver’s side door.

Aston Martin Valour — 110 to be built

If this Aston looks familiar, it’s because the automaker revealed press photography and mechanical specs in July. Last week, however, marked its first showing in North America. Newsworthy? Not hugely, but we’re happier now that we’ve laid eyes on this gorgeous, manual-transmission, twin-turbo-V-12-powered coupe. It does really exist, and it is awesome.

So awesome that it distracted us from the Aston that was announced just a few days ago, the new one we were told to expect: The convertible variant of the DB12. You can read more about it here.

Maserati MCXtrema — 62 to be built

When Maserati showed us the sultry MC20 supercar—powered by an engine built not by Ferrari but by Maserati itself—it also told us that the brand would go back into racing. The MCXtrema isn’t the version of the MC20 that will go racing (that’s the GT2 we first saw in June); think of it as a private track-day toy to court the sort of deep-pocketed sponsors you’d need to run a factory race team. (Toy, for the record, comes straight from the press release.) The name is a bit immature, unfortunately; it sounds like it belongs on an energy drink, not a pure-bred Italian supercar hot-rodded with 100 extra hp by the brand that made it.

Ferrari Tailor Made 812 Competizione — 1 built

A supercar should look like something you jotted in your notebook margins in high school, right? Ferrari’s latest one-off is creative and quite cool. Maranello’s customization division chose an 812 Competizione—of which Ferrari will only make 999—and, after painting it matte yellow, decided to imagine the V-12 coupe as a life-sized version of a design sketch, which Ferrari designers traditionally scribble on yellow paper. The motif of an in-progress drawing is carried out inside, where Ferrari actually embroidered words and arrows on the Alcantara and polyester surfaces.

Lamborghini Lanzador — TBD

We should have suspected, when Lamborghini assured us that its new concept “would not be an SUV,” that the automaker would show us something … that we’d want to call an SUV.

This is the Lanzador. (Blame whoever was naming fighting bulls back in the ’90s.) It is a “high ground-clearance GT with 2+2 seats,” powered by two electric motors, one on each axle. Lambo isn’t talking output yet, but the whole package is shouty enough to work. Most customers will probably know it as “the electric Lamborghini,” and in that role, the Lanzador probably will do quite well. Expect some version of it to hit production in 2028.

Pininfarina B95 — 10 to be built

Though the first Tesla was actually a convertible, most EVs today are fixed-roof affairs. That makes Pininfarina Automobili’s open-top, 1874-hp beauty even more exotic. Called the B95, its drivetrain is taken from the $2M Battista hypercar: a motor on each wheel, and a T-shaped arrangement of lithium-ion cells.

Would you ever want to be caught in a rainstorm in this? No, but when you can afford a one-of-10 car, you probably can employ your own weatherman to tell you when it’s safe to cruise the French Riviera. Pininfarina will even let you customize two helmets to match your B95 … which you have already customized, of course. The automaker assures us that no two B95s will be alike.

Bentley

2023 marks 20 years of Bentley’s two-door, W-12- or V-8-powered grand tourer, the first model produced by the company after it was purchased by the VW Group in 1998. While a livery of VW badges would have been hilarious, Bentley kept things classy for the anniversary.

A one-off only made sense when celebrating Bentley’s top-selling model. It chose a hotter, “Speed” variant and gave it a color scheme to match the very first 2000s-era Continental GT: green over tan, with an appropriate but subtle smattering of commemorative sill plates, dash engravings, and exterior badges. We can smell the leather from here … mmm.

Rolls-Royce Drop Tail — 4 to be built

Wondering why Rolls-Royce’s Drop Tail costs $37M? One huge reason is the bespoke carbon-fiber monocoque that forms the essential structure of the V-12-powered two-seat roadster. Rolls is only building four examples, which means the development and tooling costs are probably nauseating: Lowering per-unit costs by increasing volume was clearly not a concern here.

Oh, and then there’s the 1603-piece wood-panel dashboard, which took one painstaking soul more than nine months to finish. And the swooping tail of the vehicle, which took who knows how many designers and engineers two years to refine. Time is money, and all that …

Bonus: Acura Performance Electric Vision Design Study — TBD

Monterey evidently gets Acura feeling all dramatic and coy about upcoming products. Two years ago, we saw a silhouette of the new Integra in the sky, formed by an array of illuminated drones.

For 2023, we—well, if we squint—see something low-slung and swoopy, with two doors and absolutely no room for anything more than two people. It will be all-electric, no surprise, and high-performance: The next NSX, perhaps? Who knows. Maybe Acura will roll out the chorus of singing angels for that one.

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The coachbuilders at Rolls-Royce are on a roll. Following on from 2017’s Sweptail and the 2021 Boat Tail custom creations, the in-house artisans have come up with a new Drop Tail roadster, reckoned to be the most expensive new Roller ever made.

Industry experts estimate that the four customers who commissioned the striking two-seater will have spent more than $37 million apiece. Although it might, at first glance, look a bit like the discontinued Dawn (especially the limited edition Silver Bullet) the car is completely new.

Instead of being built on the company’s Architecture of Luxury platform it has a bespoke monocoque made from steel, aluminum and carbon fiber. Its carbon footprint, meanwhile, clearly wasn’t a big concern as motion is provided by the most powerful iteration of Roll’s V-12 to date. The twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter engine is boosted by 30 horsepower to deliver 601 hp and 620 lbft of torque.

Stylistically the Drop Tail pays homage to the brand’s earliest roadsters, while simultaneously taking advantage of the most modern design and engineering techniques. It cuts a lower profile than other Rollers with a steeply raked screen, looking especially sporty with its removable carbon roof in place. The familiar RR nose gets exaggerated gill-like intakes, while the rear has an elaborate carbon diffuser. As the name suggests it’s the rear deck of the Drop Tail that’s its most distinctive feature. The center section swoops downwards leaving a pair of mini buttresses to its sides, and flows beneath an integrated rear spoiler. This design is “not ordinarily conducive to producing downforce” admits Rolls-Royce and it took 20 iterations and two years of work to get it right.

The cabin, meanwhile, features a wood panel with 1603 piece of veneer that took a single craftsman more than nine months to complete—the “most complicated, involved and prohibitive work of craft ever produced” by Rolls-Royce according to Coachbuild design boss Alex Innes. Working closely in collaboration with the four enthusiastic customers the Drop Tail has been an intense four-year project

“In every detail of this historic commission, there are echoes of both Rolls-Royce’s rich heritage and the commissioning clients’ character, from its captivating yet formidable form to its flawless and elegant romantic gestures,” says CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. “La Rose Noire Droptail, like the remarkable clients who dared to make such a potent and contemporary statement, will be written into Rolls-Royce history forever.”

The first of the four Drop Tails produced is known as La Rose Noire after its color-shifting True Love Red paintwork which took 150 attempts to perfect. It comes with a one-off Audemars Piquet timepiece which can be mounted in the car or worn on the owner’s wrist, while the customer also commissioned a special vintage champagne which can be kept cool in the car’s integrated champagne chest.

The car was presented to its owners at Pebble Beach, which will probably be the only time it ever appears in public.

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One of the best parts of visiting the Petersen Automotive Museum is that it’s never the same experience twice. A new exhibit that opened this summer is called Splendor and Speed: Treasures of the Petersen Collection. It’s located in the Bruce Meyer Family Gallery on the museum’s second floor, an area that formerly housed a rotating lineup of hypercars. The new exhibit highlights some of the rare automotive artifacts that have been hanging out in the Vault below the museum. From significant hot rods to bespoke luxury cruisers, the room is filled with significant vehicles, many of which are one-of-a-kind.

A 1956 Jaguar XKSS formerly owned by Steve McQueen is one of the racier entrants in the exhibit, and the green British roadster has excellent company. It’s joined by the 1939 “Shah” Bugatti Type 57C Cabriolet by Vanvooren as well as the Plymouth Explorer concept built by Ghia. Perhaps the most stunning car on display is the famous 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Aerodynamic Coupe by Jonckheere. The “Round Door” Rolls-Royce was restored by the Petersen and held a prominent place in the Vault for quite a while, welcoming guests to the underground experience in front of a mural of the car with Bob and Margie Petersen. This is a car that really must be experienced in person as the lines of the car, as well as its scale, are difficult to capture.

In addition to the numerous vehicles, the exhibit includes rare film footage and one-of-a-kind design models from the mid-20th century when these cars were designed and crafted. “The display is a fitting reflection of the exceptional assortment of vehicles we have in our collection,” said Petersen Automotive Museum Executive Director Terry L. Karges. “We are delighted to have visitors view the museum’s most cherished vehicles and artifacts.”

Splendor and Speed: Treasures of the Petersen Collection is currently open. If you’re in the Los Angeles area we recommend spending an hour or two at the museum, and the Vault is still very much worth the extra price. Tickets are available in advance.

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Rolls-Royce is now assembling the final dozen Wraiths, which also happen to be the last V-12 coupes the British brand will ever produce. The Wraith’s successor will be the Spectre, the company’s first all-electric car that ushers in a new era of sumptuous silence for Rolls-Royce.

The Wraith, however, is not going quietly. The last 12 cars will be “Black Arrow” specials, inspired by the Rolls-Royce Thunderbolt, which set a world land speed record of 357.497 mph in 1938.

Powered by a pair of V-12 R Series aero engines the eight-wheeled Thunderbolt was piloted by Captain George Eyston and flew across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Astonishingly, it remains the fasted V-12 powered car ever built.

Thunderbolt’s polished aluminum bodywork made it hard for official observers to spot exactly when it blasted past the timing equipment, so Eyston painted a large black arrow with a central yellow circle down each side, and that stroke of genius is what has inspired the design of the run-out Wraiths.

The paintwork on the Wraith Black Arrow has been rather more painstakingly applied, however.

In fact, it’s one of the most complex paint jobs ever to come out of the Goodwood factory, with a full-color graduation between Celebration Silver and Black Diamond and an additional Crystal layer over the black to enhance the transition. Rolls-Royce reckons this creates a motion-blur effect even when the car is stationary, while also symbolising the texture of the historic salt flats.

It took 18 months to develop the paint and application techniques. Yellow bumper inserts, wheel pinstripes, the V-struts behind the grille, and the base of the Spirit of Ecstasy pay homage to the Thunderbolt.

Moving inside, the coach doors and “waterfall” panel between the rear seats are lined with open-pore black wood, with more than 320 individual laser-cut marquetry panels that have been designed to resemble the cracked surface of the salt flats.

There’s an illuminated polished aluminum Speedform representing the Thunderbolt on the center console and a new deep black Club Leather adorns much of the cabin, although the front seats stand out boldly in yellow. A dark mark on the steering wheel indicates the dead-ahead position and is also echoed in the seat design to evoke the black lines Eyston’s crew painted in the salt to help him hold his course at over 300 mph.

The clock is a unique piece that references the functional interior of the Thunderbolt and, as a finishing flourish, the car’s Starlight Headliner displays 21117 fiber-optic stars in the exact formation of the Milky Way as it would have been seen from Bonneville on September 16, 1938.

Mechanically the Black Arrow cars don’t appear to be any different than their Wraith peers, which means that each’s 6.6-liter V-12 engine produces 624 horsepower and is good for 0 to 62 mph in 4.5 seconds. Top speed will likely remain limited to 155 mph so the 12 collectors who have already been allocated cars won’t be setting and land-speed records.

“As the last examples of this landmark motor car get ready to leave Goodwood, we commemorate Wraith’s status as the last series V-12 coupé we will ever make,” says Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

“Both Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow and its inspiration, the V-12-powered, land speed record-holding Thunderbolt of the ’30s, represent the culmination of many long years of achievement, and the end of their respective eras. This magnificent final V-12 coupé collection captures both the significance and spirit of Wraith through the marque’s hallmark and peerless Bespoke capabilities. A fitting finale for this transformative motor car.”

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What is the most important car in Rolls-Royce history? It’s the original 1907 Silver Ghost, the 40/50 h.p. model that put the fledgling company on the map after a series of record-smashing reliability runs that firmly established the company as the maker of “the best car in the world.” And no, I’m not suggesting that as a future classic because there’s only one, and when it was recently sold, it was for a figure that would make most telephone numbers blanch.

The next most important Rolls-Royce was the 2003 Phantom, because unlike any previous car since the Silver Ghost, the future of the company depended upon it. Remember the context: Rolls-Royce had been run into the ground by its parent company Vickers, who found it altogether easier to sell Bentleys instead. So much so that in 2002, the year before the Phantom launched, fewer than 40 Rolls-Royces were sold in the U.K. while, globally, Bentley was outselling its stablemate by ten to one. The brand was almost moribund.

In 2003, Rolls-Royce was purchased by BMW—sort of. Ownership of the Rolls-Royce name still resided then and now with the aero-engine company. What BMW purchased was actually the rights to build a car and call it a Rolls-Royce—and it had one shot to revitalize the storied marque.

What we feared was a stretched, rebodied 7-series with a Pantheon grille that wasn’t fooling anyone. BMW’s record of other brand stewardship was patchy at best: Mini was doing well, but it had already flogged off Land Rover to Ford and the bare remains of Rover and MG to the infamous “Phoenix Four” where, as far as Rover was concerned, the company reached the end of the road.

What we got was a Rolls-Royce. Not just a Rolls-Royce, but the finest luxury car of its era. Yes, it had been engineered in Munich, and yes, it was powered by a BMW V-12 engine, and yes, it was shipped over from Germany only in need of final assembly. But it was a bespoke car, sitting on a bespoke all-aluminum chassis with the important bits—the wood, leather, the craftsmanship, all done at the spanking new factory at Goodwood.

I can remember flying to California to drive it—where else—and while there were still some elements I didn’t care for, such as the BMW-sourced satellite navigation, what really mattered was the ride and the refinement, which are, in my eyes, the twin pillars of true luxury. In both regards it was impeccable.

But it went far beyond that. The fact that those enormous rear suicide doors opened to almost head height meant you could almost just walk into it. And once ensconced you wanted to remove your shoes so your toes could disappear into those lambswool rugs. Nor was there any pretension of sportiness. No new money “sport” button, no arriviste rev-counter, just a speedo and a “power reserve” gauge. And I loved the fact the RR roundels in the wheel centers always stayed upright. Bentley had tried that for the Continental GT that came out at the same time, but couldn’t make a reliable system.

Best of all, it just felt different, different not just to a BMW or a Bentley, but to any car in the world. It was the kind of car I like most of all, and it applies equally well to a Fiat Panda or Ferrari F40: it was a car that knew what it was for, did that, and didn’t bother with anything else.

They were of course incredibly expensive, and remain so to run today. But to buy? Not so much. Clean, if somewhat leggy examples cost around £75,000 (roughly $90,000), and if that sounds a lot, it’s about what you pay for a mid-size electric SUV from Mercedes these days. And Phantoms, perhaps unlike mid-size electric SUVs, are wonderful.

I know two people who have them, and both are predictably quite comfortably off. They do not know each other but say exactly the same thing, which is that they feel uneasy about the ostentatious wealth statement made by the car everywhere it goes but that they would not be without it.

Interestingly too, both are drivers and have no interest in being chauffeured around in it. And here is perhaps the least known fact about the Phantom: they are fabulous to drive. Not wonderful in the way a Ferrari is when it threatens to pull your spine through the back of your seat when it accelerates, or some bewinged McLaren that’ll ripple your cheeks with all the g-force it can generate in the corners, but still fabulous.

Because they got everything right with this car. The thinness of the steering wheel, the font on the dials, the feel of every control, and that view down the bonnet to Charles Sykes’ sculpture of Eleanor Velasco Thornton. It’s not just a Rolls-Royce, it’s one of the best Rolls-Royces, and the most important of all. Bar one.

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“What happened there? Something went past us—and it was a van.” These were the words of Sir Michael Caine as he climbed out of the sumptuous passenger seat of his Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Two-Door Drophead Coupe in the 1969 documentary about the actor. “I won’t let it happen again, sorry,” was the response from Caine’s chauffeur.

The Rolls-Royce, wearing its original, UGN 842F number plates, features extensively in Candid Caine: A Self-Portrait of Michael Caine, with the star using it to revisit the house he lived in as a child.

Later, we see him wandering through the streets of London with the Rolls-Royce following him like an obedient dog. “One of my great pleasures is just to go for a walk; just walk along on my own. I’m also lazy and sybaritic, so I have a little bit of comfort just behind me in case I want to pop in.”

The Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe was Caine’s first car. Legend has it that he walked into the Jack Barclay showroom on London’s Berkeley Square with a handwritten shopping list which read: “milk, bread, newspaper, cigarettes, Rolls-Royce.” An unshaven Caine, who by his own admission was looking a little worse for wear, was ushered off the premises.

Undeterred, Caine ventured over to H.A. Fox on Dover Street, where he found the Rolls-Royce which had been taken into stock after screenwriter Terence Rattigan canceled his order.

Caine, who couldn’t drive, found it cheaper to employ a chauffeur than to pay the hefty insurance premium. The actor reportedly took great pleasure in flicking the V-sign whenever he wafted past the Jack Barclay showroom.

The actor, most famous in car circles for playing Charlie Crocker in The Italian Job and Jack Carter in Get Carter, passed his driving test at the age of 50. Speaking in 2011, he said: “It was weird. Before I took the test, the man said the guy who would be doing the test was sitting outside in the car and that I would only speak to him to say good morning.

“There would be no normal conversation—he would give me instructions, I would listen to him, and that was that. There would be no personal remarks whatsoever. I got in the car and the guy looked at me and went, ‘I loved you in The Man Who Would Be King. You’re going to have to be s*** to not pass this test.’”

Caine didn’t hold on to the Rolls-Royce for very long. In 1970, he sold it to Jack Leach, owner of the infamous Gasworks restaurant in London, which drew all the big-name stars of the time. Re-registered as ALO 182H, the Rolls-Royce became a familiar sight Chelsea’s King’s Road but was put into storage following Leach’s death in 2013.

Ten years later, and following a restoration that cost “the best part of £100,000,” Caine’s former Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe will go under the hammer in March, with a pre-auction estimate of £100,000 to £150,000 ($120,610–$180,915, as of this writing).

Wearing its original, UGN 842F plates for display purposes, the car boasts just one front headrest; Caine’s chauffeur made do without one.

Not a lot of people know that Michael Caine never uttered his most famous catchphrase—Peter Sellers gets the credit for that—but we do know that his Roller will be auctioned at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, on March 15.

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The gradual come-up of certain 1980s and 1990s Rolls-Royce and Bentleys is one of the collector-car market’s subtlest shifts. Though “serious” collectors have long dismissed these models as uptight, soporific behemoths best left to return to the earth, we’re noticing an increasing number of clean Continentals and Corniches infiltrating the sales dockets of major auction houses.

This year’s roster of Scottsdale sales was no different. All three of the major sales—RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams, and Barrett-Jackson—had at least two noteworthy 1990s- or 2000s-era Rolls-Royce and/or Bentley droptops, each hammering for a sum greater than you might expect for a deprecated, ultra-luxe sled considered too stuffy for an enthusiast and too unfashionably dated for the wealthy socialite.

Old Rolls-Royce saloons trading hands for used Camry money isn’t anything new or noteworthy—and neither are the routine, five-figure maintenance maladies that follow these “cheap” Rolls like a cloud of oil smoke. Between lengthy, numerous, and exorbitantly priced service sessions—and parts availability that would make an old Lancia blush—these Brits are often not worth the financial burden.

But an old Rolls droptop? That’s a different animal entirely. Chopping the rear doors and peeling off the roof turns a stodgy, smoking-room armchair into a leather-wrapped Adirondack lounge on the deck of a super-yacht. With the wind in your expensively coiffed hair, surrounded by enough hides and mahogany to choke a gentleman’s club—we’re talking Savile, not strip—you’re not just motoring, you’re touring.

At the moment, we don’t track any of these late-model soft-tops in the Hagerty Price Guide, but it’s worth comparing by generation. Let’s see what vehicular gentry wafted through Scottsdale.

2000–2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche V

Even in wealthier parts of town, you never, ever see early 2000s Corniches—and for good reason, as Rolls-Royce only built between 372 and 384 examples, depending on whom you ask. Constructed on the bones of the 1995–2003 Bentley Azure—we’ll get to that beauty later—these were ruinously expensive cars with a $359,000 price tag in their first model year. That’s $630,000, in 2023 bucks.

These cars occupy a weird place in the Rolls timeline. The Corniche V—the unofficial denominator, as it’s the fifth Rolls to wear the Corniche name—is the first and only Rolls engineered and developed during the marque’s brief tenure under Volkswagen. After just two years, VW ceded rights to Rolls’ stylistic intellectual properties after an infamous corporate tussle with BMW, who separately acquired the right to sell cars under the Rolls-Royce nameplate from the extant Rolls-Royce aerospace corporation. Amid this kerfuffle, the Corniche V emerged as the final, elegant product of “old” Rolls-Royce, with BMW’s ground-up revamp of the RR image arriving soon after for the 2003 model year.

It’s a transitional model, a product of a time when Rolls and Bentley were absolutely inseparable. The 6.75-liter—say it with me, six-and-three-quarter-liter—V-8, much of the switchgear, the chassis, and portions of the rear fascia are all shared with the contemporary Bentley, making it ostensibly the first Rolls to ever descend from the Flying B, instead of the other way around.

Once an extravagant status symbol, its clear aesthetic separation from BMW’s modern Rolls renders the Corniche V a bit of a curio. It’s the type of car favored primarily by the Rolls-Royce enthusiast, rather than by the casual consumer.

“They made very, very few [Corniche Vs], and it was quite a step forward [in style] as it looked very little like the preceding Corniches,” explains Hagerty Price Guide publisher and Bentley/Rolls aficionado Dave Kinney.

“I think both the Phantom and Corniche [V] are aging gracefully, but they’re all from a different design period. [Rolls-Royce] went from a more organic design to Bauhaus with the Phantom.”

These cars are magnificently hand-built with incredible road presence, particularly with the top down. You can have them for a pittance compared to a 2023 Rolls-Royce Dawn, a car that curiously carries an identical MSRP of $359,000: RM Sotheby’s 9300-mile Magnolia White 2002 Corniche sold for a “mere” $128,800 final price. Condition is king on these cars, as evidenced from RM’s other Magnolia White 2000 Corniche V that sold at last year’s Open Roads online auction. 38,000 miles on its odometer, and a-bit-more-than-expected wear and tear, cut it down to a $99,000 final sale.

Bonhams’ black 2001 Corniche was less enticing. After exiting long-term, 14,500-mile ownership under the original buyer, subsequent owners added just over 4000 miles until 2010, when it sat essentially unused in storage until its time in the Scottsdale sun. A visibly sagging rear suspension implied further maintenance was necessary; Bonhams apparently agreed, admitting “it is recommended that the Corniche is serviced prior to any wafting about.” Still, it matched RM’s 2021 sale with a $98,560 final price.

2007–16 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe

“The Corniche looks like old money wherever it goes,” says Kinney. “To me, the Phantom says ‘I’m in Miami, I’m in Los Angeles,’ and it still looks like a car that could still be in production today to most non-car people.”

Walk around RM’s black-over-cream example, and there’s a very real sense that BMW’s Phantom and its inimitable Drophead Coupe variant was deliberately designed to withstand the test of time. Regardless of its aesthetic relation to the current production Phantom, this one’s replete with subtle and deliberate details that might just render it timeless.

Take note of the brushed windshield surround that wraps its way around the wing windows, and the teak decking on the rear tonneau (oiling this wood is part of the Drophead’s regular service regimen). Inside, the glossy wood surfacing and trim are refreshingly devoid of screens and digital displays which, ironically, make other luxury cars from this era look more dated today.

As Kinney said, even 15 years on, this 18-foot ocean liner still looks like pure money, even to the uninformed. “The car is nothing but in-your-face presence. A lot of people want that in a Rolls-Royce, and it has that in spades,” Kinney muses.

It’s this captive modernity, more advanced technology, and surprisingly lower running costs that has kept the Phantom Drophead Coupe ahead of its pre-BMW progenitors in the market.

RM Sotheby’s beautiful Drophead carried just 8620 miles and $18,000 in receipts from a recent service. $201,600 took it home to a very excited winning bidder; a colleague caught who we presume to be her friends and family singing her happy birthday in the lot outside RM’s host hotel.

Even rattier Phantoms carry cachet the Corniche can’t match. Barrett-Jackson’s 2009 white-over-black Drophead had minor-but-noticeable interior wear from its 29,291 miles, along with two incidents of repaired sideswipe collision damage in 2017 and 2021. Still, the $159,500 final price makes it the fourth most expensive Rolls sold out of the 18 offered during 2023’s Arizona auction week.

1995–2003 Bentley Azure

Spirit of Ecstasy too ostentatious for ya? Try the Bentley Azure, two of which were on the ground in Scottsdale. Based on the popular and very expensive Bentley Continental R, the Azure is a more sporting alternative to the cushy, cloudy Corniche. The 5700-pound bruiser is hardly a Spec Miata, but the Bentley is 300 pounds lighter, more powerful (385 hp versus 320), quicker, and not insignificantly sharper than the Rolls.

The Bentley is no less costly to keep alive than its ritzier sibling—but it’s getting better. “I really like the Azure,” says Kinney. “The [convertible] top mechanism is its Achilles heel, but people are figuring out how to fix them. For the longest time, you’d get the car for $25,000 and then spend another $25,000 on the top alone.”

Not anymore. A car this elegant and hand-finished couldn’t stay incongruously cheap forever, and prices appear to be on the rise. Bonhams’ impeccable one-owner, 14,000-mile 1996 Azure changed hands for $67,200. Yes, that’s less than half the price of RM’s Corniche, but there are more than three times as many Azures than the Rolls.

“Lovely colors, very reasonable miles, and I think it went for right where it should have,” observes Kinney. “Everyone should be happy on that deal. I’ve seen these cars sell for $25,000 and $30,000, and now they’re finally coming into their own.”

Barrett-Jackson’s $84,500 2003 Bentley Azure Mulliner Final Edition has to be one of the best buys of the week. This is one of the highly personalized examples of the top-shelf Mulliner trim offered from 1999 through the end of production in 2009, and the listing states an original bill-of-sale topping $500,000 ($795,000, when adjusted for inflation). It also claims the original buyer—get this—sold his Corniche to make room for the Azure.

It’s clean, it’s rare, it’s handbuilt, it’s extraordinarily luxurious—and its metallic yellow over royal blue upholstery is one of the most gauche colorways we’ve ever seen on a Bentley, no doubt culling a few grand from the final price. No matter—you won’t see your reflection out in the rolling countryside, where the Azure is best enjoyed. Kinney sums it up best:

“Bentley for the drive, and the Rolls for showing up.”

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Study: U.S. charging network must quadruple by 2025

Intake:  S&P Global Mobility, a research and analysis firm, has done a study titled “EV Chargers: How Many Do We Need?” and the answer is … A lot. According to Automotive News, “the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the U.S. must quadruple through 2025 to meet EV sales demand,” the story says, quoting the study. EVs make up less than 1 percent of the 281 million vehicles in operation today and accounted for about 5 percent of new vehicle registrations from January through October 2022, but that share will soon expand, S&P Global Mobility forecasts. Automotive News says EV market share for new vehicles will likely reach 40 percent by 2030, or 28.3 million vehicles.

Exhaust: Yes, most EV buyers will be able to charge at home, but the study says a “robust” selection of external charging stations will be mandatory for EVs to succeed to the degree the federal government wants. “The transition to a vehicle market dominated with electric vehicles (EVs) will take years to fully develop, but it has begun,” said S&P Global Mobility analyst Ian McIlravey. “With the transition comes a need to evolve the public vehicle charging network, and today’s charging infrastructure is insufficient to support a drastic increase in the number of EVs in operation.”  — Steven Cole Smith

Three new wraps for 911 Dakar highlight Porsche’s early rallying history

Intake: Porsche has announced three new wraps for the new dirt-slinging 911 Dakar. Each wrap is meant to pay tribute to the earliest days of Porsche’s dirt endeavors, before the brand’s historic 1984 victory at the Paris-Dakar Rally. The Rallye 1971 wrap highlights Porsche’s first efforts as a works team in rally at the 971 East African Safari Rally. The wrap includes black decals on the hood, as well as the number 19 on the door, which denotes the most successful 911 in that rally, which came in fifth. Wrap number two highlights Porsche’s 1974 effort in the East African Safari Rally, which saw Swedish Champ Björn Waldegård dominate the first two stages but finish second after a suspension issue in the final stage. The wrap featured blue lines across the tops of the fenders and down the sides. The third and final wrap is a tribute to the 1978 event, where Porsche brought purpose-built 911 SC Group 4 cars to give it another go in Kenya. Unfortunately, the terrain won again, and Waldegård took fourth, while the South African duo of Vic Preston Jr. and John Lyall took second. The wrap features swirling decals in the Martini livery (The colors on Preston Jr and Lyall’s cars were originally orange and gray, but Porsche’s designers reinterpreted the composition here).

Exhaust: Traditionally, tribute designs like this tend to focus on victories or high points in a marque’s racing history. To choose to highlight early efforts—ones where things didn’t go perfectly and the results were something other than the top step of a podium—is neat. — Nathan Petroelje

Rolls-Royce and Bentley sales hit record levels

Intake: The world can’t get enough of Britain’s most luxurious automobiles. Both Rolls-Royce and Bentley set new sales records in 2022, with 6,021 Rollers and 15,174 Flying Bs flying out of showrooms. The number of vehicles from Goodwood was up eight percent in 2021, while Crewe car sales increased by four percent. Not only are the customers buying more cars, but they’re paying more for them with Rolls-Royce confirming that the average price paid for a Bespoke car was over half a million dollars, and Bentley adding that demand for Mulliner personalized models was also up. The Bentayga was Bentley’s top-seller, achieving 42 percent of sales, with the Continental GT and Convertible accounting for 30 percent and the Flying Spur taking the rest. At Rolls-Royce the Cullinan came out on top, with the Ghost and Phantom following in that order, although no exact split has been provided. The company also said that orders for its electric Spectre have exceeded expectations, so 2023 could set even more records.

Exhaust: Demand for the best of British is unabated, with customers seemingly unaffected by global financial turmoil. The U.S.A remains the biggest market out of the 65 countries Bentleys are sold, taking 28 percent of sales, and the Americas are also home to the most Rolls-Royce sales in 50 nations. Whether it’s old money on Wall Street or new tech cash from California, America’s most wealthy are flocking to flaunt it with British engineering and craftsmanship. — Nik Berg

Hennessey unveils “Apex” Venom F5

Intake: Hennessey Special Vehicles, the Texas-based performance car tuner and builder, has unveiled a track-focused hypercar called the Venom F5 Revolution Coupe, based on the Hennessey Venom F5 Coupe, but with “comprehensively reworked aerodynamics, suspension, engine cooling, and digital telemetry. The engineering team also focused on reducing mass. Thanks to a systematic focus on weight reduction, the race-honed model tips the scales below 3,000 pounds – it is the lightest Venom F5 model.” It’s fitted with an 1817 bhp twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V-8 powertrain calibrated for competitive use.

Exhaust: Hennessey’s latest is priced at $2.7 million, with just 24 cars built. It debuts this weekend at the Miami Motorcar Cavalcade Concours d’Elegance. A “handful” of the cars are not yet spoken for, Hennessey says. More information is at Hennessyspecialvehicles.com. – Steven Cole Smith

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The story of “The Beast” gives credence to Mark Twain’s claim that “truth is stranger than fiction.” Somebody needs to get Ron Howard on the horn, because the director behind films like Frost/Nixon, Rush and Thirteen Lives could do a fine job of bringing this quintessentially British tale of high hopes, a high “Roller” and the High Court to the big screen. You couldn’t make it up.

John Dodd, the man most associated with one of the craziest cars of the 1970s, died early last month at the age of 90. A short statement written by his daughter on the car’s Facebook page said: “To followers on here who have not heard the news, my father John Dodd, creator of ‘The Beast’ passed away last week. He will be sorely missed but has left us with many moments and his legend will live on.”

Live on it will. Not everything that has been written about The Beast is true. Some half-truths are presented as facts. Performance figures are accompanied by words like “claimed” and “approximately.” Fifty years of myths, buts and maybes thus curdled into a plot worthy of a docufilm.

The story starts, not with Dodd nor in the 1970s, but with Paul Jameson in 1966. Jameson, described by Richard Heseltine in his book, Excess All Areas, as “an inveterate specials builder” was building his first car. Many people might start small; dip their toe in the water before cannonballing in at the deep end. Not Jameson. He wanted to create something with a 27-liter Rolls-Royce Meteor engine. Yep, 27 liters..

The Meteor was a non-supercharged version of the Merlin V-12 fitted to the Spitfire, Lancaster, and Hurricane planes, although the engine fitted to the original car had a less illustrious past, serving in a Centurion tank. Jameson paid £20 (£300 or $360 in today’s money) for the engine with blocked bores and a cracked cylinder head.

In its original form, the car—retrospectively known as the Jameson Mk1—featured a frame made of box-section girders, Jaguar Mark 10 rear suspension and a front-end comprising Wolseley 6/99 parts. According to Motor, which praised Jameson’s workmanship, the body-less car emerged with a “55/45 weight ratio and excellent handling.”

At this stage, the car was just a rolling chassis, with Jameson struggling to find a suitable clutch and gearbox. He was testing the car at Biggin Hill when he encountered Dodd, an automatic transmission specialist and serial Rolls-Royce owner based in Surrey. It was a meeting of minds, with Dodd labelling Jameson “one of the best engineers alive in Great Britain.”

Dodd supplied a gearbox with modifications, but was surprised to receive a phone call from Jameson asking if he’d be interested in buying the rolling chassis. It was delivered the same day, with Dodd turning to Fibre Glass Repairs (now FGR Motorsports) for help with the body. Predictably, for a company which specialized in dragsters, The Beast looked outlandish.

In his book, Richard Heseltine describes it as “a bodyshell akin to a steroidal Ford Capri,” while in a feature written in 2014, Octane labelled it “a grossly distended take on a Mk1 Capri.” One thing’s for sure, it was not the car that Rolls-Royce had always promised itself.

Other parts included a windscreen from a Jensen FF, rear glass from a Reliant Scimitar and seats from a Lotus Elan +2, along with a cut-down grille and Spirit of Ecstasy mascot from a Rolls-Royce Corniche. Hey, Rolls-Royce built the Meteor engine, so why not stick its famous grille and mascot on the front?

The Beast is registered as a Rolls-Royce with a 27000-cc engine, something Dodd derived great pleasure from. “And that wasn’t me,” he said in an interview, “that’s what the LCC (London County Council) decided.” Brilliant.

Rolls-Royce wasn’t amused. Speaking to Nationwide’s Christopher Rainbow in February 1974, Dodd said: “They’re not making any comments at the moment,” but things would change in 1981. More on that in a moment, because in 1975, the original car was damaged by a fire on the way back from a car show in Sweden.

Fortunately for Dodd—although not for Rolls-Royce and its lawyers—the insurance company paid £17,000 (the equivalent of £121,000) for the car and a further £1500 to remove it from Sweden. This was in addition to the £2000 BP paid to put its logo on the car. The chassis survived the fire and returned to Fibre Glass Repairs for a new body.

Incidentally, Fibre Glass Repairs was run by Bob Phelps, who along with his son Roy, owned and built Santa Pod Raceway. Dodds was always quick to credit the Phelps for their input. In an interview with Octane, he said: “Roy Phelps and his father, the late, great engineer Bob, designed and built both cars from scratch. After the fire they told me to put it back on four wheels again.”

Despite the drag strip connections, The Beast was never designed for the quarter-mile. “It was always a road car,” he told Octane.

The car emerged from FGR with a new shooting brake-style body, complete with four rear lights from a Mk1.5 Capri, Austin Westminster front suspension and steering, Jaguar XJ12 independent rear suspension with stronger driveshafts, stiffer springs, and a pair of dampers at each corner, Jaguar vented discs on the front and a GM Turbo 400 three-speed automatic transmission. Another Rolls-Royce Meteor engine was sourced from Jameson, which on this occasion had seen service in a Boulton Paul Balliol trainer aircraft.

Declining the opportunity to keep Rolls-Royce and its lawyers happy—and going against Phelps’ wishes—Dodd insisted on a R-R grille, this time from a Silver Shadow.

Nearly a decade after it made its debut at the Custom Car Show at Crystal Palace, Dodd’s creation rose like a phoenix from the flames, fueling the interest in the car and stoking the fire smoldering at Rolls-Royce. Its celebrity status extended beyond the custom car and street machine circuits.

In the May 1981 issue of Street Machine, Mike Collins wondered what made The Beast such a magnet of attention. “I’m not sure what it is exactly about the Beast which turns the media on, they’ve been offered far more powerful and exotic traffic toys and ignored them; perhaps it’s the fact that the estimated seven hundred horsepower is developed at a mind-boggling twenty-five-hundred rpm.

“On the other hand, it could be that they like Dodd’s finger up at the Establishment in the form of the Rolls grille and lady backed up with a bigger engine than most anything on the road. Itself backed by a character who fully understands what he wants from this car and gets it as he drives round most exoticars.

“It’s not so much the power which turns ordinary folks on, but more than likely the fact that the Beast features the world’s most prestigious radiator shell and mascot in front of its custom-built body, draped around a totally outrageous power plant, which is taxed and tested for street use.”

Dodd loved taunting Rolls-Royce and would often call the company pretending to be a speculative customer interested in buying a car he had just seen whizz past him on a European road. This led to the myth about a baron with a Porsche phoning Rolls-Royce after The Beast had overtaken him while driving flat-out on a German autobahn. It wasn’t a baron, it was Dodd.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rolls-Royce issued a High Court writ, accusing Dodd of trademark infringement. The case generated a lot of media coverage, with Dodd attending the hearing in his big, beige and bonkers car. In this Classic Driver story from 2016, Dodd says: “I drove it to the hearing every day and parked right outside the court. The Rolls-Royce representatives parked opposite in a Silver Spirit with the number plate ‘RR 1’—funnily enough, they got towed away and I didn’t.

“On the final morning of the trial, my lawyer sacked himself saying I was ridiculing the highest court in the land. His last piece of advice was not to take the car that day, otherwise it’d be confiscated and I’d never get it back.

“They said I was behaving like a maverick. Perhaps 1000 horsepower was a bit excessive, I thought, so I called a friend who had some stables in Hyde Park for a favour. Me, my wife and my children took a horse each, and clip-clopped to the doors of the Courts of Justice—that caused a bigger sensation than the car had!”

The judge ruled for Rolls-Royce’s and Dodd was fined £5000 and ordered to pay the same in costs for ignoring it two days later at a car show in Southend. Dodd lost an appeal and was sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to pay. With a warrant issued for his arrest, Dodd fled to the “Costa del Crime” to escape extradition, with the car arriving soon after, before it lost its Rolls-Royce signature pieces.

From Malaga, Dodd ran a successful automatic transmission repair business, with the locals treated to the sight and sound of The Beast, still wearing its original KPD 67K number plates. “Dad loves getting visitors to see the car!” is just one of the responses posted by his daughter Suzanne when Facebook visitors asked to see The Beast. There’s a sense that John Dodd was justifiably proud of the car and its backstory.

Unlike many entertainers from the 1970s, the celebrity status of Dodd and his magnificent non-flying machine has remained intact. Featured by some of the biggest motoring mags—check out Ollie Marriage’s 2008 road test—the car even returned to its spiritual home of Santa Pod. In 2018, Custom Car reported on a “sedate 15.23 at 91mph and 2mpg.”

Why did he do it? In the Nationwide interview, he said: “The truth is, I wanted something different. The idea was to have a car that could beat anything on earth [and] at the same time run on the cheapest [two-star] petrol you could buy.” Not wanting foreign supercars to hog the limelight, he continued: “Cruise at 200mph and beat anything else. Make it all British.”

Could it do 200 mph? The Guinness Book of Records listed it as the most powerful road car in the world, saying “it exceeded 200mph (321.8km/h) on many occasions on Continental roads.” The Daily Express claimed the car could hit 260 mph, a figure you suspect that Dodd was only too happy to endorse. In 1973, the RAC timed the car at 183 mph. Still want that F40, F1, or Veyron, etc?

Whether it’s 180 mph, 200 mph or 26 0mph, or 600 bhp, 800 bhp or 1000 bhp, The Beast is 27 liters of flamboyant, anti-establishment excess. On an episode of Top Gear, in which Steve Berry is somehow louder than the engine, Dodd said the 19-foot-long and two-ton car would consume eight pints of fuel a minute, delivering just 2 mpg. The small numbers of The Beast are just as outrageous as the big ones.

There are other stories, like the time Dodd allegedly outran a police helicopter on a drive from Ayr to Carlisle. A police Range Rover failed to stop him, with Dodd escaping prosecution because the traffic cop couldn’t identify the driver. A screenwriter would never be short of inspiration when telling the story of Dodd and his car.

With the passing of John Dodd, the motoring world has lost an eccentric and driven individual who cared deeply about the car he co-created. Thanks to The Beast, his legend will indeed live on. Ron Howard, it’s over to you …

***

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Via Hagerty UK

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Sounding uncannily like Christoph Waltz as 007’s nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre, Roll-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös is unveiling the British brand’s first electric car. Coincidentally, it’s named Spectre.

“It is the world’s first ultra-luxury super coupe,” he announced in a tone suggesting plans for global domination. “It is a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second, with perfect waftability, serenity, and silence.”

Spectre is a 120-year-old “prophecy fulfilled” for Rolls-Royce. When Charles Stewart Rolls acquired a Columbia Electric Carriage in 1900 he declared: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”

The über coupe represents the first part of Roll’s promise to phase out combustion power by 2030. Although it takes up a place in the range vacated by the Dawn and Wraith, it’s actually more of a successor to the Phantom Coupe. The coach doors are the biggest ever seen on a Roller, making an arrival or departure a significant event. That’s important: Nobody will hear you coming or going, such is the Spectre’s refinement.

Spectre is the most aerodynamic car to leave the Goodwood factory, with the vanes of the illuminated Pantheon grille designed to help direct airflow around the front of the car. Even the Spirit of Ecstasy herself has undergone cosmetic surgery to fly through the air more efficiently with the net result being a Cd figure of just 0.25.

Riding on 23-inch wheels, the Spectre presents a “monolithic” profile—supremely solid, yet simply elegant. Rolls-Royce’s designers claim to have been inspired by the world’s of yachting, fashion, art, and sculpture, and their influence is most obvious in the steeply raked rear end.

The interior is, like that of any Rolls, almost infinitely customizable in sumptuous materials and colors, but a key feature of all examples will be the incredible illumination. The fascia surrounds the Spectre nameplate with a cluster of a further 5500 stars and the optional Starlight doors feature 4796 softly glowing pinpricks, while roof lining contains still more constellations. “Digital architecture of luxury” is how Rolls-Royce describes the screens providing information, entertainment, and connectivity but thankfully not the car’s HVAC controls, which have proper switches.

Spectre rides on an all-aluminum spaceframe which is 30 percent stiffer than before and houses 1440 pounds of batteries beneath the floor, which also double as sound-deadening. Those cells power a 430 kW (585 hp) electric drive system, with a mighty 664 lb-ft of torque which is enough to accelerate the Spectre to 62 mph from a standstill in 4.4 seconds. Range, as calculated on the European WLTP cycle, is a claimed 320 miles.

At 6559 pounds the Spectre is no lightweight, but its Planar active suspension system constantly monitors and adjusts the car to maintain a “magic carpet ride” at all times, while also keeping cornering roll in check. Having undergone the most rigorous testing program of any Rolls in the company’s history, racking up over 1.5 million miles from the Arctic to Africa, the Spectre is available to order now with deliveries towards the end of 2023 priced between the Cullinan SUV and Phantom—so around $400,000.

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When legendary Queen front man Freddie Mercury acquired his 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in 1979, he was so excited about the purchase that he insisted his bandmates christen it in style. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking.

“We filmed the promo video for ‘We Will Rock You’ in the garden of [drummer] Roger Taylor’s new Surrey mansion … and Freddie upstaged everyone by arriving in his brand-new Roller,” longtime band manager Jim Beach wrote in a letter to verify the car’s provenance. “Freddie insisted that we sign all of the (EMI/Elektra) contracts, all of us together, in the back of the Roller because this was the first Rolls he’d ever owned.”

The car, which regularly chauffeured Mercury until his death in 1991 at age 45, will cross the block at RM Sotheby’s London Auction on November 5, with proceeds going to the Superhumans Center, a charity established to provide aid in Ukraine.

Beach confirmed that upon Mercury’s death from AIDS complications in November 1991, the Silver Shadow continued to be driven by the rockstar’s sister, Kashmira Cook, who subsequently bought the car from the Freddie Mercury estate in 2003. It was previously auctioned by Coys in 2013, selling for £74,600, the equivalent of £131,098.13 (or about $146,000) today.

RM Sotheby’s says the sale of the car “presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a piece of rock and roll history, while at the same time benefiting a remarkable charity.” Funds from the sale will go toward the construction of a hospital in Lviv that will support the rehabilitation of adults and children who have suffered injuries due to the Ukraine-Russian conflict.

Mercury’s 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow left the factory in Silver Chalice paint with a blue interior. The Rolls is powered by a 6.75-liter V-8. Among the eye-catching features is a car phone and cassette deck.

Officially, the car was acquired by Mercury’s company, Goose Productions Ltd., in 1979. It is being offered with a history file that features the singer’s name on assorted workshop invoices. Much of the paperwork is recorded in the name of Mary Austin, Mercury’s former partner, who assisted the singer with upkeep of the Rolls-Royce.

Nick Wiles, car specialist at RM Sotheby’s, calls the Roller: “… Simply fantastic. It’s hard to find any music fan who doesn’t love Freddie Mercury, and he remains as big a name today as he ever was. This car represents a serious piece of history.”

Mercury wasn’t the only member of the band with an affection for automobiles. Sound man Jonathan Harris was equally obsessed with his Triumph TR4, which served as inspiration for Queen’s song, “I’m In Love With My Car.” The song, which was written and sung by drummer Taylor, appeared on the band’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera. Mercury’s Rolls is not shown in the music video, which features mostly black-and-white film of classic cars and vintage racing.

RM says potential buyers of Mercury’s Silver Shadow should note that the car has been kept in storage for an extended period of time and “would benefit from mechanical inspection” prior to being driven. Let’s hope that its new owner not only enjoys the Roller himself but also shares it with Mercury’s countless fans.

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Analysts warn rising interest rates may squash new car sales

Intake: Tight supply chains and low inventory may be hampering new car sales currently, but there’s a storm on the horizon that may compound the headache that automakers are feeling around the world: interest rates. “It seems likely that much of the pent-up demand from limited supply is quickly disappearing as high interest rates eat away at vehicle buyers’ willingness and ability to purchase,” Charlie Chesbrough, a senior economist with research firm Cox Automotive, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview this week. Cox Automotive lowered its 2022 U.S. sales forecast to 13.7 million new vehicles—which would be a nine percent drop from the previous year. That’s a stark drop from the five years leading up to 2020, where the industry was moving more than 17 million vehicles annually. Profitability remains high thanks to record sales transactions for new vehicles, however; the average price paid for a new car in the U.S. in Q3 hit $45,971, up 10 percent from the previous year and the highest figure on record, according to figures provided to the WSJ by research firm J.D. Power. But interest rates are rising along with those prices—September’s average rate was 5.7%, versus just four percent the year prior.

Exhaust: With the Fed promising additional hikes in the coming months to combat inflation, it’s looking like things will only get worse in the short term. Despite the prevailing market conditions, automakers remain confident that pent-up demand can overcome what’s ahead. “There is still really strong consumer demand, and huge replacement demand,” said Duncan Aldred, head of the Buick and GMC Brands in an interview last month in Detroit. “I think that will probably overcome a lot of the economic headwinds.” Will buyers share those same optimistic sentiments? – Nathan Petroelje

Centenary celebrations for the first “owner-driver” Rolls-Royce

Intake: October 6 marks 100 years since Rolls-Royce launched its 20 H.P. model. The Twenty was a car for a new post-war world that needed neither the regular weekly maintenance of the Silver Ghost, nor a chauffeur to service and drive it. Instead, the Twenty was a car for owner-drivers, with a 3.1-liter six-cylinder engine less than half the size of the Silver Ghost’s 7.5-liter unit, and a chassis that was at least one-third lighter. Rolls-Royce advertised the car as providing  “everything a motorist can want … motoring with a high degree of refinement and its simplicity of construction will delight the driver.” It was a roaring success, with 2940 units being built by the time production ceased in 1929, while the Twenty’s engine, with its detachable cylinder head and overhead valves, would continue to be developed over the next 30 years.

Exhaust: There was a slight problem with Henry Royce’s plan. Like all Rolls-Royce cars of the time, it was sold as a rolling chassis which customers would hand over to coachbuilders for bodywork. Many of those customers and coachbuilders failed to move with the times and an awful lot of Twenties ended up with overweight traditional bodies that went against Royce’s principles and blighted the car’s performance. The only way to solve this was to introduce a larger capacity 20/25 H.P. model, but even that wasn’t quite enough and by 1935 the base Rolls-Royce motor had grown to 4.25 liters. — Nik Berg

Ettore Bugatti’s boat, hat and Baby are up for auction

Intake: One of Bugatti’s biggest fans is putting his collection of automobilia up for sale at a Gooding & Company auction in November. Among the lots are the trophies won by William Grover-Williams at the 1928 French Grand Prix and by Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist at the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans, plus a photo album documenting Elizabeth Junek’s remarkable fifth place finish at the 1928 Targa Florio. There are handwritten pages from Ettore Bugatti’s memoirs, his baptism document, together with various contracts, design drawings, and notes. While these would be wonderful to display, there are three items that could be put to more practical use. There’s a 1946 Type 75 You-You Boat, designed by Bugatti and built at the Maisons-Laffitte boatyard, that you (and you) could bob about in, a 1933 Type 52 Bebe for your kids to drive, and Bugatti’s E Motsch Fils top hat to tip at the next concours dinner.

Exhaust: For Buggatiste this is an incredible opportunity to obtain items closely connected to the great man himself, but should you miss out on the auction don’t worry as you can still buy a Bugatti Baby II brand new from The Little Car Company. – NB

Nearly 120 plug-in vehicles will hit the market by 2026

Intake: A comprehensive study in Automotive News lists almost 120 new plug-in vehicles that are expected to arrive by 2026. That’s in addition to the battery-electric vehicles that have already gone on the market this year. Twenty manufacturers, Automotive News says, are expected to markets EVs for the first time in the next five years. They are Subaru (2022), Lexus, Maserati, Ram, Rolls Royce (2023), Acura, Alfa Romeo, Buick, Dodge, Honda, Jeep, Land Rover (2024), Aston Martin, Bentley, Chrysler, Infiniti, Lincoln (2025), and in 2026, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mitsubishi.

Exhaust: Like it or not, almost every automaker who does business in the U.S. will have an electrified offering on the market by 2026. It’s still expected to make up a small-to-moderate impact on overall sales, but the trend that 120 plug-ins represents can’t be denied. Think of it like this: The next president will only be halfway through his or her term when all these electric vehicles will be on sale. — Steven Cole Smith

Petit Le Mans race the end of an era for IMSA

Intake: The season-ending 25th annual Petit Le Mans, the 10-hour endurance race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, was the end of an era for IMSA’s top class. After six years of leading the grid, the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars ran their last race before being replaced next year by the all-new GTP cars that will debut in January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Coming out on top was the number 60 Meyer-Shank Racing Acura, with drivers Helio Castroneves, Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist. Actually, a couple of incidents made it a relatively easy race for the Acura: With 51 minutes left, the two Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPis, which were the class of the field, were battling for the lead when they collided in turn 1, leaving both cars in the gravel, which likely made for a tense flight home in the Ganassi airplane. That left the Meyer-Shank Acura fighting the number 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. With 14 minutes left, the Taylor Racing Acura was going for the lead when it brushed against a lapped GT car, damaging the rear suspension. Thus ended the DPi era, with the number 60 Acura winning both the race and the season championship.

Exhaust: The DPi cars served well as IMSA’s flagship class, but it’s time for the new GTP cars to take the stage. Cadillac and Acura will be back, joined by Porsche and BMW, and in 2024, Lamborghini. Some of the manufacturers, including Porsche, are selling customer cars to privateers which should help fatten up the grid for 2023. — SCS

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GMC gussies up the Colorado, this time with an AT4X twist

Intake: Hot on the heels of its more egalitarian sibling, the Colorado, GMC has unveiled the all-new 2023 Canyon. The similarities and shared components between the familial mid-sizers are legion, but in typical GMC fashion, a bit of added interior poshness will be the main attraction over the Colorado. All Canyons will benefit from a new chassis that moves the front axle forward a few inches; Elevation, AT4, and Denali trims get a standard 2-inch factory lift to bolster ground clearance to an impressive 9.6 inches.

The Canyon AT4X, a first for GMC’s mid-sizer, will headline this third-generation show with the same bevy of off-road goodies that you’ll find on the venerable Colorado ZR2—think front and rear electronic-locking diffs, Multimatic DSSV dampers, underbody protection, and chunky 33-inch tires. Those dampers and rubber will give the Canyon AT4X an even more impressive 10.7 inches of ground clearance and a stout 36.9-degree approach angle. Like its Bowtie brethren, the new Canyon will employ a turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine exclusively, good for a GM-estimated 430 lb-ft of torque in high-end applications such as the AT4X and the Denali trucks. Those two trims also get an 11-inch digital instrument cluster in place of the 8-inch unit found on more modestly equipped Canyons (and all Colorados). At launch, a special Edition 1 version of the Canyon AT4X will be offered that includes extra off-road gear such as a winch, an off-road bumper with a safari bar, 30-inch front light bar, 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, and a special front skid plate. The cost of such a beast: $63,350, to start—reservations are open now. Elsewhere in the lineup, GMC says pricing for other Canyon trims will start around $40,000. Expect the 2023 Canyon to arrive early next year, with the AT4X specifically showing up in the spring of 2023.

Exhaust: Figure that the non-Edition 1 versions of GMC’s Canyon AT4X will start around the mid-$50,000 mark. That’s no small sum for a mid-size truck, but such is the plight of being the premium nameplate—comparably equipped GMCs always outstrip Chevys at the register. The new styling is certainly more expressive than that of the outgoing model, which is not a bad thing. While we’re a bit sad to see the 2.8-liter diesel engine exit stage left, there’s no arguing that the inbound 2.7-liter unit is the right match; it delivers more torque than the diesel and more horsepower than the outgoing 3.6-liter V-6 as well. Our money still votes ZR2 over AT4X, but we suspect there are plenty of well-to-do buyers ready to plunk down a bit extra for a few hints of luxury in their trail-stompers. —Nathan Petroelje

Royal Rolls-Royce needs a new (stately) home

Intake: A 1980 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II once owned by Princes Margaret is looking for a regal new residence on Collecting Cars. The Roller’s Cardinal Red metallic paint contrasts with a black Everflex roof and comes complete with a royal crest mount and blue light for emergencies. Inside there’s finely-woven cloth in pale green, deep green carpets, and floor rests where Her Royal Highness could put her feet up after a long day of duty. This Rolls was a real favorite, staying in the Windsor family until 2002 when it performed a final sombre role carrying Princess Margaret’s children to her funeral. The Rolls comes with a history as long as old England’s, HRH’s private number plate 3 GXM, and a recent overhaul and service. With three days left on the auction, bidding stands just shy of $25,000.

Exhaust: This Royal Wraith previously went to auction in 2020 but failed to sell. More recently, however, a 2013 Bentley Mulsanne owned by Margaret’s big sister Queen Elizabeth II sold for $250,000, proving that monarch motoring commands a major markup. The Wraith does have some competition, as a Ford Escort RS Turbo driven by Princess Diana will also be up for sale shortly. —Nik Berg

Build your dream Z-car on Nissan’s configurator

Intake: The wait is finally over for brand loyalists, modern performance junkies, and anyone looking for some fun alongside a factory warranty: Nissan opened up the online configurator for the all-new Z-car. Visit the configurator to see how much you get for the Sport model’s $41,015 starting price, at the Performance’s $51,015 sticker (with goodies like a leather interior, limited slip differential, beefier brakes, BOSE audio, and Rays Engineering wheels), and the $54,015 figure for the limited edition “Proto,” whose exclusive color combination is limited to 240 units nationwide.

Exhaust: Nissan’s configurator has generally shown the brand to be heavy on standard features, focusing options on items that are more like dealer-installed accessories and less like the option packages available on a Mustang. The ideal package for enthusiasts is the Performance model, as you cannot upgrade the brakes or differential on the base Sport. Which is a shame as a Sport with cloth seats and no spoiler sounds like the best platform to go fast. Who knows, maybe that’ll happen next year. In the meantime build your Z and find a dealership who will sell it to you for sticker price with no hassle. Good luck with that. —Sajeev Mehta

Lamborghini Urus sets SUV lap record at Pikes Peak

Intake: Lamborghini hasn’t yet unveiled the 2023 Urus, yet it just captured the production SUV record at Pikes Peak. Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli was behind the wheel as the Urus hustled up the 12.42-mile course during a special event and clocked in a 10:32.064 time. That time bested the previous production SUV record of 10:49.902 set by Rhys Millen in a Bentley Bentayga in 2018. The twin-turbo V-8 Urus used “an evolution of the Urus’ Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R” tire that should be offered when the Urus goes on sale shortly. Besides the addition of a roll cage, six-point harness, and a fire suppression system, Faggioli’s Urus racer was unmodified.

Exhaust: Even though the previous record holder was Rhys Millen’s Bentley Bentayga, which shares the Urus platform, this next-gen Lambo took off a significant 17.838 seconds. Claiming it’s the “fastest SUV” sounds like a big caveat, but the 10:32.064 time puts it between the current front-wheel drive record of 10:48.094 set in 2018 by Nick Robinson in a modified, 500-hp 2018 Acura TLX A-Spec and the 10:18.488 set by Rhys Millen in a 2019 Bentley Continental GT, which is the current Time Attack 2 (production) record holder. SUV or not, that’s fast. —Brandan Gillogly

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Own the custom DB5 stunt car from Craig’s final Bond flick

Intake: London auctioneer Christie’s will be hosting a 60 Years of James Bond sale in the fall (September 15–October 5), and among the highlights are the hero cars of No Time To Die. Going under the hammer will be a Defender 110 and Range Rover Sport SVR, as featured in pursuit of 007 in a Land Cruiser, plus a Jaguar XF chase car used for filming the pre-credit sequence, and a Defender 110 V8 Bond Edition. The undisputed star of the sale, however, will be the Aston Martin DB5 stunt car which was custom-built for the film. For obvious reasons a real DB5 wasn’t sacrificed in the amazing Matera battle scene, so an exact replica was constructed on a spaceframe chassis, clothed in carbon-fiber panels and fitted with a 350-hp straight-six motor and manual transmission. This unique vehicle will be the headliner of the live auction at London’s Albert Hall on September 28, while an online sale opens on September 15 for a selection of other 007 memorabilia.

Exhaust: The sky(fall) is the limit for the one-of-a-kind DB5 stunt car, but even its co-stars are sure to fetch a fortune. A Spectre Land Rover, built by Bowler for the 2015 movie, sold for almost $450,000 in 2018. This is going to be a blockbuster auction, make no mistake. —Nik Berg

Behold Ferrari’s latest factory-built race car

Intake: Ferrari has formally revealed the new successor to the 488 EVO GT3 car that is raced globally in multiple GT3 series. It’s called the 296 GT3, and it will first take to the track at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January of 2023. It’s a mid-engine model, of course, with a 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6 engine good for 600 horsepower at 7250 rpm. “The 296 GT3 is born from the 488 GT3’s legacy,” said Antonello Coletta, director of Ferrari’s sports car racing activities. Ferrari says the 296 GT3 “aims to surpass the astonishing numbers achieved by the 488 GT3, drawing on the expertise of the Ferrari Competizioni GT team and the innovative solutions that the car provides.” Ferrari didn’t provide a price, but we’re guessing about $650,000, with deliveries to begin later this year.

Exhaust: The good news for Ferrari owners: Dozens of 488 GT3 V-8s just became mildly obsolete, and therefore affordable … by Ferrari standards, anyway. –Steven Cole Smith

It’s no vacation as the Rolls-Royce Spectre visits the French Riviera

Intake: Where else would Rolls-Royce go to put its first electric car through its paces than the sun-drenched coast of the Côte d’Azur? Second or third home to tanned billionaires, this place of fine wines, café culture, and haute couture will surely be where many a Spectre spends its summers. Rolls-Royce says it will drive almost 400,000 test miles in the region, taking in the winding Mediterranean coastline before heading inland to Provence and the Autodrome de Miramas proving ground, which hosted the French Grand Prix of 1926. There’s a lot to test as the Spectre will be the most connected Rolls-Royce ever made, with 141,200 sender-receiver relations in its complex electronic systems. The car’s Magic Carpet Ride is just one example, where a Flagbearer system reads the road ahead to fettle the suspension for the most comfortable drive. Engineers will also be validating the 30 percent stiffer aluminum spaceframe architecture and the 0.25 drag coefficient in preparation for the car’s debut towards the end of 2023.

Exhaust: More than half the Spectre’s total test miles will be done in France “on the very roads that many production Spectres will be driven on,” says Rolls-Royce, but local testing will also take place in “key markets,” so expect to see Spectres cruising California soon as well. Rolls-Royce is fully committed to electrification, so there’s a lot riding on the success of this program. — Nik Berg

2022  Mercedes-AMG SL gets a price tag

Intake:  The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL is making some big changes as the long-running convertible ditches its retractable hard top for a fabric soft-top, adds AWD, and also comes with standard back seats. The latter two changes mark firsts for the SL—rear seats were last optional on the R129 Sl which debuted in 1989. After showing off the shapely and powerful V-8-powered AMG versions nine months ago, Mercedes has finally dropped the price: the 469-hp AMG SL 55 will start from $138,450, and the 577-hp AMG SL 63 will start from $179,150, boh including destination.

Exhaust: With a lighter, more rigid platform, a technologically advanced interior, and powerful V-8 engines, both flavors of Mercedes-AMG SL sound like they’ll be fantastic grand tourers. If you’re worried that the mission statement of the SL has changed with the addition of two rear seats, it t seems that, like previous SL optional rear seats, these standard rear seats are best suited for kids and only when the front passengers aren’t particularly tall themselves. The same basic SL formula of a long hood, short deck, and top-down luxury performance still seems to be wholly intact. —Brandan Gillogly

The post Buy a custom-built DB5 Bond stunt car, Ferrari’s new GT3 racer, electric Rolls on the Riviera appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Hidden away in the heart of London is the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company. It’s an oasis of lush green lawns in the concrete-and-glass jungle of the city’s financial center.

It’s also about the least likely location for a car show. Each vehicle (excluding the handful of EVs on display) at the London Concours has to pay the city’s congestion charge, and owners of modern classics have also coughed up to enter London’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone. Visitors arrive by bicycle, bus, and tube, not by motor car.

Once through the elaborate entrance, it is an extraordinary scene: over 80 vehicles clustered in themes throughout the vast open space, the city’s shiny towers looming above. There are concept cars, supercars, American giants, Astons aplenty, Japanese gems, prewar Brits, and a whole section of lawn dedicated to Mercedes-Benz.

Our eyes, however, are drawn to these more unusual automobiles …

1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow pick-up

Built as support car for the Goodwood Revival, this Silver Shadow was converted by Clark & Carter of Essex for its owner to arrive in style with his classic race car in tow. It seems almost a shame to sully that big flatbed with greasy tools, but at least they’d be hidden under the classy, full-length fabric tonneau.

1969 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 Crayford

This big Benz also boasts a racing pedigree. Connaught Formula 1 driver Kenneth McAlpine was one of just 12 buyers to commission Crayford to convert his 300 SEL into an estate. Crayford apparently used the rear glass and panels from a lowly Ford Granada in the process, but a 6.3-liter V-8 made it one of the fastest load luggers of its day.

1974 Lotus Estralle

Ron Hickman, designer of the Lotus Elan +2 also sketched a shooting brake version of the little Lotus in 1967, but it was never produced by the company. That didn’t stop one enthusiast from tasking specialist Paul Matty with the job of building one, however. Based on a 1974 +2S 130/5, the car features an aluminum Shapecraft roof bonded to the fiberglass body with glass shaped to order by Pilkington.

1996 Mercedes-Benz F200 Imagination

25 years ago this was the future, according to Mercedes-Benz. The F200 Imagination concept, first displayed at the Paris Motor Show, previewed an electro-transparent roof that would later appear on a Maybach, butterfly doors we’d see on the SLR McLaren and Active Body Control suspension that went into production with the 1999 CL. The crazy “Sidesticks” control system thankfully never made it.

1967 Toyota 2000GT

Typical, isn’t it? You go a whole lifetime without ever seeing a Toyota 2000GT, and then you come across two in the matter of just weeks. Having spied a glorious red example at the Hagerty Hill Climb, we couldn’t miss this wonderful white car. One of just 351 2000GTs ever built, the car was sold new to an owner in Mozambique, spent some years in Portugal, and then was fully restored in 2012.

1969 Mazda Cosmo 110S

The first Mazda ever to be powered by a rotary engine, the Cosmo might just be the most beautiful as well. This car is a Series 2, featuring a more powerful 0813 engine with 128 hp and has been restored by Mazda UK for its Heritage Press Fleet. We’ll be angling for a drive in it soon …

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

No finer fins were on display than this ’59 Caddy’s. The Eldorado Biarritz is believed to be one of just 500 remaining from a run of 1320 cars and boasts bucket seats and a stunning Persian Sand metallic paint job. It spent much of its life in Chicago’s Tony Siciliano Collection before crossing the pond.

1960 Fiat Abarth 2200 Allemano

A whole nest of Spiders was on show, but this Abarth was an unfamiliar sight. Based on a Fiat 2100 saloon, it features a six-cylinder, 135-hp engine and was quite the grand tourer. Styled by Michelotti with coachwork by Serafino Allemano, the 2200 Allemano was Abarth’s attempt to move upmarket, but the marketplace didn’t respond and as few as 30 examples are believed to have been built.

1953 Jaguar XK120

An honorable mention must go to this immaculate XK120, which was not part of the Concours itself but instead parked on double yellow lines outside on City Road, picking up parking tickets and sticking two fingers up at the establishment. Bravo.

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BMW’s CSL Hommage concept could become a $650K reality this year

Intake: BMW is set to bring back the 3.0 CSL as an über-limited, coachbuilt special, reports bmwblog.com. BMW showed its CSL Hommage in 2020, but at the time said it was just a concept. Fortunately, it seems, the Germans have had a change of heart. The car will be based on the M4 CSL but will be more powerful, more track-oriented, lighter, and styled to acknowledge (but not ape) its 1970s heritage. Bmwblog.com claims that while the new CSL will use the M4 as a base it will be largely new, with a coachbuilt body, no rear seats, power boosted to 600 hp, and a manual transmission. Apparently just 50 are to built to celebrate 50 years of BMW’s M division and the price is set to exceed $650,000.

Exhaust: That’s an eye-watering price to place on nostalgia, especially because the most recent M4 is a far cry indeed from the E9-based “Batmobile” homologation special. If you set your sights a bit (okay, a lot) lower than that ’70s icon, and focus only on the current, G82 generation, this Hommage could distinguish itself as the highest-powered M4 with a manual transmission, a gearbox currently restricted to the “base” M4 (the soon-to-be-revealed, non-Hommage M4 CSL will most likely be auto-only.) Enough to justify 650 large, though? We doubt it. 

Subtle glam for Phantom ahead of electric Rolls debut

Intake: Can you improve upon perfection? Rolls-Royce believes so, and has given the flagship Phantom II a “light touch” facelift. The small amount of cosmetic surgery is mostly a nose job, with a new horizontal line between the running lights above the Pantheon Grille, which is also illuminated à la Ghost. The headlights feature laser-cut bezel starlights, and the RR badge and Spirit of Ecstasy now stand out a little more. Milled stainless-steel wheels with triangular facets are now an option, although we’re rather taken with the 1920s-style stainless steel discs. Customers can also opt for a stealthy black trim for the grille surround and window surrounds. Inside there’s no change to the design, but a special Platino one-off has been developed to showcase how Rolls-Royce can develop a luxury interior that doesn’t rely on leather alone. The front seats of the Platino are cow-hide, while the rears are trimmed in a combination of silk-like Italian fabric and another material made from bamboo fiber.

Exhaust: Big changes are in store for Rolls as it prepares to debut its first all-electric model, the Spectre, later this year. Now isn’t the time to alienate customers habituated to the marque’s traditional, combustion-powered products—especially not its most expensive one. These subtle changes avoid outdating the 2022 MY car while offering a few bits of eye-catching glam. Nice.

Subaru isn’t abandoning its, uh, Legacy

Intake: Subaru has announced a raft of updates for its Legacy midsize sedan, the marque’s longest-running nameplate in America. New for 2023, the Legacy Sport trim will finally score an engine worthy of its (mildly) more aggressive styling: The 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder also found in the new Subaru WRX. The mill is good for 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque. Other Legacies make do with a free-breathing 2.5-liter flat four wheezing out 182 hp and 176 lb-ft of torque. Both engines pair exclusively with Subaru’s sleepy CVT automatic. There’s a new front fascia on all trims, with a larger grille and redesigned LED headlights and fog lights. Sport and Touring XT Legacies—the priciest two trims in the lineup—receive a heated steering wheel as standard. In an effort to retain its reputation as one of the safest automakers out there, Subaru equipped the top-trim Legacy Touring XT with an additional wide-angle camera for the forward-facing safety suite (which it calls EyeSight) that can help the car recognize pedestrians and bikers quicker when approaching intersections at lower speeds. Pricing and availability details will be released at a later date.

Exhaust: Despite announcing its first electric-vehicle production line today, Subaru is not leaving the aging Legacy in the dust just yet, despite anemic sales. This sedan was Subaru’s second worst-selling nameplate last year, moving 22,766 units to outsell only the aging BRZ. (For context, Toyota moved more than 13 times as many Camrys last year.) The engine transplant for the Sport model proves that Subaru knows how important this vehicle is to its brand image … and, given its collaborations with Toyota, how desperately it desperately needs to retain a few purebreds.

MotoGP has a tire-pressure problem

Intake: MotoGP has a single tire supplier and that puts teams in an interesting predicament: The front tire is critical to a motorcycle’s performance, and if your front rubber doesn’t provide the right amount of grip, you literally cannot compete. Michelin’s front slick is notoriously fussy, and new information has come to light in Motorsport Magazine that Ducati riders Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin have been flagged in a leaked document (shown above). The two are on separate teams, but their bikes’ on-board tire-pressure monitoring systems, which track both pressure and temperature, reveal that each rider ran an illegally low front-tire pressure during the entire Spanish Grand Prix. Due to a so-called gentleman’s agreement, there has been no repercussions for those breaking the tire-pressure rules, but other times are calling for change—at least, for enforcement of the rules rather than what amounts to looking the other way.

Exhaust: This problem is not unique to MotoGP. Most spec-tire racing organizations have minimum pressures set by the tire supplier. Both World Superbike and Formula 1 have minimum settings intended to keep the tire casings from premature failure. The Ducati teams (and riders, though they likely are not aware of exact tire pressures when rolling onto the grid) are shaking hands with danger in their quest for increased front grip, but it’s only a matter of time before the decision will bite them, whether through punishment from Dorna or an at-speed failure. Rules are meant to be enforced, and it’s time that all teams got on board.

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Aftermarket sales defy high inflation, fuel prices to pass pre-pandemic levels

Intake: SEMA, the Speciality Equipment Market Association, reports that the automotive aftermarket is flying high even in the face of rising inflation and fuel prices, as 75 percent of manufacturers, 68 percent of distributors and 53 percent of retailers/installers report that sales are above their 2019 levels. (The average increase is 18, 7, and 6 percent, respectively, for each business vertical.) As expected, the lion’s share of sales come from trucks (20 percent for manufacturers, 22 percent for retailers) and classic vehicles (18 percent manufacturer, 26 percent retail). The overall growth trend is expected to continue in the coming months, which is great news for customers and insiders alike.

Exhaust: While SEMA believes that the pandemic’s reign of disruption has subsided, it warns that global supply chain issues are still a challenge for over 90 percent of the industry, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not come until 2023. And much like other industries, 70 percent of manufacturers, 56 percent of distributors, and 45 percent of retailers experienced difficulty finding qualified people to fill open positions. While the data doesn’t raise any red flags, remember that SEMA surveyed 1554 individuals within the specialty-equipment industry for this report. So as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

IndyCar comes home for first of many Indy 500 test sessions

Intake: Earlier this week, the NTT IndyCar Series drivers took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for their first test sessions ahead of the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500. In preparation for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” drivers spent Wednesday and Thursday turning laps around the famed 2.5-mile course. Wednesday was broken into multiple sessions, with veteran groups and hopeful rookie contenders practicing separately. These initial sessions were marked by drama, as multiple crashes slowed the typically torrid pace. Many of the yellows were caused by spins on the pit exit lane—a section of track that was resealed over the off-season. The slick access road was such an issue for drivers that officials halted the first day 30 minutes early so they could inspect the new surface. Indy’s second day was delayed four hours to dry the surface after overnight rain. Once dry, the track hosted the fastest laps over the two-day period, with Joseph Newgarden laying down a chart-topping 229.519 mile-per-hour lap.

Exhaust: Indianapolis Motor Speedway is alive with the sound of open-wheel racing, signaling to all motorsport fans that Spring is officially here. While prospective rookies are typically the source of shattered fiberglass in the months leading up to the Indy 500, this year it was a crop of veterans who found themselves pointed in the wrong direction. Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, centennial winner Alexander Rossi, and previous series champ Will Power all spun during Wednesday’s tumultuous sessions. Power’s incident (shown below) also collected rising star Colton Herta. All drivers walked away and only Castroneves’ team opted to withdraw from the second day of testing. Rejoice! Before we know it, it’s gonna be May.

A driver’s worst nightmare is spinning up off the apron into 220mph traffic.. Didn’t see this one coming.. glad no one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/YrYjJFcUyP

— Will Power (@12WillPower) April 21, 2022

Ford recalls 652,996 body-on-frame trucks and SUVs for faulty wiper arm

Intake: Ford is recalling several hundred thousand body-on-frame pickups and SUVs for a potentially faulty wiper arm that could result in reduced visibility in adverse weather and increased risk of an accident. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) report, the affected vehicles were equipped with a wiper arm whose head spline teeth were produced out of design spec for the higher-torque wiper motors. Among the cars affected are 66,373 Ford F-150s from the 2021 model year, 89,903 F-150s from 2020, 95,915 Expeditions from 2020 through ’21, 381,797 Super Duty pickups from 2020 through 2022, and 19,008 Lincoln Navigators from 2020 to ’21. Affected owners will be notified by mail and should prepare to take their vehicles to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have both front windshield wiper arms replaced, free of charge.

Exhaust: Recalls happen—the astounding mechanical complexity of today’s cars are bound to produce a few faulty parts occasionally. Frankly, we’re surprised it isn’t more common. Kudos to Ford for nipping this one in the bud and handling the fix in a timely manner. Blasting along in a rainstorm only to have the front wiper arms decide to take the day off is a less-than-ideal scenario.

On this day in 1933: Sir Henry Royce passes

Intake: Sir Henry Royce, founder of Rolls-Royce with Charles Rolls, died 89 years ago today. Royce spent his final 16 years living at Elmstead, a country manor in West Sussex, some 400 miles from the company’s factory in Derby, and every year Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club members make a pilgrimage to his former home to pay tribute. Royce had a studio on the estate where he worked on car designs and the engine for the Schneider Trophy-winning Supermarine Spitfire aircraft. “Sir Henry Royce was a wholly remarkable man, with an insatiable curiosity, formidable work ethic and irresistible urge to make things better, whether that was motor cars, engines, or even—as he proved at Elmstead—farm animals and fruit trees. Almost 90 years after his death, he remains a towering figure and constant inspiration to all of us at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars,” says Andrew Ball, head of corporate relations at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Exhaust: When BMW-owned Rolls-Royce was seeking a new base for its HQ, it chose Goodwood for its proximity to Rolls’ home. The West Sussex roads that Rolls himself would test drive prototype vehicles are still used today. “That emotional connection with our founder, who spent his happiest and most productive years there, is something we all feel very deeply,” adds Ball.

A Ferrari 860 Monza for $70,000? Not quite

Intake: A 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza, as driven to victory at Nassau by Phil Hill and that took second and third spots in the Mille Miglia, would set you back millions. Or you could pick up this lookalike for just over $70,000. Its fiberglass bodywork is a decent mimic of the original, and it sits on a tubular steel chassis like the Ferrari, with similar wishbone front suspension and a four-speed manual transmission—but, to be honest, that’s where the similarities end. The Ferrari was powered by a 280-hp, 3.4-liter four-cylinder engine and this Kougar copy has a three-liter Ford V-6 offering 156 hp. That said, the red paint and Ferrari badges on the engine will, no doubt, make it seem much faster. The cabin is trimmed in leather-look vinyl, but at least it has a Moto-Lita steering wheel. Built in 1982 the car is for sale at Caterham specialists Sevens & Classics in the UK.

Exhaust: The last time a Ferrari 860 Monza came up for sale it fetched $2,057,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2003. With the passage of almost 20 years, the price today would be closer to $7,000,000. Does that make this replica a sweet deal? Possibly …

Nerves struck as Cobb gets serious about CARB compliance

Intake: Cobb, one of the most well-known suppliers of aftermarket tuning software, has received 11 new California Air Resources Board Executive Orders (CARB EO) for new products since January, and its latest changes will affect customers no matter the regulations (or enforcement thereof) in their home states. To bring its Accesstuner Software into compliance with CARB EOs, Cobb has eliminated any table that allows for changes to O2 sensors, catalysts, EGR systems, warmup procedures, secondary air injection, and other systems designed to reduce emissions. Rather than approach the issue of varying emissions regulations by offering a separate, CARB EO–specific tune (as Hondata does), Cobb is instituting one CARB-compliant update to rule all its customers. As of April 18, 2022, all Cobb products running Accesstuner software were force updated to remove anything that a regulation agency might classify as a delete, bypass, or defeat of a factory-installed emissions system. All older software systems are, as of that same date, nonfunctional. Caught in the net are some flex fuel systems, namely the analog units used by Nissan and Subaru.

Exhaust: Cobb is making the right move in the wrong way. In the long run, the company has little choice: The EPA is not messing around, as it proved back in 2020, when it slammed Diesel Brothers with a $848,000 fine for illegally modifying the emissions control systems of diesel pickups. While Cobb’s shouldering of environmental responsibility is worthy of praise, its insensitive delivery of the news is damaging the company’s otherwise excellent name. The discontinuation of the E85 Flex Fuel Kit is triggering the most outrage, since Cobb didn’t give any real warning to clients or distributors, and the kit was available for sale up to 30 days ago. Here, as with the nationwide application of CARB emission standards, Cobb’s approach lacks nuance: Why lock everyone out, and not simply limit access for the E85 kit to Cobb-certified shops? 

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GM’s heavy-duty pickups likely headed off-road in 2024

Intake: GM-Trucks.com recently spotted an off-road-focused Sierra HD that’s quite a bit beefier than the current AT4. Based on the camouflaged prototypes spied by the publication, both the Silverado and Sierra HD pickups will likely be joined by even more off-road-capable versions for the 2024 model year, following on the heels of the long-awaited Silverado ZR2 and Sierra AT4X. The pre-production pickups flaunt 35-inch tires, new bumpers with better approach angles, and sturdy skid plates. Each is expected to use front and rear lockers like its midsize and 1/2-ton counterparts.

Exhaust: The pickup truck market is huge and buyers are willing to pony up for expensive trim levels, whether luxury-focused or off road–oriented, so it seems natural for GM to offer a more off-road focused line of Sierra and Silverado. The fact that the Power Wagon and now the Super Duty Tremor have been able to establish themselves in the market proves that these trucks are viable. If these two offer the balance of on- and off-road ride and handling that the Colorado ZR2 has continued to deliver, then GM should have two smash hits on its hands.

Arizona lets you store drivers’ license on iPhone; more states to follow

Intake: Apple has announced that Arizona is the first state to offer driver’s license and state ID in the iPhone Wallet app, a method of identification that has been approved for use at TSA security checkpoints. Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, says other states will soon follow suit, including Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio, and the territory of Puerto Rico, as well as seven other previously announced states—Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah. The news comes on the heels of Apple’s announcement that it will provide digital car keys for the 2022 Kia Niro, 2022 Genesis G90, and all-electric 2022 Genesis GV60.

Exhaust: It is not surprising that as technology improves, the automotive world is moving closer and closer to a digital existence than an analog one. However, while the features announced by Apple seem to offer a more seamless way to live, the move to a digital lifestyle may ultimately get more complicated. For example, if Apple decides to stop supporting the digital key feature on older phones, users will be forced to upgrade. And there are always unforeseen problems as software ages—like GPS system failure, which automakers have not exactly been quick to fix.

Wraith no more

Intake: Rolls-Royce has stopped taking orders for the Wraith coupe and Dawn droptop as the British luxury carmaker gears up for the launch of its all-electric Spectre. The U.S. order books had already closed, but now Rolls won’t be accepting build requests from anywhere in the world. The final cars will be delivered in 2023, shortly before the Spectre glides in. Although the Spectre isn’t a like-for-like replacement for the Wraith, it will be the only coupe in the Rolls-Royce range. A convertible version will follow soon after.

Exhaust: It’s the beginning of the end for combustion engines at Rolls-Royce. From 2023 onwards, the only new vehicles to be unveiled by the brand will be electric and its purring V-12 and V-8 engines will be completely phased out by 2030.

Jeep teases military-themed Easter Jeep Safari concept

Intake: Jeep doesn’t give us much here besides an image and a brief bit of text, including the following: “This year, the Jeep design team is hard at work on an off-roader that pays homage to a Jeep vehicle of the past. Hint, it blends military grit and determination with 4xe electric vehicle technology.”

Exhaust: The photo, combined with what little information we can glean from the photo, gives us an idea of what to expect when this concept is revealed next month at Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. The RU31-CON/4XE lettering clearly indicates a hybrid powertrain. Our best guess is that the “military grit” points to a homage to the Willys M38A1, from which the CJ-5 evolved. We admit that “M38A1” is a bit of a stretch from the “31” in the hood lettering, so we may be way off. The number could have something to do with the output or the range of the 4XE powertrain or something else entirely. Thankfully, we don’t have long to wait. 

USPS doubles the number of EVs in its replacement fleet

Intake: The U.S. Postal Service announced that it has ordered more than 10,000 new electric delivery trucks, up from the 5000 the agency had initially planned to purchase as part of its $2.98 billion order of 50,000 new delivery vehicles from Oshkosh Corp. In an elongated, publicly scrutinized evaluation to determine the percentage of EVs vs. ICE-powered vehicles in the fleet, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says the agency’s decision to purchase 10,019 EVs “makes good sense from an operational and financial perspective.” The change comes after the Biden administration criticized the Postal Service’s technical analysis of emissions impacts and argued it overestimated the long-term cost of EVs.

Exhaust: Somehow, we knew this discussion was not over. First, the USPS pumped the brakes on its original plan to electrify only 10 percent of its new fleet. Then it finalized those plans in defiance of the Biden administration’s objections. Now it has doubled the number of planned EVs to be built. Will the compromise be enough to put this environmental tug-o-war to rest? Likely not. Stay tuned. 

Denzel Washington’s 911 takes flight on BaT

Intake: A 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo originally ordered by Oscar-winner Denzel Washington has already soared past $300,000 on auction site Bring a Trailer. The black-on-black 993 has been owned by the actor since new and is specified with 18-inch Turbo Twist wheels, xenon headlights, a fixed rear wing, power seats, and climate control. There are crimson (tide?) brake calipers and, with a clean CarFax report and a 18K-mile odometer reading, the car appears in magnificent (seven!) condition.

Exhaust: The price of this struck 911 looks Unstoppable. The auction ends in four days, so you’ll need Courage Under Fire to stand a chance of winning before you’re Out of Time.

Virginia joins North Carolina in banning Carolina Squat

Intake: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed SB777 into law yesterday, which bans trucks and SUVs modified with the “Carolina Squat,” a style in which the rear end of the vehicle is lowered and the front end is hoisted skyward. Virginia now joins North Carolina in banning the modification, which stipulates that the difference between the front bumper height and the rear bumper height be no more than 4 inches. Opponents of the modification argue that the squat obscures road visibility and can result in increased risk of a crash: Youngkin was joined at the bill’s signing by a family who lost their son to a crash with a vehicle that had been modified with the Carolina Squat.

Exhaust: Your feelings on the stylistic delicacy of the Carolina Squat notwithstanding, does regulating a modification like this going to change anything significant? The parameters for a truck’s legality—that 4-inch difference—seem awfully subjective, and with suspension tech such as airbags that can raise and lower a truck with the flip of a switch, some might find a way around this. Does a tape measure become standard kit for traffic enforcement now?

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Cadillac’s Escalade-V will thunder into the world on May 11

Intake: Something supercharged this way comes. Cadillac has announced the official reveal date of the Escalade-V, a performance-minded version of the marque’s flagship SUV. The body-on-frame brute is expected to crib the supercharged LT4 V-8 from the CT5-V Blackwing and the C7 Corvette Z06 of yore. We’ve seen photos already, and the exterior boasts a particularly sporty and handsome front fascia with design elements that mimic those on the track-stomping CT5-V Blackwing. If it’s a direct transfer, the V-8 will produce 668 hp and 659 lb-ft of torque. Top-trim Escalades boast GM’s outstanding magnetic ride control, which we expect to continue  on the Escalade V.

Exhaust: While it may seem a touch absurd to consider a hulking three-row SUV as something with performance intent, remember that Dodge stuffed the inimitable 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8 from the Challenger and Charger Hellcat into a Durango, and our test revealed that it’s an absolute riot. Stellantis also stuffed that engine into a Ram 1500—maybe this is a tangential test case for an LT4-powered Silverado ZR2?

Mercedes reveals facelifted 2023 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 and GT 63 S

Intake: Mercedes has added a new face and a host of customization options to the 575-hp 2023 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 and 630-hp Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S. The new fascia, first seen on the GT 63 S E Performance, includes wider air intakes divided by three vertical fins. That car is the first AMG to marry a raucous V-8 and a hybrid motor, which is the first step in Affalterbach’s new performance direction, announced last spring. Ride and handling are enhanced with a new AMG Ride Control+ that uses two continuously variable pressure limiting valves, one each to control rebound and compression. The valves operate independently of one another and enable the adaptive suspension to shield passengers from unruly road surfaces while also offering sporty handling, depending on the mode selected. Finally, the 2023 models are available in a stunning array of colors and interior finishes that include four matte paints, five metallic shades, two solid colors, an AMG carbon fiber package, a new AMG Night Package II, and the MANUFAKTUR range of options that includes exclusive Nappa leather in diamond quilting, a two-tone AMG Performance steering wheel, and AMG high-pile floor mats with embroidered AMG lettering.

Exhaust: The levels of performance and luxury keep increasing, proving that Mercedes is serious about maintaining the AMG GT 63’s position as the cream of the crop among four-door GTs. We’re eager to get our hands on one when they become available in the United States later this year. The AMG GT 63 S set the Nürburgring lap record for executive-class (read: four-door) luxury cars a few years back, and it still retains that record to this day. These new performance upgrades may make the svelte four-door even quicker around the famous track, should Mercedes-AMG ever attempt to top its own time.

Watch the whisper-quiet Rolls-Royce Spectre on the road

Intake: Listen carefully and you may just hear the whirr of its electric powertrain as the first electric Rolls-Royce is caught testing in Germany. The Spectre coupe looks like a wind tunnel-tuned Wraith with a far more aerodynamic front end than its V-12-powered predecessor, and it sits on the company’s aluminum Architecture of Luxury platform. Exactly what combination of batteries and motors will drive the Spectre hasn’t been mentioned yet, but you’re likely hearing a version of the BMW Group’s fifth-generation EV tech. That could mean a battery of up to 120 kWh in capacity and a range of as much as 400 miles. As for power, if the Spectre takes its lead from the BMW iX, then we could see 610 hp offered. The slogan-heavy camo seen here is due to be removed later this year as the next chapter of Rolls-Royce’s luxury story makes its hushed debut.

Exhaust: Silence, effortless speed, and luxury have been long been the hallmarks of Rolls-Royce, so electrification probably won’t alter the driving experience that much if we’re being honest. The cars themselves have never been all that light, so the added mass of batteries may barely be noticed. The Spectre is first in line for EV power, but Rolls-Royce has pledged that the whole range will be electric by 2030.

Motorsport artisan Vic Elford dies at 86

Intake: A Porsche 911S in Monte Carlo, a 908 at the Targa Florio, a Cooper Formula One racer at Nürburgring, a stock car on the Daytona high banks—“Quick” Vic Elford stayed true to his nickname in anything with four wheels. Last Sunday, the hall-of-famer lost his battle with cancer at the age of 86. Elford began his career in rally—first as a navigator, then as driver—because his family didn’t have the money to finance more conventional road racing endeavors. After demonstrating immense pace in rally, Elford graduated to the pavement where he took home numerous trophies from endurance racing’s most famous races, including the Nürburgring 1000km and Daytona’s Rolex 24. By all accounts, Elford only ever took what the car would give him, which led to fast times and, most importantly, preservation—a key result when piloting bestial machines like Porsche’s 917, Shadow’s DN2 Can-Am racer, or Chapparal’s 2J “Sucker Car.”

Exhaust: The old world is leaving. In the past year, we’ve lost some truly iconic racers from motorsports’ golden era, including Bobby and Al Unser. Like the Unser brothers, Elford will be remembered for his ability to compete at the highest level in all forms of motorsport; an achievement even more impressive when viewed through today’s lens. At present, drivers are asked to be incredibly specialized in their skill. Any step outside of their main series is met with bated breath from team owners and sponsors. Risk injury in another car? Think again. Domain jumping—like Elford sometimes performed in less than a week’s time—is reserved for drivers who are looking to write a new chapter: Jimmie Johnson to IndyCar or Montoya to NASCAR. As we lose drivers like Elford, the age of driver versatility diminishes in the rear-view mirror. God’s speed, “Quick Vic.”

The smallest car just sold for a massive $145,000

Intake: A 1963 Peel P50 microcar has fetched £111,000 ($144,549) in an online auction. The car, if you can call it that, is an early preproduction model with a slightly lower windscreen, Lucas sidelights, and a cream steering wheel, which makes it unique. The remaining 45 P50s all featured a rear roll bar, but this early model does not—making it also potentially the most dangerous of the lot. That clearly didn’t deter the buyer, who can now chug along at speeds of up to 38 mph in this quirky 130-lb British three-wheeler. Made on the Isle of Man from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company, the P50 had no reverse gear. Instead, there was a handle at the rear so you could get out, lift the back wheel off the ground and pull the Peel into position.

Exhaust: The purchase price may have been sky-high but with gas prices soaring, the buyer will be happy to know that serious savings at the pumps can be had as the Peel can achieve 100 miles per U.K. gallon or 83 mpg U.S.

The post Escalade-V emerging in May, AMG facelifts GT four-door, Rolls-Royce’s first EV spied appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Canadian sells house to fund Rolls-Royce EV conversion

Intake: A resident of British Columbia forever changed his life when he sold his house to fund his homebrew EV project. His now Tesla-powered Rolls-Royce Ghost, the result of four years of labor, has a reported 310 miles of battery-powered range. Vincent Yu, an engineer by trade, was inspired to convert the Rolls Royce’s powertrain after a conversation with his daughter, who critiqued him for his combustion-powered driving style, and subsequently hired a team of craftsman to assist him in making his dream a reality. And while these difficult times led to Yu’s wife leaving him, he now has his own company specializing in EV conversions.

Exhaust: This is an impressive story about the financial stress and the personal toll it takes to create something, but Yu evidently takes it in stride: “Growing up, I have always been this crazy kid who kept dreaming of doing something ground-breaking in the world—even if it seems impossible.” Yu joins a growing cottage industry of entrepreneurs creating EV-conversion companies, and we wish him and his team the best of luck.

Lamborghini’s having a tough week

Intake: Last week, the 656-foot Felicity Ace transporter was abandoned in the Atlantic as a fire ravaged its cargo of roughly 4000 vehicles, which included Porsches, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis. The Lambos are mostly Urus SUVs, but some Aventador and Huracan models were also on board, according to a report from Automotive News. Lamborghini planned to sunset the Aventador with the LP 780-4 Ultimae series, a 600-unit send-off run. Most likely, the Aventadors on the Felicity Ace were part of that sold-out series. As the fire has since subsided, salvage crews boarded the ship yesterday to assess the damage, and we may know more later. Lamborghini CEO Andrea Baldi speculates that if any Avendators are damaged or destroyed, Lamborghini would have to go back to its suppliers to see whether it can source the parts necessary to rebuild the lost cars. That’s not the only drama on Lamborghini’s hands: NHTSA is ordering a recall of 4796 Huracáns from model years 2015 through 2020 for a headlight issue. The NHTSA report details a blanking cap that was not installed over the adjustment screw for the headlights, which could potentially cause the aim of the headlights to skew horizontally, presenting a hazard for oncoming motorists.

Exhaust: When it rains, it pours—even if you’re a storied Italian sports car manufacturer. Baldi tells AN that Sant’Agata: “Does not know yet the final outcome. We have informed our dealers, and they have informed out customers, because whatever happens, in any case, there will be a delay.” Huracán owners affected by the recall can contact their dealer, who will install the missing blanking cap free of charge.

U.S. Porsche dealers compete for best resto prize

Intake: More than 60 dealerships across the U.S.A. are taking part in the 2022 Porsche Restoration Challenge. First run last year, this internal competition pits franchise against franchise as they each take on a project car from the 1950s to the 2000s to be returned to factory condition. Eligible cars include the 356, 914, 944, 928, and no less than five generations of 911. Even early Boxsters and Cayennes can be entered. Using some of the 60,000 available Porsche Classic Genuine Parts, the workshops will have until July to complete their restorations. Entries will be whittled down to regional finalists for the East, South-central and West before the last three we will be judged by a panel from Porsche Cars North America in September.

Exhaust: Authenticity will be the key to success in this challenge, says Porsche, who will judge each car based not only on the quality of its restoration but the originality of its documentation. No doubt Porsche Ontario will be hoping to repeat its success after taking the top prize in 2021 with a 1989 911 Targa (pictured above).

Americans can’t get enough Aston Martin (SUVs)

Intake: Aston Martin sold almost 2000 cars in the U.S.A. in 2021, in a massive, 115 percent hike over the previous year. During the 2021 calendar year, 1984 Astons found homes in America, comprising almost a third of the company’s global total of 6178 sales. Sales gained the most momentum in the first half of the year: Aston reported that sales were up by 224 percent over 2020. “Retail demand for our brand in the Americas [is] at an all-time high,” says a delighted Aston Martin Americas Regional President Adam Chamberlain.

Exhaust: Unlike Lotus’ nostalgia-driven sales records, much of Aston’s commercial success is due to the DBX crossover, which went into production in June of 2020 and accounted for over half of vehicle sales in the first half of 2021. The bigger picture? After several painful stumbles in the past year, including a shave with bankruptcy in 2014 and a depressing IPO in 2018, Lawrence Stroll and Tobias Moers might just be turning things around. 

USPS new fleet will be 90 percent gas-powered

Intake: Six weeks after the U.S. Postal Service pumped the brakes on its new fleet to reconsider the percentage of electric vehicles, it has finalized plans to purchase up to 148,000 gasoline-powered mail delivery trucks—accounting for 90 percent of the fleet—from Oskhosh Defense, in defiance of the Biden administration’s objections. According to The Washington Post, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy disregarded requests from both the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency to increase the percentage of EVs, which would have added as much as $11.3 billion to the bottom line. EPA officials say the Postal Service has vastly underestimated the emissions of its “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles,” the first of which is now expected to hit the streets in 2023.

Exhaust: President Biden has pledged to transition the federal fleet to clean power, so the USPS plan to move forward with a 90/10 ratio of gas/electric is a major blow. The USPS says producing a higher percentage of EVs will cost the country billions; critics argue the same is true (mainly in maintenance costs) by going with a mostly gasoline-powered fleet. Perhaps there are no winners in this fight.

Automotive “eyeballs” are getting smarter

Intake: Misleading marketing (looking at you, Tesla) and development hiccups abound, but autonomous-driving technology is continuing to advance. The latest innovation is a LiDAR sensor from Oregon-based PreAct Technologies, founded in 1999 to support the defense industry with high-speed sensors. These LiDAR sensors use light as bats and whales use sounds, to locate objects around them by emitting a pulse (sonic or otherwise) and analyzing the feedback to determine distance. The news for PreAct is that its T30P flash LiDAR sensor (flash means that it emits a diverging arc of light, rather than parallel beams) can be programmed via software, which can be delivered over the air, and doesn’t have to be physically updated with a chip. PreAct also hopes to court Tier 1 suppliers and OEMS with the T30P’s wide-ranging compatibility; it integrates easily into an existing arrays of autonomous tech, and will be available in July of this year. Want the techy details? Check out PreAct’s website.

Exhaust: Though we associate LiDAR with autonomous driving, and the heated discussions about its safety and/or desirability, these sensors can be programmed for more mundane, less controversial uses. It could warn you if you’re about to open your door into a trash can, for instance, or scrape your bumper on a curb. Semis could use them to detect trailer position. The digital eyeballs could even keep watch as part of an anti-theft sensor array—and because PreAct’s units can be configured via software, a sensor could be retasked or assigned additional duties via an over-the-air update. 

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With the Black Badge test vehicle provided to Hagerty last week, Rolls-Royce has managed to do the nearly impossible; it’s made the plain-Jane Ghost that I drove a year and a half ago seem like a cracking value. Don’t believe me? Well, that 2021 Ghost, sans the black badge, had a base price of $332,500 and an as-tested ticket of $361,125. That’s serious money, but this 2022 Black Badge eclipses it by the price of a well-equipped S-Class Benz, with a base of $393,500 and a post-options damage report of $484,950.

As a potential Ghost customer, you’re probably an exceptionally important person whose time is money, so let me end this review for you right now: Just get the regular Ghost, the Black Badge isn’t worth the money.

Thanks for reading. Wait—you’re still here? Okay, we can continue. And perhaps we should continue, because when it comes to Rolls-Royces it’s not always as simple as “save yourself $123K and buy a normal one.” Many potential Black Badge owners already own a standard Ghost. They’re looking to fill a driveway at a second home, or park a car at a cherished private airport, or maybe just have a spare car around for when the au pair needs to make a Whole Foods run. Conventional notions of value and return-on-investment don’t necessarily apply.

As a second Ghost, perhaps a supplemental Ghost, the Black Badge is a nice change of pace. To begin with, it looks different, which is nice, and the black-chrome-look Flying Lady has a certain appeal to her. Younger buyers may feel that the, ahem, BBG represents them better than a Brewster Green example bedecked with stainless steel and polished nickel. And there’s an authentic Youth Gone Wild aspect to the Black Badge, as the most of the “sporting” enhancements amount to nothing more than a chip tune that bumps power to 591 hp from 563 and torque to 664 lb-ft from 627. The suspension, too, gets an electronic adjustment, although there are also a few new parts involved.

The Black Badge’s big party trick is a set of carbon-composite-and-aluminum wheels meant to reduce weight (chuckle) and improve ride. Absent a true back-to-back drive, I can’t say that the ride is any better; it’s certainly very good, but the same is true for the standard car. Few vehicles in history could glide down the road like this aluminum-framed monster can. The transmission programming, a bete noire of the cooking-grade Ghost, does appear improved here.

That being said, the substantial price increase for the Black Badge isn’t reflected in anything actually substantial except those fancy wheels. Our slightly lazy colleagues in the auto media have reported that the BBG package costs $43,850, but that’s based on a misreading of the window sticker. Black Badge costs sixty-some grand to start, and the $43,850 is an additional charge for an extra luxury package that includes the (underwhelming) Bespoke Audio, lambswool floormats, an illuminated grille, and several other interior upgrades. It’s all very nice, particularly the complex patterned trim that extends across the dashboard onto the doors, but again it’s no sort of value.

Another option: the $12,925 Black exterior paint combined with a $1925 Mandarin Orange coachline. At the risk of upsetting a few English applecarts, I have to say that the combination of this unexceptional exterior finish and the gloss-black exterior trim significantly reduces the, ahem, uniquity of the Ghost; from some angles it appears uncomfortably similar to a “murdered-out” Chrysler 300C. While there were sound reasons for shrinking and humbling the Parthenon grille on the Ghost, the combination of those more modest dimensions and a body-color treatment really does cheapen the look of the car. One imagines some highly optimistic teenager buying a hard-worn standard Ghost off a buy-here-pay-here lot in the year 2039 and applying a DipYourCar.com kit; the result would be uncomfortably close to this half-million-dollar vehicle.

While the Ghost has traditionally been the “driver’s Rolls,” it does livery duty in many places around the world. If you’re buying a Ghost to be driven in, as opposed to drive, you’ll want to skip the picnic table package. The tables themselves are lovely, but the machinery to fold then in and out, combined with the depth of the folded table and screens, takes about four inches out of the knee room. These are not four inches that the Ghost can spare, to put it mildly. A Genesis G90 has more back-cabin room with the screens out than does this bespoke luxury car.

Nor are the rear seats all that comfortable or spacious; it takes quite a bit of fiddling to make them palatable to your barely-six-foot-two author. No wonder people are buying the Cullinan, which is so much better as a passenger ride that there’s no sense comparing them in detail. The 2021 Ghost I drove had much better chairs in back, but perusing both Monroney stickers doesn’t explain why. Ask your sales consultant, and listen carefully to the answers.

Much ado has been made in the press about the $1675 optional umbrellas, but if you spend any time on the Row in London you’ll quickly realize that a decent gentleman’s umbrella will cost you north of seven hundred dollars with just a bit of customization, so this is a fair price for two such devices, expertly hidden in the rear door openings until they are needed. This umbrella-pricing issue is actually a decent metaphor for the difficulty of reviewing something like a Rolls-Royce Ghost. Unless you spend your life traveling in Ghost-owning circles, you really have no idea what the buyers want—and if you do have that sort of life, why are you reviewing cars for a living? As with nearly every upscale consumer product, whether it’s an umbrella, a set of home speakers, or a set of shoes, the relationship between price and value at the very peak of such an item is distorted beyond most peoples’ ability to understand.

So take my gripes about the BBG’s pricing with a lick of salt, because I’ve never bought a new car that cost more than $145K, and most autowriters have never bought a new car of any sort whatsoever. My notion of middle-class respectability says that a standard Ghost with a mild soupçon of options is a very nice $370,000 car, and demonstrably ahead of a $215,000 twelve-cylinder Maybach, if only in curb appeal and stateliness of interior appointments. For $484,950, I’d be casting an envious eye at the standard Phantom, which cuts a much larger figure and requires no explanation to anyone about why you have “only” a Ghost.

Regardless, those of you who skip the Phantom will find much to like about the Black Badge, from the lovely “shooting star” headliner to the giggle-inducing way it launches from a start, even in rain or snow. It’s just that you can get all that stuff without buying Black Badge. So unless you really need the DipYourCar look for some reason—an internal rivalry among your fellow Saudi royals? an allergy to bare stainless steel?—that’s what you should do. Buy the regular Ghost. It’s a great value. Tell your poor friends, in both senses of the word.

2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge

Price: $393,500/$484,950 (base/as tested)

Highs: Very nearly as good as a regular Ghost, plus super-fancy wheels. Looks menacing, from certain angles.

Lows: Far more expensive than a regular Ghost. Looks … affordable, from certain angles.

Summary: Remember how Honda used to do those “HPD” variants of Accords, where you had to pay nine grand for a goofy body kit and wheels, but the car wasn’t any better? This is an HPD Accord for people with a Centurion Card.

The post Review: 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Crazy, LS-swapped Geo Metro project could be yours

Intake: The General Motors LS-series of V-8 engines has inspired a new generation of motor-swapping hot-rodders, and the front-wheel drive–specific LS4 has given new meaning to an obscure and unloved platform in need of a serious injection of power. This Geo Metro is now mid-engined, with a LS4 engine, 4T80E transaxle with manual controls, reinforced body, and rear fender flares to accommodate the massive upgrade. All is not perfect yet, however, as the seller states that significant analysis is required to diagnose stability issues at highway speeds. The asking price for this nearly complete project on Facebook Marketplace? A mere $7000, which wouldn’t even cover the cost of the labor required to make this Metro a reality if you paid someone to do it!

Exhaust: Mid-engine Geo Metro conversions aren’t necessarily common, but they have their place in the off-beat parts of the automotive world, like the 24 Hours of Lemons. But having a genuine 5.3-liter LS series engine in a Geo Metro is a rarity, and that’s what makes this Facebook find truly special and maybe even worthy of lust for some.

Unstoppable Seb is the champion’s champion

Intake: Fresh from a stunning victory on the Rallye Monte Carlo, Sébastien Loeb has beaten motorsports’ finest to the take the crown at the 2022 Race of Champions. Held for the first time in snowy Sweden the final proved to be a battle of the Sebs, as the French rally ace took on German four-times F1 champ Sebastian Vettel driving Polaris buggies, RX Supercar Lites, and RX2e electric rallycross cars on a frozen circuit. Loeb had already beaten rally rivals Petter and Oliver Solberg as well as Mattias Ekstrom to reach the final, while Vettel bested Emma Kimilainen, Colton Herta, and Tom Kristensen on his way to the endgame.

Exhaust: Loeb is on fire at the moment, and the 47-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. We can’t wait to see him in action in Extreme E and anything else that the fastest Frenchman takes on in 2022.

Even Bugatti can’t resist snowy shenanigans

Intake: Even vintage Bugattis deserve fun outings sometimes, and Molsheim has proven that by taking a Type 51 to Zell am See in Austria for a spot of ice racing. First held in 1937, the GP Ice Race has returned as of 2019 and is fast becoming a favorite venue for high-end manufacturers who want to show off their vehicles’ prowess on ice. Last year, Bentley brought a kitted-out “Ice GT” to shred the snow, and Singer Vehicle Design took along its insane DLS mule. The latest high-profile additions to the Ice Racing GP come courtesy of Bugatti, who participated in the traditional “skijoring” exhibition—in which a skier is towed by a car—with both its pint-sized Baby Bugatti (which we drove on Willow Springs) and a vintage Type 51. That’s in addition to the competition held on 0.37 miles of frozen track carved from a few fields. Thanks to the event’s lengthy hiatus, this is Bugatti’s first appearance at the GP Ice Race in 62 years. 

Exhaust: Yes, it’s essentially an ultra-exclusive, automotive fashion show on ice, but, for those of us who can’t afford the vehicles (or even the plane tickets) to attend, the photo ops are pleasure enough. Just imagine the glorious racket of a supercharged, SOHC straight-eight echoing off the mountains … 

After a brief hiatus, V-8s are back on the menu at Mercedes

Intake: Following a sad disappearance from the order books due to supply-chain issues, many of the 2022 model year’s V-8-powered Mercedes-Benzes are back. A Mercedes spokeswoman confirmed to Hagerty that the MY22 Mercedes-Benz G 550, GLE 580, and GLS 580, as well as the Mercedes-AMG G 63, GLE 63, GLE 63 Coupe, GLS 63, and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, can all be ordered once again. There are no further details regarding additional model availability at this time—those of you hoping for something like an AMG E 63 S wagon may still be out of luck for a while.

Exhaust: Note that the SUVs are the priority here. It’s a small but poignant reminder that even though Merc’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 is one of the best engines you’ll find in a sports car today, most of them end up in crossovers. Regardless, we’re just happy to see an eight-cylinder return to this side of the Atlantic.

Waiting for a Golf R? It’s your lucky day

 

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Intake: Orders open today for the hottest version of VW’s already spicy hatchback, the 2022 Golf R. VW’s given North America the sweetest treat of the Mark 8 bunch, too: We’re the only continent to get the option of a six-speed manual in our all-wheel-drive pocket rockets. VW’s released a hype reel on Instagram demonstrating the appropriate response to such news: Running away into the desert with this bright blue German bean, rock tunes blasting, to rip through those gears and turn some dusty figure eights. We approve.

Exhaust: Less grin-inducing than the dirt-filled shenanigans is the price tag: $44,640. That said, everything about the Golf R, especially the manual-equipped one, is aimed at diehard fans willing to shell out for The One Golf to Rule Them All. For more details, read our first drives of the Golf R on the street and in the snow.

Rolls-Royce sculpts a new Flying Lady to cut through the air

Intake: Exactly 111 years since the Spirit of Ecstasy became a part of Rolls-Royce, she has been redesigned for a new era of electrified efficiency. In order to make the Flying Lady more aerodynamic she has adopted a new stance—where previously she stood with her feet together tilted into the wind at the waist, she is now “a true goddess of speed, braced for the wind, one leg forward, body tucked low, her eyes focused eagerly ahead.” Her flowing robes, often mistaken for wings, are now reshaped to be more realistic and more efficient. The new Spirit of Ecstasy will appear on the all-electric Spectre and will help make it the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever made, with prototypes already achieving a cD of 0.26.

Exhaust: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös says, “The Spirit of Ecstasy is the most famous and desirable automotive mascot in the world. More than just a symbol, she is the embodiment of our brand, and a constant source of inspiration and pride for the marque and its clients. In her new form she is more streamlined and graceful than ever before – the perfect emblem for the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever created, and for gracing the prow of our bold electric future.”

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Aston Martin crowns its love affair with AMG V-8s with 697-hp DBX

Intake: The rumors reckoned it would be a V-12, but the highest-performing Aston Martin DBX has landed with an even more grunty version of the twin-turbo AMG V-8. Packing 707 PS (697 hp) the nominatively determined DBX707 can also lay claim to being the world’s most powerful luxury SUV, outgunning Porsche’s bonkers, 631-hp Cayenne Turbo GT,  the 634-hp Bentley Bentayga Speed, and even Lamborghini’s 650-hp Urus. (Luxury is the key word here, since Dodge’s Durango SRT Hellcat lays claim to a 707 non-metric hp.)

Aston’s powertrain boss released the extra horses by fitting ball bearing turbochargers and using a new engine calibration. A nine-speed “wet-clutch” transmission has been installed to make the most of the additional power, and the DBX707 can accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds, with significantly faster gearshifts than the regular torque-converter transmission fitted to other DBX models. Stopping power comes from carbon-ceramic discs measuring 16.5 inches up front and 15.4 inches in the rear. The standard fit wheel is a 22-inch alloy, but 23-inch rims are also offered and said to offer an improved steering response, better body control, and faster lap times. A revised e-diff is placed on the rear axle, and the all-wheel-drive system can actually send 100 percent of the power to the rear wheels if required. The 707 retains the standard car’s air suspension but features new damper valving and a change to the dynamic spring volume switching which provides more roll control and better steering than before.

Exhaust: Gather ye V-8s while ye may. Aston Martin has seriously escalated the high-zoot SUV horsepower wars with the DBX707. Already one of the best-handling and, arguably, best-looking machines in its class, the DBX now benefits from 155 more hp and the added romance given to any fuel-swilling machine in internal-combustion’s supposed twilight period.

Concours d’Lemons gets further hooptified thanks to Hagerty

Intake: This March, Hagerty takes the helm of Concours d’Lemons for the first time at The Amelia. Concours d’Lemons celebrates the cars that’ll never have a chance at a “normal” concourse as it makes a point to celebrate the “oddball, mundane, and truly awful of the automotive world.” Long-time organizer Alan Galbraith joins Hagerty’s team as part of the Concours d’Lemons licensing agreement, and added that the show “gets bigger and dumber every year, and putting the show on the golf course is really ridiculous.” But in all seriousness, a portion of ticket sales also supports local charities.

Exhaust: While Hagerty’s been a part of Concours d’Lemons for years, the deeper connection generated by this licensing agreement means Hagerty’s outreach to all shapes and sizes of automotive enthusiasts continues apace. Watch this space for more coverage from The Amelia next month!

Koenigsegg’s new electric motor packs a serious punch in a small package

Intake: When none of the electric motors in today’s market proved up to snuff for the sky-high engineering demands of Koenigsegg, the Swedish hypercar manufacturer did what it often does: take the project in-house. The result is a pancake-shaped electric motor blends radial and axial flux topology to create a very power-dense package. Dubbed the Quark, this motor was developed with the 1700-hp Gemera four-seater in mind to get the supercar off the line before the internal combustion engine takes over for high-speed performance. The figures are appropriately insane: A single Quark fitted to the Gemera weighs just 66 pounds, but output is as much as 442 lb-ft of torque or 335 hp. Alongside the Quark, Koenigsegg unveiled the Terrier, which combines two Quarks and one in-house-developed inverter to create one seriously power-dense EV drive unit.

Exhaust: Critics may be quick to point to the power drop off of this new design under 20 seconds of wide open load, but  holding a Quark wide open for 20 seconds in anything but a full-size pickup would easily put you in jail on most public roads. It’s also a design meant for hybrid powertrains. McLaren developed something similar for the Artura, but that electric motor utilized just axial topology, not a blend of radial and axial. We’re excited to see where tech such as the Quark and the Terrier go from here.

Toyota’s new Tundra starts south of $40K, Capstone clears $75K

Intake: Pricing is out for all-new Toyota Tundra. At the low end of the ladder, a Tundra SR 4×2 with the double cab, the longer 6.5-foot bed, and the non-hybrid twin-turbo V-6 will run you $37,645. On the ritzier end, the Tundra’s lavish new Capstone trim, offered exclusively as a 4×4 with the crew cab, 5.5-foot bed, and hybridized drivetrain good for 437 hp and 583 lb-ft of torque, rings the register for $75,225. If adventure-readiness is the name of your game, a Tundra TRD Pro, again offered exclusively as a 4×4, crew cab, short bed with hybrid powertrain, will set you back $68,500 before options.

Exhaust: All that new tech ain’t gonna come cheap. For the 2021 model year, the most expensive Tundra you could get was the TRD Pro, which started at $54,645 before options. A nearly $14-large hike for the same trim is no joke, but you could argue that this new Tundra—at least on paper—is that much better. (Interior-wise, that’s a lock.) The Capstone trim is going to be interesting to watch; a $75K pickup isn’t a shocker these days, but the market for those has been dominated by the GMC Sierra, the F-150 Platinum, and the Ram Limited. How many more buyers are up there? Time will tell. 

Act fast to score this Hot Wheels limited-edition 1968 Corvette Stingray

 

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Intake: Corvette collectors will soon have another Hot Wheels car to add to their shelves, but they won’t last long. Beginning at today (February 1) at noon Eastern Time, members of the exclusive Hot Wheels Red Line Club can order a limited-edition 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray for $25. The Spectraflame black-painted Corvette harkens back to the redesigned-for-1968 model, which was based on the “Mako Shark II” concept car. Before the real-life C3 was revealed to the world, fans got their first look at the Stingray when Hot Wheels released it as part of its original 16 die-cast lineup. The actual 1968 Corvette did not, in fact, carry the “Stingray” name, but Hot Wheels added it for this one. It even wears a STNGR license plate.

Exhaust: Depending on when you read this, these may already be sold out. That should come as no surprise. Corvettes remain extremely popular, regardless of their size or generation. Here’s hoping that you scored one.

Rolls-Royce confirms silent running by 2030, Ghost marks end of ICE line

Intake: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös has previously announced that the entire range will be fully electric by 2030 and now, in an interview with Autocar the CEO says that Britain’s poshest car brand won’t launch any new combustion-driven cars. This decision makes the latest Ghost the luxury carmaker’s final creation to be powered by dino juice. The 2023 Spectre coupe will be first to arrive, replacing the Wraith, but the Phantom, Ghost, and Cullinan will all get new EV versions on the company’s Architecture of Luxury platform before the decade is done.

Exhaust: Rolls-Royce says that it’s not just law-makers that are driving change, but a new breed of customers. “We aren’t only driven by legal: we’re also driven by our fairly young clientele worldwide, and we’re seeing more and more people asking actively for an electrified Rolls-Royce,” adds Müller-Ötvös.

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BMW’s venerable V-12 is breathing its last. Bowing out in a twin-turbo 592-hp edition of the M760i super sedan, this final edition marks an end to 35 years of 12-cylinder BMWs. As we bid a fond farewell to this epic engine let’s take a look back at its most impressive incarnations and applications, including machines for the road, the race track, and even some for other automakers.

1987 BMW 750i

If you were a true Wolf of Wall Street in 1987 and wanted the ultimate driving machine to prove it, then BMW had the answer: the E32-generation 750i sedan, fitted with the company’s first production automotive V-12. At five liters in capacity its output was a modest-by-today’s-standards 295 hp. Essentially this M70 engine was two M20 inline-sixes joined together at the crank at a 60-degree angle, with single overhead camshafts.

That’s not to say it was unsophisticated, however. BMW made the engine block from Alusil, used fancy mass-air-flow sensors and fitted hydraulic valve-lifters, and a drive-by-wire throttle. The 750i was a technical tour-de-force that left rivals Mercedes-Benz scratching their heads. Opt for the stretched L version (why bother with anything less?) and you’d get such goodies as a trip computer, dual zone climate control, heated seats front and rear, a car phone, CD autochanger and headlight washers. You could even specify such luxurious extras as powered sun shields and a wine cooler. Which no self-respecting wolf would do without.

1992 BMW 850CSi

By 1992 BMW had been experimenting with a flagship M8 version of its 8 Series coupe. The idea was to surpass its own V-8- and V-12-powered models and rival Ferrari. Engineers increased the M70’s capacity to 5.6 liters (renaming it S70 in the process), raised its power output to 375 hp and installed a six-speed Getrag manual transmission. Instead of landing in an M8, a car that never happened, a version of the S70 known as the S70B56 would top the range in BMW’s limited-run 850CSi. That car could crack a six second 0-60 mph time, and along with the extra power came lowered suspension with stiffer springs and dampers, and a quicker steering ratio than regular 8 Series models. European models even came with rear-wheel steering. Just 1510 of these S70-powered cars were built, making it one of the rarest BMW engines ever made.

1992 McLaren F1

When Gordon Murray was looking for an engine to power the F1 supercar he first turned to McLaren’s Formula 1 partner Honda. It’s only thanks to the Japanese firm’s decision to decline that the greatest BMW V-12 engine came to be. Paul Rosche at BMW M developed an all-new aluminum and magnesium six-liter version of the S70, dubbed S70/2, with double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, and dry sump lubrication which took the V-12 to new heights. It produced an astonishing 618 hp at 7400 rpm without resorting to forced induction, surpassing Murray’s specification for power, while only being marginally heavier than he hoped. Supercar history was written.

1999 BMW V12 LMR

Having won Le Mans with the McLaren F1 GTR in 1995, BMW set its sights on a fully-branded victory at the French endurance race. Its first attempt in 1998 with a six-liter normally-aspirated V-12 derived from the McLaren unit resulted in retirement, but for 1999 BMW Motorsport joined forces with Formula 1 team Williams to develop the V12 LMR. Running at around 590 hp and driving through an XTrac six-speed sequential transmission, the S70/3 engine had the reliability and the pace to take the win.

1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph

Having acquired Rolls-Royce in 1998, BMW was seeking a way to distance the brand from its long-term bedfellow, Bentley, which was now owned by VW. The first step was to install its own V-12 into a Roller. The uprated M73 5.4-liter unit which had made its debut in the 1994 750i and 850Ci was the deemed just the job for the first V-12 Rolls since the 1939 Phantom III. The increase in capacity gave the V-12 a suitably “sufficient” 322 hp and was mated to a wafty five-speed automatic. The Silver Seraph was relatively short-lived, with just 1570 models built by the time production ended in 2002.

2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom

BMW soon realized that if it was going to be charging Rolls-Royce prices it would need a bespoke motor. So, when the all-new Phantom came along, it was powered by a 6.75-liter version of the six-liter N73 V-12 developed for the 2003 7 Series. Now modernized with dual overhead cams and a double VANOS variable valve timing system with variable valve lift it offered 453 hp and exceptional smoothness, as suited for such an upmarket application.

2008 BMW 760i

2008 marked the debut of the current (and final) generation of the BMW V-12. It also introduced turbocharging to the twelve for the first time, enabling power outputs unseen since the days of the McLaren F1. At its launch in 2008 the engine, now known as N74, had a capacity of six liters and an output of 536 hp and was first installed in the BMW 760i. Rolls-Royce would employ a 6.6-liter with up to 624 hp in the Ghost, Wraith, and Dawn, with a 563 hp 6.75-liter version reserved for the Phantom. Rolls-Royce has pledged to keep the V-12 alive until 2030, but at BMW the 6.6-liter, 592-hp M760i will be the last of its kind.

The post These 7 legendary machines bore BMW’s epic V-12 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It always looks so tempting in the classifieds. A high-end classic you could only dream of buying when new, now for sale for used VW Jetta money.

Of course, it’s never that simple, is it? If buying a posh, sporty status symbol for family-sedan money sounds too good to be true, well, it probably is. Some cars are affordable because they’re so darn expensive to own and maintain. That’s especially the case when the car in question is—what’s a nice way to say this?—from a lovely island off the coast of Normandy.

As we’ve been updating the Hagerty Price Guide over the past several weeks with fresh data, three modern British cars we track in particular stood out as still having surprisingly low values. But even though they might get your heart racing on the computer screen, they will probably break it once that first service bill comes in.

To be clear, we’re not advising anybody to avoid these cars. Just know that the budget to own one is likely to be more than what it says on the bill of sale; don’t think you can get away with just changing the oil and spark plugs.

1976–96 Jaguar XJ-S (12-cylinder)

Although the XJ-S was never meant as a direct replacement for the E-Type, its place in Jaguar history is as the E’s disappointing follow-up. When the XJ-S coupe was introduced in late 1975, few people fell in love with the oblong headlights or flying buttresses, and a thirsty 5.3-liter V-12 seemed a little out of place when a fuel crisis was still fresh on everybody’s minds. Jaguar nevertheless sold 115,000 XJ-Ss over the course of two decades, and the XJ-S was as much of an ’80s status symbol as a Mercedes 560SL. It’s a fine, comfortable, fast grand tourer when running right, and its looks have arguably aged quite well.

Jaguar made constant updates to the XJ-S to keep it competitive. A revised combustion chamber in for the HE (High Efficiency) engine in 1981 resulted in more power and fuel economy. A targa-type convertible arrived in 1983, along with a new 3.6-liter straight-six engine called the AJ6. A full factory convertible arrived in 1989. With Jaguar under full Ford ownership in 1991, the XJS (now without the hyphen) got a major facelift, with the six-cylinder punched out to 4.0 liters and the V-12 to 6.0 liters (in 1992). The inboard rear brakes also moved outboard, a new GM automatic transmission was added, and major body panels were galvanized for better rust protection. There were tons of smaller updates along the way.

Today, despite rust, neglect and the occasional crash having taken many XJ-Ss off the road, the model’s long production run and steady sales mean that there are a lot of them still out there. And, after the Jaguar XJ-12, an XJ-S is the cheapest car with a 12-cylinder engine among the cars for which we  track price data.

After E-Type values skyrocketed in the mid-2010s, XJ-Ss started to follow suit. Over the last five years condition #2 (Excellent) values are up over 50 or 60 percent for some years, but the median #2 value for a V-12 XJ-S is still $27,600. For #3 (Good) condition cars it’s just $13,600. Some Jaguar experts will advise you to buy a six-cylinder XJ-S because it’s just as stylish, almost as smooth, and plenty quick enough as well as way simpler to keep running. Because of that, six-cylinder values are within 2 to 5 grand of the equivalent 12, depending on year and condition.

That said there’s just something about a V-12 that’s irresistible.

Any XJ-S is rust-prone, and rust repair is never cheap. Jacking points, sills, rear wheel arches and floorpans are trouble spots on early cars, and even though the post-1991 facelifted cars are galvanized, they aren’t immune. Rot around the windscreen scuttles is common on those. Getting at the rear suspension is difficult since it’s housed within a subframe along with the differential, and inboard rear brakes are of course always a headache to work on, in the Jag’s case sometimes requiring the rear of the car to be dropped.

Being an old British car, an XJ-S can also have electrical gremlins living in there full time, with things like power windows or mirrors and air conditioning systems being common failures. The wood veneer trim on the interior can dry out and crack as well.

As for the (usually) silent and silky smooth V-12 under the hood, specialists say it is a perfectly robust and reliable unit if it has been fastidiously maintained. (A big if.) Very few XJ-Ss have led a pampered life over the past 25 to 45 years. The top of the engine bay in an XJ-S is a labyrinth of wires and vacuum lines. It doesn’t help that the V-12 tends to run hot, and that leads to drying, cracking, and fraying. Coolant needs to be replaced every two years.

A lot of parts are available, including from Jaguar Classic, but many are tough to find as well as expensive, and plenty of beached XJ-Ss are cannibalized for components. All of the above means that four-figure shop bills for body work and mechanical servicing are common, and that hurts when we’re talking about a $15,000 car.

1994–2004 Aston Martin DB7

The DB7 actually owes part of its existence to the Jaguar XJ-S above. Much of its design dates back to a proposed replacement for the XJ-S that was canceled at the beginning of the ’90s, when both storied brands were owned by the Blue Oval. Aston then repurposed it for its latest model and had Ian Callum and Keith Helfet pen what turned out to be one of the nicest shapes of the decade. In addition to the Jaguar DNA, and thanks to a tight budget at Aston Martin at the time, there were also Citroën mirrors and Ford switchgear. The interior door handles are, believe it or not, from an NA Miata. But despite the parts bin bits and a six-figure price tag, the DB7 was a success. Autocar proclaimed that it was “re-establishing Britain at the cutting edge of specialist car making,” and Aston sold about 7000 DB7s, making it the company’s best seller to date.

Today, a DB7 is the cheapest way to get your Aston Martin wings. Condition #2 values for a DB7 range from $28,000 to $45,000 depending on engine and body style (add 25 percent for a stick shift), and the DB7 market has looked that way for quite some time. The median condition #2 value is within a few hundred dollars of where it was at the end of 2009, which is a bit surprising given what has happened in the market for other sporty 1990s and 2000s cars lately. DB7s arguably have room to grow (we even put them on the 2021 Hagerty U.K. Bull Market List), but the realities of servicing a DB7 start to explain why it can be had at bargain prices.

The first DB7s came with 3.2-liter Eaton-supercharged version of Jaguar’s AJ6 straight-six (the one also found in the XJ-S). Leaking oil coolers and failing timing chain tensioners are problem areas on those. The 5.9-liter V-12 (essentially two Ford Duratec V-6s mated together by the engine wizards at Cosworth) that debuted in 1999 has a reputation for overheating, and needs coil packs every three years. Electrical failures are a common and expensive fix, and as DB7s get older, unique parts from a low-volume manufacturer like Aston Martin are going to get tougher to find. Bringing a DB7 to a specialist or dealer (which aren’t on every street corner) can be $1500 just for a routine service, and that’s assuming nothing goes wrong. Needless to say, that’d be an unwise assumption.

1985–97 Bentley Turbo R

Introduced in 1985 (1988 in the U.S.) as a replacement for the Mulsanne Turbo and available in short or long wheelbase, the Bentley Turbo R mainly differed from its predecessor in its much-improved suspension. The R stands for “roadholding,” not “race,” but the suspension allowed the Turbo R to be a competent performer when it wanted to be and not just a plush cruiser. Being a Bentley, though, it was still plush. Acres of Connolly leather and real wood, plush carpets, the usual stuff.

And with a median condition #2 value of just $22,600 (Turbo Rs were closer to 200k when new) for such a hand-built, V-8, turbocharged, 5400-pound brick of English magnificence, how could you not be at least a little bit tempted? Bentley sold more than 7000 Turbo Rs so they’re relatively common by pre-Volkswagen-era Bentley standards and not that difficult to find, plus low mileage is relatively common.

But as with any Rolls-Royce or Bentley, owning a Turbo R isn’t for the faint of heart or wallet. Cars with ride height control need a specific fluid that runs through both the ride height and braking systems. Curiously, the Turbo R also uses a specific size of Avon tire, the going rate for which is $500 each. As for the tightly-packed engine bay that houses the 6.75-liter turbocharged V-8, head gaskets are becoming a common issue as the cars get older. If a head gasket fails and damages the engine, factor in a five-figure bill just for the labor it will take to fix it. As with the Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce/Bentley specialists can be few and far between, and even just a routine trip to one can be over a grand even if nothing major needs fixing.

Even taking all that into account, it’s still easy to daydream about buying a Bentley (or Jaguar or Aston Martin) for Mustang money, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

[For the record, Newton owns a Lotus. The man speaks from experience. –Ed]

The post Fatal Attraction: 3 British beauties that are cheap to buy, expensive to own appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Subaru’s Right to Repair “solution” is rather petty

Intake: Subaru’s Starlink telematics records a slew of data and relays it to Subaru service locations to help technicians repair its cars more efficiently. However, Massachusetts recently passed a Right to Repair law that stated third-party shops should have access to this data as well so that owners aren’t forced to go to the dealership for repairs. As reported by Jalopnik, Subaru chose to get around this by removing Starlink for every vehicle sold in Massachusetts.

Exhaust: This seems like a petty way to solve the issue, on Subaru’s part. As more states push for similar legislation, automakers will hopefully come up with more elegant solutions.

Take a moment to salute NHRA legend John Force

Intake: On October 29, 2000, John Force won his 10th NHRA Funny Car championship.

Exhaust:  John Force was on one heck of a winning streak in the ’90s and early 2000s. He won the NHRA Funny Car championship 10 years straight from 1993 to 2002, a feat that no other racer has come close to accomplishing. Including his 1984 AHRA win, Force has 17 champion titles, making him the most dominant Funny Car driver in drag racing history. To catch up on Force in 2021, read our profile here. 

Ducati’s most powerful Multistrada is named after America’s mountain

Intake: Ducati’s new Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak has just laid climb to the title of the most powerful adventure bike in the world. Its V4 Granturismo motor makes 170 hp, and has a Race mode with softer rev-limiter and a special quick-shifter for “aggressive downshifts.”  There’s a suite of chassis changes that include lighter Marchesini forged aluminum rims and Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 suspension with an “event based” mode, which automatically adjusts the setting according to the user’s riding style. A single-side rear swing arm is installed, there’s an Akrapovič titanium-and-carbon silencer and various carbon trim pieces to add to the Multistrada’s sportier styling. The riding position is said to be more ergonomic and to enable more extreme lean angles and the brakes, thankfully, have been taken from the Panigale.

Exhaust: Ducati says the new Multistrada V4 Pikes is ready “to rule all mountains,” not just its namesake, and will arrive in showrooms this December priced from $28,995.

Rolls-Royce “Black Badge” Ghost goes to dark side armed with more power

Intake: Rolls-Royce has unveiled a new line of its V-12-powered Ghost four-door. Called the Black Badge Ghost, it’s already garnered over 3500 commissions worldwide, according to Rolls. You can have your Black Badge Ghost in one of Rolls’ 44,000—no, that’s not a typo—“ready-to-wear” paint colors, or you can create your own. Rolls says most folk go with the signature black, which uses 100 pounds of paint to create the industry’s darkest black. The Ghost’s 6.75-liter twin-turbo V-12 now boasts more horsepower and torque—gains of 28 and 37, respectively, for total output of 591 hp and 664 lb-ft. Inside, there are plenty of opportunities to apply the infinity symbol, the trademark icon for all Black Badge Rollers. Elsewhere in the cabin, all trim is darkened to further amplify the noir atmosphere of the interior.

Exhaust: For the right clientele, this Black Badge Ghost will strike a chord. That said, our minds and hearts are silent on this one. It’s neat, and an unsurprising move from Rolls, who has seen its “alter ego” Black Badge sub-brand balloon in popularity since unveiling it on the Wraith and the Ghost in 2016. If we’re honest, however, we’re more excited for the first all-electric Rolls.

Aston Martin’s V-12 Vanquish turns 20

Intake: Aston Martin’s first new car of the 21st century would also be the last model built at its historic home in Newport Pagnell. The 2001 V-12 Vanquish was a radical departure from previous models built at the Tickford Street factory as it used a novel bonded aluminum tub, carbon-fiber panels, a paddle-shift transmission, and, as the name suggests, a six-liter V-12 engine featuring drive-by-wire technology. Compared to the concurrent DB7, it was a spaceship. The Vanquish famously marked Aston Martin’s return to the 007 franchise in Die Another Day, after Bond spent years behind the wheel of BMWs, announced with the immortal line from John Cleese’s Q: “Aston Martin calls it the Vanquish, we call it the Vanish.” Built for six years, 2589 were assembled before Aston Martin moved to its new home in Gaydon and marked the end of an era.

Exhaust: As awesome as the V-12 Vanquish was its designer Ian Callum was never entirely happy with the end result and he revisited the design as a showpiece for his new design agency Callum. The Callum Vanquish 25 is a half-million-dollar reimagination of the original with more than 350 design tweaks and improvements. An early standard Vanquish in #1 (Concours) condition, meanwhile, runs to just over $83,000 according to our valuation experts. As it nears modern classic status, now might be the right time to pick one up. If that’s still out of your budget, enjoy the gallery above. 

BMW makes six-cylinder, two-wheeled grand touring even more luxe

Intake: Riders searching for the smooth pull of a big six-cylinder engine have only a few choices, and BMW’s K1600 is one of the top options. Yesterday BMW announced the new updates for the 2022 K1600 lineup and the feature list is long, but also includes a few subtle items worth highlighting. For example, the 1649cc inline six engine’s power output stays the same, but peak power comes 1000 rpm lower to make the bike easier to ride. A giant 10.25-inch TFT dash gives plenty of room for navigation, and adaptive headlights will light the way to whatever route you choose—including underneath the machine when you arrive so you can find solid footing for your kickstand.

Exhaust: The contest between the K1600 and Honda’s Gold Wing is a great one in the motorcycle world. The Gold Wing has a DCT option that the K1600 doesn’t currently and that might sway some buyers, but the K1600 is very comparable and also roughly $1500 cheaper when looking at base prices ($22,545 for the K 1600 B, $23,900 for the Gold Wing.) It really comes down to your preference between the BMW’s narrow inline-six or the Honda’s horizontally opposed configuration. We don’t think there is a wrong choice.

The post Subaru’s Right to Repair “solution,” Ducati’s up-to-11 adventure bike, Aston recalls an era’s end appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Nissan blesses R35 GT-R with the rarest, most nostalgic Skyline hues

Intake: Nissan has given the GT-R an extended lease on life with two new “T-spec” editions for 2022, but the real news for Skyline geeks isn’t the various hardware upgrades. It’s the return of two paint colors: Midnight Purple and Millennium Jade. The latter has been painstakingly recreated to match the original frosty green; the former is a sympathetic, color-changing addition to the three-fold family of Midnight Purple. As for the performance upgrades: Both the Premium Edition T-spec and the Track Edition Engineered by NISMO get carbon-ceramic brakes and a carbon-fiber rear spoiler, while the Premium Edition T-spec gets Rays forged alloy wheels finished in bronze, a green interior (shown below), and lightened suspension parts. The Track Edition swaps in a carbon-fiber roof and trunk lid to shave a few pounds. The engine choice remains a twin-turbo V-6 (VR38DETT) in 570- or 600-hp tune. Nissan will only produce 100 T-specs total, whether Premium or Track Edition, and they will be exclusively available in Japan via lottery. Cost, converted to USD, is $144,993 (Premium Edition) or $163,012 (Track).

Exhaust: Nissan’s resurrection of these two nostalgic colors is far more significant than Ford’s addition of a retro-inspired green to the reborn Bronco. As GT-R aficionados will be quick to tell you, Millennium Jade was only offered on the 2002 V-Spec II Nür and the M-Spec Nür, the send-off, high-performance editions of the R34 generation and some of the most desirable models in the JDM collector market today. According to GT-R Registry, only 300 cars were ever painted in this icy hue. Midnight Purple has appeared in three variants, designated by Roman numerals, the last variant as Midnight Purple III, which ended production in 2000. To our eyes, the Midnight Purple worn by the above R35 hews closer to the darker, original shade on the R33 than the iridescent MPIII worn by the R34. Bravo, Nissan—your JDM fanbase is feeling the love. 

Forza Horizon 5 embraces modified muscle and off-roaders

Intake: Forza Horizon 5, the latest installment in the long-running Xbox-exclusive racing-sim series, has added to the list of cars that will be featured in the game, which currently stands at 427 and growing. Vehicles you can pilot include everything from a Willys MB and a ’32 Ford five-window coupe to the latest in exotics from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Pagani. Want to drive a Corvette? The game has all eight generations on tap. Sports cars, muscle cars, mean SUVs, and customized vehicles from Hoonigan are all part of the mix. Off-road vehicles are covered too, including Chevy Colorado ZR-2, Ford Bronco R, Ram Power Wagon, and Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.  You can even get behind the wheel of a futuristic Warthog from the Halo video game series. The game’s developers claim that “the new additions to our roster are the most diverse they’ve ever been in Forza history” and they’re not even done adding vehicles.

Exhaust: Considering the amount of research that goes into developing these car profiles, a racing sim is not a bad way to get a taste of how some rare (and sometimes fictional) engines sound, and the graphics keep improving. There may be a couple of us on staff that will pick up a copy of this latest Forza Horizon. It isn’t as satisfying as an actual track day, but you spend a lot less on tires and fuel.

Range Rover Sport SVR crashes the 007 launch party

Intake: The Bond Edition Defender isn’t the only Land Rover on Her Majesty’s secret service in No Time To Die. Two Range Rover Sport SVRs were brought in for a 4×4 chase and, from the looks of this freeze-frame, they went so off-road they took to the air. “I was really keen to shoot a Bond chase sequence off-road, in a really challenging environment and the Range Rover Sport SVR was the perfect choice for this part of the story. We shoot everything for real so we’ve pushed it to the absolute maximum and the pursuit promises to be one of the memorable set-piece moments of the film,” says stunt coordinator Lee Morrison. Catch the action in movie theaters this month (October 8 in the U.S.) or hit up the Land Rover configurator to build your own No Time To Die–spec SVR. Choose Eiger Grey paint, 22-inch gloss black alloys, the Carbon Pack, and a carbon-fiber vented hood, and you’ll look like you’ve rolled right off the set.

Exhaust: Car makers are certainly making the most of the marketing opportunities presented by 007. If you say (Dr.) No to a Land Rover, then Aston Martin will build a Bond Vantage. While we’re on the subject of licenses to make a killing, why not pick up a pair of Adidas x Bond Ultraboost sneakers for $160 and an Omega 007 watch for $8100?

Rolls-Royce mines hybrid power for dump truck concept

Intake: Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ heavy industries division, dubbed mtu, in collaboration with Flanders Electric, has announced plans to unveil a hybrid haul truck concept that could help cut CO2 emissions by as much as 30 percent. The concept will break cover at this year’s MINExpo, currently taking place in Las Vegas. The hybrid system features a 12-cylinder diesel mining engine plus a battery pack with an unspecified capacity. The architecture will allow the batteries to be recharged when the truck is rolling downhill down into the mine, and the stored energy will help assist in propelling the massive vehicle back up the hill laden with a bed full of mining material. In tests, Rolls-Royce said it found that the hybridized system matched the performance of the larger V-16 engine while reducing emissions in the process.

Exhaust: You’re forgiven if you were expecting a life-size Tonka truck with a champagne chiller and a headliner filled with constellations. However, Rolls-Royce is as renowned for its large industrial engines as it is for the Ghost and the Wraith, and this sort of heavy engineering is equally as impressive in our eyes. 

Mazda refines CX-5 in the twilight of its platform

Intake: For the 2022 model year, Mazda’s best-selling SUV gets a light aesthetic upgrade and practical hardware and interior changes. Starting outside and up front: The silhouette of the lighting elements in the headlights is more geometric, and the grille texture is more 3D than flat mesh. New wheels, unsurprisingly, join the mix for ’22, though now you don’t have to choose between front- or all-wheel-drive: Mazda’s i-Activ AWD system now comes standard. Underneath this crossover’s handsome sheetmetal, increased frame rigidity and retuned suspension dampening further alleviate road noise and increase ride comfort. Inside, you’ll be able to select multiple drive modes, a first for the CX-5, from the comfort of redesigned seats. The blessedly traditional six-speed auto has also received some massaging to provide smoother acceleration. Fans of a sportier vibe will enjoy the gloss black- and red-accented interior of the 2.5 Turbo trim, which replaces the Grand Touring Reserve model.

Exhaust: This is likely the last slew of changes before Mazda’s best-selling vehicle changes to a hybrid architecture. Mazda aims to include electrification in every one of its models by 2030, and the plug-in-hybrid, inline-four platform the OEM previewed this summer is a likely candidate for the next-gen CX-5.

Lamborghini has another nostalgia play up its sleeve

Intake: “50 years ago, it paved the road to the future.” That, and lots of artful leather stitching and cutting, comprise most of the 1:04 trailer released yesterday by Lamborghini. There’s also a glimpse of a blocky, black-leather-covered seat, reminiscent of the chair in the original LP500 prototype. A white-on-black, retrotastic gauge gets some attention, along with a pan of the criss-cross leather-stitching on a steering wheel. It concludes with a brash engine note that, to our ears, has some V-12 wail to it …

Exhaust: Given that the original Miura P400 debuted in ’66, this is probably some sort of heritage-forward tie-in arriving hot on the heels of the recently revealed Countach LPI 800-4—a nameplate that is celebrating its 50th this year. A modern, retro take on the classic Lambo interior seems likely.

The post Millennium Jade returns to the GT-R, Rolls-Royce imagines a dump truck, Mazda refines ’22 CX-5 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Back in the 1960s a pair of enterprising individuals named Paul Jameson and John Dodd created “The Beast,” a dramatic custom-made shooting brake powered by a Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine, and until Rolls-Royce took Dodd to court, it wore a Rolls-Royce grille as well.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen the engine from a tank dropped into a car. Jay Leno’s “Blastolene Special” is one such creation, and we’ve even seen a Meteor-powered Rover SD1, while in March we interviewed Edd Marriott about his 27-liter Minerva Liberty Special. At the same time, they don’t come around often—which is why a Meteor-engined special coming up for sale with Bonhams is worthy of our attention.

The Meteor, if you’re unaware, is effectively an adapted version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin that powered numerous aircraft during the Second World War, the famous Spitfire and Hurricane included.

The 27-liter V12 Meteor was in part an opportunistic creation, making use of still-healthy motors from otherwise damaged aircraft, but it’s far from identical, being simpler (without the Merlin’s supercharger) and even featuring a crank rotating in the opposite direction to that of the aero engine.

The last were built in 1964, under the Rover brand, but with so many of these long-lived engines still dotted around the country, it’s only natural a few might eventually find their way into other applications.

The special you see here dates from 2001. Work first began in Cape Town, South Africa, its Meteor plucked from a Centurion tank in Johannesburg and using a custom-created ladder chassis. A Jaguar XJ12 donated its suspension, brakes and steering, as well as its gearbox, albeit with drag racing internals. The engine mechanicals were rebuilt by Flight Engineers in Leeds in 2016, after the vendor moved back to the U.K.

While it was there, they extracted a few figures from the engine, resulting in a useful 631 hp and 1449 lb-ft of torque. It’s perhaps not a long-distance machine, an estimated 5-10 mpg on a 25-gallon tank resulting in just 125-250 miles between fills. It’s geared for 205 mph, though the tires will only allow 135 mph, and your face in the airstream probably less than that.

The bodywork is formed from custom aluminum panels, though there’s actually room for a pair of passengers on a bench seat behind the centrally-placed driver. Accessories with the car include a trailer, several spare parts, and even a tool to align the Meteor with its gearbox.

However, it is said to require some further fine tuning to run at its best, though it’s already in a driving state. No doubt this will be more involved than say, tweaking the carb on an MGB, but if you’re considering a tank-engined car then presumably you’re not going into the deal with your eyes closed.

An estimate of £150,000 –£200,000 (roughly $206,000 – $274,500) should dissuade any stragglers too, but such a figure will undoubtedly place the buyer on a fairly exclusive list. Perhaps they can swap notes with Jay Leno.

Via Hagerty UK

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An intrepid team of Swedish hot-rodders has made big strides with an absolutely bonkers car project. The Meteor Interceptor, as the absurd endeavor is called, is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that served in Stockton, California, but these day’s it’s the recipient of the mother of all engine swaps. Swedes take their drag racing seriously, and these guys weren’t content with any old big-block swap. They crammed a 1650-cubic-inch (27-liter) military surplus V-12 under the hood of the Panther car. Actually, that’s being generous, or understating the sheer size of this monster motor, as the car’s firewall is long gone and the engine protrudes well into the passenger cabin. It’s a good thing these cars are body-on-frame, as whatever structural role the firewall played in holding the car together is not being filled by anything at the moment.

The Rolls-Royce Meteor is a tank engine that was developed in WWII and is essentially a detuned Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. It produced 550-650 horsepower depending on the application and was well-received in duty, where it was seen as a major turning point in British tank performance. Our power-hungry Swedes are hoping to roughly triple that output with a pair of Borg-Warner S500SX turbochargers pushing 22-29 pounds of boost into the intake to make 2500 hp. That is a ton of power, but in context not a huge output for an engine that size. This is the same displacement as five 327s combined, or three and a half 460s. Keep in mind, however, that the power is designed to peak at just 3400 rpm, meaning the engine would be cranking out more than 3800 lb-ft of torque. These things were not built to rev.

The post Listen to this tank-powered Ford Police Interceptor roar to life appeared first on Hagerty Media.

“You look at a Bentley,” says Jay Leno, “but you look inside a Rolls Royce.” As he shows off John Frankenheimer’s 1965 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III, we are inclined to agree. Nothing says luxury like this British-built, two-tone four-door. The posh character of this sedan is more than skin-deep, though.

Hollywood director John Frankenheimer purchased this particular car, which now belongs to the Peterson Museum, during a trip to France in 1965. Frankenheimer was shopping for a new car and sat in a Bentley first, but his lanky frame didn’t fit comfortably. The dealer suggested the Rolls, which was a bit roomier, and after a test fit Frankenheimer purchased the car—with cash. He called it a wedding gift for his wife, but we suspect some purchase-justifying mental gymnastics.

The Rolls quickly became Frankenheimer’s vehicle of choice when he visited the movie sets. He’d drive it himself, too, even giving rides to stars around sets and between venues. As Jay sits in the back seat, we can see why the Silver Cloud was so well-suited to wafting around the rich and famous. The fit and finish is exceptional, and there is even a small writing table for those in the back seat. Jay points out one incongruous detail, however; the motors that operate the power windows are quite loud, and it’s easy to imagine a ’60s buyer who’d prefer to quietly raise and lower them with a crank.

The cabin may be roomy and airy, but the engine bay certainly is not. The 6.2-liter V-8 engine is positively crammed into the engine compartment, leaving little to see even with the hood open. (We shudder to think of actually servicing this mill.)

When Jay takes the Brit out for a drive, it’s obvious that the focus of the car is comfort. This engine is less about big power than about effortless cruising. The seating posture is high and, between the leather and the wood trim, Jay says it feels more like a library than a car. The build quality sets this Silver Cloud apart from just about anything else built during its time. Even today, this is a car you want to be seen in.

The post This 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III takes the gold for mid-century luxury appeared first on Hagerty Media.

GM’s Charlotte Technical Center breaks ground in NASCAR country

Intake: General Motors broke ground for its newest racing development center just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, in the suburb of Concord. That’s right in NASCAR’s backyard, as Hendrick Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing are in the neighborhood. GM will use the center for all race series in which GM competes: That’s NASCAR, Indycar, IMSA, and NHRA, to name a few. The 130,000-square-foot facility will house state-of-the-art simulators and serious computing power to test cars and model parts digitally, speeding up the development process.

Exhaust: GM’s performance and racing programs are a great recruiting tool for the company, helping it draw engineers to exciting careers that benefit both the racing teams and production cars. This facility will be working with race-winning teams right of the bat and should help the company pull the best and brightest talent.  

Is Lamborghini getting serious about entering Le Mans Hypercar competition?

Intake: We’ve already seen Lamborghini’s track-only Essenza SCV12—the fixed-roof V-12 monster debuted last summer. (The presence of a roof differentiates it from the similarly non-street-legal SC20.) What’s new is the information that the SCV12’s carbon-fiber chassis is homologated according to Le Mans Hypercar regulations, which allow OEMs to derive eligible race cars from existing road-going models. The carbon-fiber structure developed by Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse is strong enough to eschew an additional steel roll cage, optimizing weight and space. The Xtrac sequential gearbox, which helps channel power from the 830+ hp V-12 to the rear wheels, is integrated into the chassis and serves as a load-bearing component.

Exhaust: Though it’s expressed interest, Lamborghini has made no official, iron-clad commitment to the Le Mans Hypercar class currently populated by Ferrari, Toyota, Glickenhaus, ByKolles, and Peugeot. The Essenza SCV12 suggests that the door remains open.

This Rolls-Royce was run by a Princess and The Bandit

Intake: A 1975 long-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow ordered new by Princess Margaret and subsequently sold to Burt Reynolds could be yours. The Silver Shadow was ordered by Her Majesty the Queen’s younger sister in November 1974 and specified in Cardinal Red with a black vinyl roof and a black leather interior with Cherry Red carpeting. Extra royal features included clear Sundym glass, flashing blue lights, and an illuminated royal shield on the roof. In 1984, Smokey and the Bandit star Burt Reynolds imported the car to the U.S.A, but perhaps the stately performance was a disappointment after tooling around in Trans Ams, because the car was shipped back to Europe just three years later. The Silver Shadow is now being sold at part of a 25-strong collection of Rolls-Royces and Bentleys up for grabs at RM Sotheby’s “A Passion for Excellence” auction in Lichtenstein this month.

Exhaust: Not one, but two famous owners must make this Silver Shadow one of the most collectible of its era. Although it’s offered without reserve we fully expect to sell at the higher end of its estimate of 65,000–110,000 Swiss Francs ($721,60–$122,100).

The million-dollar parking space

Intake: A parking space in Hong Kong has just sold for a world-record $1.3 million. The space is located in a swanky development called The Peak, in the city’s Mount Nicholson area, which overlooks the harbor. Hong Kong is notoriously packed, so any available real estate comes at a premium price, even if it’s only big enough for a single car. This latest sale beats a previous record of $980,000 set in 2019, according to a report by the BBC.

Exhaust: You thought parking in your city was expensive? Think again. Even the reported million-dollar Manhattan spaces almost look like good value compared to this Asian excess.

Could this Craigslist-find, Caballista-tribute Corvette be a Neo-neoclassic?

Intake: Don’t let your eyes deceive you, this is not the Corvette Caballista made by Les Dunham. Les was the man behind the pimpmobile Cadillac Eldorado, a car that fathered the genre popularized in 1970s Blaxploitation films like Super Fly. While Les created approximately 50 Caballistas based on the C3 Corvette, we’ll throw in another movie reference to suggest it’s truly been an endless “Corvette summer” for C3s of the late 1970s. People loved to customize its long hood/short deck fiberglass body in various configurations, and even the Caballista’s polarizing aesthetic found its admirers, including the seller of this particular example, who created his own Les Dunham tribute.

Exhaust: Like many Corvettes of its era, this one looks like a garage queen. The neoclassic’s craftsmanship seems legit, too. But the devil’s in the details, and the flat-faced, Continental Mark IV-derived grille doesn’t have the beveled face (and complementary front fascia/hood) of the original Caballista. Details like the custom bumpers and B-pillar conversion from sweptback to upright and formal also leave something to be desired. All of which begs the question: Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? 

The post GM expands motorsports development in NASCAR country, Lamborghini flirts with LMH entry, a Royal-Reynolds Rolls is for sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to The Manifold, our fresh daily digest of news and what’s happening in the car world.

The Arese RH95 celebrates 95 years of coachbuilding

Intake: Storied Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera is marking its 95th year with the gorgeous Arese RH95. Following its Aero 3, the supercar’s standout features include showy scissor doors that you won’t find on the the Ferrari 488, not to mention the bespoke bodywork. Touring says it will build a total of 18 Arese RH95s and it can be even be ordered in classic Gulf Oil blue and orange.

Exhaust: From shooting brakes to boat-tailed picnic hampers, coachbuilding is seriously hot right now. Historic name or not, Touring Superleggera will have a tough time distinguishing itself in an increasingly crowded field.

Rolls-Royce confirms Silent Shadow EV

Intake: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös has announced that the British luxury car maker is working on an all-electric car. “Electrification fits perfect with Rolls-Royce—it’s torquey, it’s super-silent,” he told Bloomberg Television. “We are not known for roaring loud engines and exhaust noises whatsoever, and that is a big benefit.” His confirmation follows the news late last year that the company applied for a trademark on the Silent Shadow name.

Exhaust: Silence will, no doubt, be a golden opportunity for Rolls-Royce to steal back sales from Mercedes, which has a head start with the Maybach EQS.

Helio Castroneves nabs fourth Indy 500 victory

Intake: Indycar veteran and man possessed of one of the best smiles in racing Helio Castroneves joined hallowed company on Sunday afternoon by taking his fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500. The 46-year-old Brazilian joins the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears as four-time winners of the greatest spectacle in racing. Castroneves also became the fourth-oldest winner of the 500, proving that age is just a number. “I don’t know if it’s a good comparison, but Tom Brady won a Super Bowl, Phil (Mickelson) won the PGA, and now here you go,” said Castroneves. Aside from a handful of personal accolades, Castroneves also delivered his Meyer/ShankRacing team its first victory since the outfit began racing in IndyCar in 2017.

Exhaust: “[Helio’s win] is the most important and impactful thing that the Indy 500 and IndyCar could have asked for,” veteran IndyCar reporter and former engineer Marshall Pruett tells Hagerty. “This is the one driver in the field of 33 who had the potential to lift this story beyond just the typical IndyCar fans. It was truly a script writer’s dream if you were wanting IndyCar and the Indy 500 to get lift out of the Midwest into the almost impenetrable coasts in terms of news and feel-good stories.”

LEGO adds McLaren Elva to its Speed Champions Garage

Intake: LEGO’s Speed Champions line turns some of our favorite muscle cars and sports cars into palm-sized representations. The fantastically curvy McLaren Elva speedster, the lightest McLaren yet, is the latest to receive the honor. Easily identified even when rendered in 263 chunky blocks, the open-top racer comes with its own driver minifig—a 1.5-inch-tall version of McLaren Automotive’s Principal Development Engineer for Ultimate Series, Rachel Brown. The recently launched set is available now.

Exhaust: If your capacity for full-size collector cars has hit its limit or if you’ve simply got a bare spot on a shelf and need something worthy to fill the space, LEGO’s newest addition to its Speed Champions line may be just the ticket.

Workers find 108-year-old message in a bottle at Ford’s Michigan Central Station

Intake: Workers at Michigan Central Station, while restoring and renovating the Beaux-Arts-style building that’s set to be the hub of Ford’s high-tech office complex, unearthed a pre-prohibition beer bottle filled with what appears to be a message. Lukas Nielsen and Leo Kimble found the bottle, stamped 7-19-13 (that’s 1913, not 2013), upside-down behind some crown molding. The two immediately handed the bottle over, resisting the urge to remove the delicate paper inside. Ford historians are currently caring for the paper and haven’t deciphered any message just yet. “The main thing you have to do is slow down the deterioration of the paper,” said Heritage and Brand Manager Ted Ryan. “With the bottle, that’s easy because it’s glass, but we’ll also have to make sure the rest of the label doesn’t deteriorate. It’s just like the pieces of a classic car.”

Exhaust: Ford’s ambitious project to bring life back to Michigan Central Station will ultimately benefit more than just a piece of gorgeous architecture. Various objects that have been discovered in the long-empty building are now on their way to being preserved and displayed.

The post Touring Superleggera’s birthday bonanza, electric Rolls, and Helio victorious at Indy appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The first object to emerge from Rolls-Royce’s reintroduced Coachbuild department is a 19-foot-long picnic hamper. Now speculation is rife that the owners behind the grand statement are Beyoncé and Jay-Z – who will enjoy posh picnics when touring the Mediterranean backroads of the Cote d’Azur, where the couple regularly visit on holiday.

The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail commission’s stand out feature is a sloping rear deck that houses everything you could need for al-fresco dining, from a champagne fridge to cocktail tables, bar stools, and even a parasol to prevent its owners from overdoing their perfect suntans. All these features are revealed when the deck’s butterfly doors open at the touch of a button in a motion that Rolls-Royce describes as “balletic”.

The overall design is of a nautical theme, reminiscent of the sort of Riva powerboat you’d find bobbing about on Lake Como, with a raked wraparound windscreen and plenty of marine-grade wood. The coachwork is all blue, although the hood features a hand-painted gradated finish, which was a first for Rolls-Royce. A canopy-style roof can be put up in the event of inclement weather.

Inside, the fascia has a jeweled feel with instruments decorated in a Guilloché technique normally the preserve of watchmakers. On that topic, Rolls-Royce collaborated with BOVET 1822 who created a pair of his and hers timepieces, either of which can be inserted into the dash board. There’s also a special holder in the glovebox for the owner’s favorite Montblanc fountain pen. Special Caleidolegno wood veneer is used throughout the cabin and there’s a two-tone motif for the seating with the front seats a darker blue hue than the rears. The Telegraph reports that Beyonce and Jay-Z are said to have signed the back of the Rolls-Royce badges that are set in the grille and on the car’s tail, as well as the engine manifold.

From an engineering perspective the Boat Tail is no less impressive. Rolls-Royce says that 1813 new parts were created for the car. Reconfiguring the aluminum “Architecture of Luxury” platform to suit the car’s dimensions took nine months and included using parts of the structure as resonance chambers for the audio system’s bass speakers. The complex “hosting suite” in the tail has five electronic control units to itself and the setup has been tested at temperatures from 176 degrees to minus four degrees. Not exactly what we’d describe as ideal picnic conditions.

For motive power the Boat Tail uses the 6.75-liter twin-turbo V-12 from the Phantom and three cars have actually built so that it could be fully tested for homologation purposes.

Rolls-Royce hasn’t revealed the price of the car, but says that it “significantly exceeded” the price of the previous Sweptail. It’s believed that the owners—whether they’re Beyonce and Jay-Z or not—won’t be getting much change from  $28 million. That makes this Rolls-Royce the most expensive car in the world, dwarfing the record previously held by Bugatti’s La Voiture Noire of 2019.

The post This $28M custom Rolls-Royce was built for a billionaire’s picnic—with Beyoncé and Jay-Z appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Three major live auctions took place in the last two weeks, two in Amelia Island and one in Indianapolis. With over 2000 cars crossing various blocks, there was plenty on offer for everyone. Unless you were a bargain hunter, however. We’ve seen the collector car market gain ground during the pandemic, and the May 2021 auctions were no exception. The Amelia Island auctions held by RM Sotheby’s and Bonhams offered 22 percent fewer cars than last year, but nonetheless still managed 7 percent higher total sales. Mecum Indy pulled in 54 percent higher total sales on only 14 percent more cars than July 2020’s Indy sale.

That’s all to say that the pickings for bargains from May’s big sales were slim. There were a few good deals, though, and one strange one if you read to the end.

1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Boattail Speedster ($456,000)

Bonhams Amelia Island, Lot 145

Pre-sale estimate: $600,000 – $800,000

#3-condition (Good) value: $825,000

Any $456,000 sale is a bold selection on this kind of list, but context is key and everything is relative. And this Boattail Speedster was a steal. The Auburn wears an older restoration but has remained in excellent condition. In spite of this, Bonhams still set its pre-sale estimate right around the #4 (Fair) condition value for this car—likely because this example is right-hand-drive. It’s a rare option, but in this case an undesirable one. The sale proceeded to undercut Bonham’s low estimate of $600,000 by 24 percent, and the #4-condition value of $700,000 by 35 percent. A low sale for such an iconic car is surprising considering pre-war cars on average preformed exceptionally well at Amelia Island this year. If you can handle having your passenger order for you at the drive-thru, this was a primetime car for the money.

1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Long Wheelbase ($47,040)

Bonhams Amelia Island, Lot 182

Pre-sale estimate: $80,000 -$100,000

#3-condition (Good) Value: $133,000

Is there a more elegant way to spend $47K? This 1956 Silver Wraith is from an era in Rolls-Royce history that predates the 6 3/4 liter L-Series V-8 which powered most Rolls and Bentleys for many decades from 1959 on. Instead, a 4.9-liter straight-six with an “adequate” 125 horsepower propelled this 11-foot-wheelbase behemoth. The Wraith at Bonhams Amelia Island sold for 41 percent below low estimate and 57 percent below our #4-condition value. With its Tuxedo color combo, this Silver Wraith would make for a classic, stylish wedding rental.

1970 Oldsmobile 442 Convertible ($61,600)

RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island, Lot 112

Pre-sale estimate: $90,000 -$100,000

#3-condition (Good) value: $88,080 (after +20% premium for four-speed)

Muscle cars are making a comeback, which means the new owner of this 442 made out like a bandit. We gave this Olds an #2-condition (Excellent) rating when we saw it at auction last year, after it benefited from a recent professional restoration. With that rating comes an average value of $124,800 once factoring in the 20-percent premium for its four-speed manual transmission. Put that all together and what this sale at Amelia represents is a 442 that changed hands for roughly half what we expected it to and 32 percent below the low estimate set by the auction house. Not bad for an open-top monster with 500 ft-lb of torque. While it’s a great get for the new owner, it’s simultaneously a tough break for the seller who appears to have suffered a bad flip. The very same 442 recently sold at RM’s Auburn 2020 sale last September for $82,500.

Tony Stewart’s 2007 COT NASCAR ($24,200)

Mecum Indy, Lot S19

If all you’re looking for is power per dollar, your chariot just passed you by. Though not road-legal, this NASCAR competitor was recently dyno-tested at 885 horsepower. Like many race cars, it has some interesting history. Tony Stewart won the 2007 Watkins Glen race in this “Camry” when it wore Chevrolet branding, making it the first “Car of Tomorrow” winner for Joe Gibbs Racing. This car, chassis 175 that was previously acquired from crew chief Greg Zipadelli’s collection, now wears a 2013 Camry body, according to Mecum.

Sometimes, the right car at the wrong place at the wrong time can add up to an opportunity for a savvy bidder. Though Mecum Indy seems like it would be a great place to sell a NASCAR veteran, something didn’t click here. A similar phenomenon happened at the Bonham’s Amelia Island 2019 auction, where Dale Earnhardt’s 1977 Chevrolet Nova Grand National sold for $53,000, then one month later sold again for $209,000 at Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach 2019. Someone quadrupled their money in a month. I wouldn’t be too surprised if this car shows up at another auction later this year. That is, after the new owner has presumably ripped it around the oval a few times.

1978 BMW 530i ($165)

Mecum Indy, Lot L78.1

#3-condition (Good) value: $6600

Not a typo. Likely worth less as the sum of its individual parts, this very tired 1978 BMW 5 Series sold for only $165. There are BMW books that cost more.

But hear us out! This Bimmer was the ugly duckling of the Charlie Thomas Collection, which sold 145 pristine cars for a total of $6.5 million. The spare-change price and lack of pictures suggests that this car does not, uh, make a flattering impression in person. Consider, however, that an Indy local with a trailer could have walked away with a great potential project for absolutely minimal investment. If the new owner manages to get it running, I suggest keeping the patina. If it ends up being a bust, it’s probably worth more parted out than the $165 it brought on the block.

The post 5 compelling deals from the May 2021 live auctions at Indy and Amelia appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Rolls-Royce is getting back into the coachbuilding business. The re-established “Coachbuild” department will create one-off cars for Rolls-Royce aficionados for whom money is no object and “limited edition” will never mean more than one.

“We have formally re-established our Coachbuild department for those patrons who wish to go beyond the existing restraints, and explore the almost limitless possibilities this opens up for them. We are able to offer our customers the opportunity to create a motor car in which every single element is hand-built to their precise individual requirements, as befits our status as a true luxury house,” explains CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös.

Back at the turn of the 20th century when Charles Rolls and Henry Royce teamed up, coachbuilding was the norm. Car makers would build a rolling chassis and hand it over to a specialists to build the bodywork and interior to customer’s desires. The practice continued at Rolls-Royce for decades until the company adopted a semi-monocoque construction for its 1965 Silver Cloud, although even beyond that a small number of cars such as the Phantom VI retained a separate chassis enabling H.J. Mulliner Park Ward to work its magic.

When Rolls-Royce moved on to its “Architecture of Luxury” aluminum platform which underpins the Cullinan and Ghost the opportunity opened to return to the great tradition of the past. This spaceframe chassis is flexible and will allow Rolls-Royce designers to work with customers to create unique motor vehicles.

The 2017 Sweptail (top and below) is the most recent example of the Roll-Royce coachbuilders’ craft but it took four years to build thanks to the complexities of its panoramic glass roof and racing-yacht-inspired styling. Future coachbuilt Rollers shouldn’t take as along thanks to the new platform.

Drophead coupe, sedanca de ville, shooting brake, what would you like to see?

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Jack Boyd Smith Jr. has added this one-off Rolls-Royce Phantom to his impressive collection in Elkhart, Indiana. Having amassed a fortune in the glamorous world of foam and tape production Smith Jr. turned his attention to classic cars and built a hugely-impressive stable in just six years.

“I try to find to find rare and special cars that are maybe one of one or one of two,” says Smith, describing a personal museum that chronologically starts with a 1905 Cadillac Model F and ends with this latest acquisition from Rolls-Royce. In between are rare cars from Ahrens-Fox, Auburn, Austin, Bentley, Chrysler, Ford, Hispano-Suiza, Hudson, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Minerva, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, and Studebaker. The new Phantom will join a 1923 Silver Ghost Pall Mall, a 2001 Corniche, a 2011 Phantom III Drophead Coupe, and a 2015 Phantom.

The Phantom Koa gets its name from the copious amounts of Koa wood used throughout its extraordinary interior, inspired by a Smith family heirloom rocking chair. Koa wood is exceptionally hard to procure as it only grows in Hawaii, and can only be harvested from private land. It took Rolls-Royce three years to track down and obtain the wood from a single log.

In the meantime Smith and his wife Laura worked closely with Rolls-Royce on the car’s specification. The extended wheelbase Phantom is trimmed in Dove Grey leather to complement the rich Koa wood and stainless steel on display. The headliner includes 1420 fibre-optic lights that depict the night sky over Cleveland, Ohio on Smith Jr’s day of birth. Rolls-Royce says more than 500 hours of work went into the interior alone. A unique hamper comes complete with hand-made crystal wine glasses and a decanter, plus a 12-piece cutlery set and Wedgwood porcelain plates.

The exterior paintwork was matched to Smith’s 1934 Packard Twelve Coupe and it took more than 40 different tests to exactly match the 87-year-old finish. A Dove Grey hand-painted pinstripe runs the long length of the bodywork, while the initials JBS Jr and LAS adorn the driver and passenger doors respectively.

Smith says that he drives all the cars in his collection regularly, often arriving at his office in one classic, popping out for lunch in another and going home in a third, so you’re likely to see the Koa Phantom on the streets of Elkhart. Failing that you can enjoy the whole JBS Collection online.

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What comes to mind when you imagine a Rolls-Royce? Most likely quiet luxury and understated style. Iron-fist-in-velvet-glove performance. The Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. You probably don’t think of torpedoed passenger boats and love affairs involving British lords and artists’ models.

As the 1910s came to a close, Rolls-Royce decided its customers were getting too creative. Well-heeled patrons of the business had developed a taste for designing their own mascots and mounting them atop their motor cars. Rolls-Royce had an image to uphold, after all, so it commissioned a noteworthy sculptor, Charles Sykes, to design and realize an appropriate figurehead for the company.

Rather than sculpt something from scratch, Sykes decided to reprise a bronze statuette called “The Whisper,” which he had already completed for a Rolls-Royce customer, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, mounting it atop his patron’s 1909 Silver Ghost. The figure was that of a young woman in flowing robes holding a finger to her lips. (The original Whisper statuette resides in the U.K.’s National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, and it looks more or less like this.) The figurine was based upon Sykes’ favorite model, Eleanor Velasco Thornton, who also happened to be Lord Montagu’s mistress.

Eleanor died only four years after Rolls-Royce registered Skyes’ Spirit of Ecstasy as its official intellectual property in 1909—110 years ago to this day—when a German U-boat torpedoed the SS Persia, which was carrying her and Montagu across the Mediterranean on their way to India. Montagu survived—in part, rumor has it, thanks to a Gieve inflatable waistcoat recommended to him by his cousin Admiral Mark Kerr.

The figurine atop Montagu’s Silver Ghost would survive its real-life inspiration, and its descendants grace the hoods of Rolls-Royces to this day, though they are smaller than the 7-inch original (from the 2003 model year, measuring 3.75 inches) and rest on retractable pedestals.

Materials used in “The Flying Lady” have changed over the years, too. From 1911–14, The Spirit of Ecstasy wore silver plate, switching to nickel and chrome alloy when thefts became too common. Today, customers have a choice of stainless steel, gold-plated steel, or illuminated frosted crystal. The aftermarket, of course, offers additional, flashier options at even higher price.

Now that you know the story behind the Silver Lady, you might prefer the ghostlier option.

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Art writes:

I have a 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II with 58,000 kilometers (36,040 miles). It’s in good condition; it’s even been a class winner! Last spring, after coming out of storage, there’s been a sudden introduction of tappet-like noise when I started it up. All fluids had been changed earlier; it is synthetic oil and it’s as clean as water. The noise goes away when the engine warms up, but under load I can hear it coming back. Any ideas?

Sajeev answers:

The mileage, condition, and excellent maintenance of this Rolls-Royce notwithstanding, we have two likely causes: a lifter/tappet noise from the L-series V-8’s valvetrain, or a leaky exhaust manifold. My money’s usually on a bad manifold gasket, as leaks seal themselves as the motor heats up and tolerances get tighter, except this scenario feels special: The problem happened after coming out of storage.

Sticky lifters are likely after a deep hibernation, while gaskets/manifolds rarely (never?) fail during that period. But since the exhaust is far easier to inspect, check the manifolds for leaks or cracks. Start with a visual inspection for cracks and sooty residue, perhaps with a cheap endoscope to aid in inspection. If the system isn’t cracked, run a slip of newspaper around the manifolds with the engine running, looking for errant exhaust gases making the paper flop around. (Temporarily shielding this area from engine fan airflow is mandatory.)

If the exhaust system checks out, try to un-stick a sticky lifter before tearing apart the motor for replacement: run a light oil additive (like Marvel Mystery Oil) in the crankcase, performed in accordance to the instructions on the bottle. Drive the Rolls-Royce so that the motor gets high oil pressure for sustained periods, like at highway speeds and under moderate loads (like going uphill) so that it has a fighting chance against a stuck lifter. Perform an oil change shortly afterwards, using 100 percent “normal” motor oil of your choice. Did it fix the problem?

If not, it’s time to figure out which lifters are bad and replace them. Replacements for the L-series are not readily available new, but used parts are easy to find. Not fun and anything but free, but odds are the noise is bad enough to warrant all this work. Best of luck!

Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com, give us as much detail as possible so we can help. If you need an expedited resolution, make a post on the Hagerty Community.

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Wonder Woman’s last jaunt took her from the hidden island of Themyscira to a Europe ravaged by WWI. Decades later, Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman 1984 finds Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) living in a world that seems more peaceful—at least at first glance. While working at the Smithsonian, she comes across an ancient stone that grants wishes Monkey’s Paw-style, first bringing back her boyfriend Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), then generating two new formidable foes for the superhero to contend with: Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord and Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah. As the film’s title might suggest, the year is 1984, and aside from leg-warmers and Gary Numan songs, its cars are one of the very few ways this film is recognizably set in this decade.

Wonder Woman 1984 takes place toward the end of the Malaise Era. Starting with an oil crisis in 1973, this automotive dark age was plagued with higher insurance costs, a recession, and stringent rules implemented by the U.S. government to improve safety as well as limit fuel usage and exhaust emissions. Depressingly, a 55-mph speed limit was also instituted. All these changes sounded the death knell for muscle cars, but it wasn’t all bad: the late 1970s gave us Burt Reynolds at his coolest, starring in iconic car films from White Lightning to Smokey and the Bandit. And the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am featured in the latter film became a celebrity in its own right.

The second-generation Trans Am was a bright spot during an era only recently being celebrated for its cars, and it gets a generous cameo in the film’s opening scene. A speeding 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am hurtles toward a jogger in the crosswalk. This is Wonder Woman’s very first act of heroism in the film: she sends the car spinning with a kick, saving the jogger’s life. Diana herself doesn’t have a car and doesn’t seem to know how to drive one yet (though she eventually does, as evidenced by her 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet in 2017’s Justice League), but this red Trans Am, with its gold-and-black screaming chicken, looks like a car Diana could (and should) drive. It’s probably not an intentional nod to the red ’78 Pontiac Trans Am from Hooper, Burt Reynolds’s 1978 homage to stuntmen, but it’s not impossible. At the very least, it seems to be a tribute to the Poncho’s cinematic legacy. It’s a car with undeniable star power.

Conman Max Lord has his own car that’s in keeping with his character—a chauffeured Rolls-Royce Silver Spur with a gold grille. It is purely a status symbol to keep up appearances. He embodies the apparent worst of the American dream, which for him means money and power at any cost. Max Lord is a perfect villain for this point in history: Jenkins says she set the film in the ‘80s not just as an excuse to put Chris Pine in parachute pants, but because the period represents “mankind at their worst, most excessive and their greatest, most grand and opulent.”

Some of the film’s other automotive highlights include the historically accurate 1983 Ford LTD Crown Victorias that the Fairfax County police arrive in to stop a mall heist. At a fundraiser, Diana steps out of a plushy black 1984 Chrysler Fifth Avenue. And then there are the beautiful blue ‘70s Ford F-series pickup trucks that converge at the airfield to try to stop Diana and Steve from “borrowing” one of the Smithsonian’s planes. We even catch fleeting glimpses of pre-Malaise cars like a creamy-white ’70 VW Beetle, a purple ’71 Dodge Challenger, and a ’64 Chevy Impala.

The most satisfying car action, however, comes halfway through the film. Diana and Steve have followed Max Lord to Egypt where he’s meeting with oil magnate Emir Said Bin Abydos (Amr Waked). In an attempt to retrieve the wish-granting stone from Lord, they hastily purchase their taxi driver’s car, a 1977 Peugeot 504. Somehow the front-engine four-door remains operational even though its hood gets riddled with bullets.

The pair pursue a convoy of Soviet military trucks, which include Ural-375s and GAZ-66s. Near the front of this convoy is a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen with Max Lord in the passenger seat. It looks to be a W463 dressed up to look like a more period-appropriate W460. The G-Class can claim some roots in the Middle East; in the ‘70s, the Shah of Iran originally floated the idea of creating a military SUV to Mercedes. As a favorite of “oligarchs and arms dealers” according to Matthew Jones at Top Gear, it’s a crystal-clear clue we’re dealing with bad guys. (Just in case the Soviet military trucks were too subtle.)

Naturally it’s Diana herself, not the cars, who proves to be star of this chase, but there’s still plenty of satisfying automotive carnage. She exits the Peugeot, somehow in full costume, first ripping out the steering wheel of a 6×6 Ural 375D, then lassoing a bullet to save Steve’s life. She pushes two vehicles apart with her legs, uses scrap metal to “surf” under one of the trucks, knocks enormous vehicles off the road and throws them like they were toys. She rips out the bottom of a Ural, using so much force that it spins in midair.

Steve takes a backseat to Diana during much of the action, but he makes himself useful. He manages to climb through the Peugeot’s broken windshield—while it’s still in motion—to clamber onto an armored personnel carrier (a Fahd APC) so he can disarm it and commandeer it, at which point he in turn saves Diana’s life.

This chase’s climax comes when Wonder Woman saves two of the unwitting children playing in the road. In a moment of near-wordless communication between the two characters, Steve fires a missile and Diana lassoes it, propelling her toward the children in the convoy’s path. Instead of racking up a body count, this chase is, like Wonder Woman, about saving lives.

It was recently announced that Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot will team up once more for a third Wonder Woman film. Maybe for her next outing, Diana Prince will learn to drive and get her own ride—hopefully a sweet performance machine on the other side of the Malaise Era.

Wonder Woman 1984 is streaming on HBO Max through January 24.

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Hood ornaments have gone by the wayside for most automakers, but the heyday of chrome and glass came in the Art Deco ’30s. Several brands offered similar themes of athletic animals, famous (literal) figureheads, or the female form. Here are just seven of our favorites, we’re sure you’ll recognize quite a few.

Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy

Perhaps one of the most famous hood ornaments, this stunning form looks ready to take on any boulevard at great speed.

Cadillac’s Flying Goddess

Rolls-Royce wasn’t alone in placing a wind-swept woman at the leading edge of its gorgeous machines. Chevrolet, DeSoto, and Nash all had variations on the theme, but we think Cadillac’s ever-changing goddess looked great through several iterations. The one at the top of the page is from one of Cadillac’s late ’30s V-16 flagships.

Stutz

This late’20s and early-’30s ornament that topped the radiator cap of Stutz cars represents the Egyptian go of the sun, Ra. Seems proper for a convertible or roadster, no?

Willys Knight

This guy would never make it with today’s passenger safety standards, considering he looks like he’s just itching to joust with a jaywalker.

Duesenberg Pegasus

This striking Art Deco Pegasus is a fitting mascot for the large, powerful Duesenbergs of the early ’30s. It’s a steed that could allow the rider brave enough to nearly take flight. Our very own ace shooter, Matt Tierney, spotted this pair of them at last year’s Arizona Auction Week.

Bugatti Dancing Elephant

Rembrandt Bugatti designed the dancing elephant mascot that was used even before the distinctive oval macaron emblem that it is paired with above. The fanciful design manages to make the world’s largest land animal seem graceful.

Pontiac Chief

Pontiac called upon the memory of the war chief that led the Odawa against the British with a number of emblems and ornaments before eventually switching to an arrowhead design. The hood ornament here, from 1934, depicted his whole body, lunging forward, but the chief would later become more stylized in other Pontiacs.

Check out the slideshow below for some additional hood ornament majesty, from the same era. Bonus points if you can name them all in the comments, and if we missed your favorite, be sure to share it below and tell us why it’s the ultimate front-end eye candy.

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The new Rolls-Royce Ghost was so incredibly quiet that it caused occupants to feel sick and engineers were forced to add noise.

Lead engineer Jon Simms told Bloomberg that the serene machine caused drivers and passengers to feel disorientated “bordering on nausea.” So, in an unheard-of move, Simms and his team actually had to make the car louder.

They tweaked the sound of the 563-hp engine, reduced the insulation in the doors and headliner, and redesigned the rear seat frames. Key components in the rear of the car were designed to vibrate a specific low frequency and create a “whisper” of sound.

The Ghost is still an incredibly quiet car, as you can read in our review, thanks to its double-glazed glass and foam-filled tires, among other innovations. In all, it’s one decibel easier on the ears than its predecessor—although clearly it could have been quieter still, if passengers weren’t so spooked.

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You can find the strangest things on eBay. Our browsing habits lead us to this listing and it stopped our scrolling in its tracks. A Rolls-Royce camping trailer? Rolls-Royce actually made those? No, it turns out, Roll-Royce did not.

A museum is making room in its collection by selling this one-of-a-kind camping trailer built from the remnants of a 1933 Rolls Royce. The trailer, commissioned by its original owner to pull behind his 1936 Rolls-Royce, has plenty of storage underneath its bed for all of the creature comforts you’d like to pack along on the journey. Once it reaches its destination, the camper can unfurl its top, supported by the 1933 Rolls-Royce folding top, and provide a tent canopy. There’s even a propane-powered vintage two-burner stove, because only the truly uncivilized cook over a smoky campfire.

The camper uses a Rolls-Royce axle with drum brakes, but don’t count on them to be functional. It does, however, have the proper lights and four-wire harness. Luckily, the total weight of the trailer is estimated to be just 600 pounds, so additional braking shouldn’t be a concern. That axle is mounted with Rolls Royce wheels and a special wrench is provided for the locking hubs. As noted in the listing, it’s suggested that new tires be installed before the trailer hits any stretch of highway.

Used only sparingly since its restoration in the 1960s, this unique trailer is probably not the best match for toting behind your Cullinan. It may make a splash at Pebble Beach if the Concours d’Elegance ever hosts a trailer class. Until then, it will have to settle with being the classiest coach at the KOA.

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The Rolls-Royce of SUVs has proved that it can get down and dirty with the best as it hurtles over massive sand dunes in a new video.

Proving the luxury behemoth’s off-road ability in the heat of the Arabian desert, Rolls-Royce describes the Cullinan as “effortless everywhere”. Creating its own sand storm, the Cullinan climbs the vertiginous dunes and performs numerous dusty donuts in the video filmed near Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Take a look and pity the poor valet who had to clean the car afterwards.

In other Roller-related news, the company has been forced to switch off the illuminated Spirit of Ecstasy that you see at the start of the film—in Europe at least. New European laws on light pollution mean that owners can no longer specify the glow-in-the-dark lady on the hood. Rolls-Royce will, apparently, replace the optional ornament with a metal one, free of charge.

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Good vibes only. It’s more than an infuriating phrase blighting social media with passive-aggressive blitheness—it’s also how the second-generation Rolls-Royce Ghost does business. Here’s an example. Next time you’re out for a solo drive in your daily driver, watch the passenger seat for a brief (and safe) moment. See it wobbling a bit as you go about your business? That’s perfectly normal, and it’s a product of the dozens of contrasting vibrations that add to, subtract from, and reinforce each other in a roadgoing automobile.

Problem is, that little vibration can be quite annoying to someone who is looking at a seat-mounted multimedia monitor—or, perhaps, resting a laptop on a fold-out seatback table. So the Ghost has a mass damper inside that seat, a heavy pendulum to counteract the bad vibes, leaving your chauffeured binge-watching simply butter-smooth. The notion of a mass damper is nothing new; you’ll find it in every major skyscraper, keeping you from tossing your lunch at a rooftop restaurant. But you won’t find it in your Lexus LS or Bentley Flying Spur. The Ghost costs far more than these everyday automobiles, starting at $332,500 and climbing from there with Sherpa alacrity. But it also offers more.

This obsession with good-vibes-only continues throughout the Ghost’s structure, which is no longer a posh take on the biggest BMW sedan but rather a rejiggered variant of the aluminum “Architecture Of Luxury” that underpins its Phantom and Cullinan cousins. There are three different types of sound-deadening material in the doors, with one of them specifically designed to mute the boomin’ bass of an exuberant stoplight neighbor. The “Planar” system is, quite simply, a second suspension, mounted between the front dampers and the body structure. It’s meant to prevent secondary vibrations—think about the little “chunk” motion one gets when running over a freeway reflector—from reaching the driver. There’s no active or electromagnetic component to it, but it appears to work remarkably well.

Bigger than the old Ghost but three inches shorter than a 1979 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency, the newest junior Rolls-Royce presents a surprisingly intimate experience to the driver. A wide center console conspires with big seats and a relatively low roofline to give the impression of just enough space. The cliff-face feeling of the previous car’s dashboard, meant to evoke the Phantom using 7-Series bones, is thankfully gone, replaced by an almost Honda-ish low cowl and a view down the long hood that is more Flying Spur or S-Class than Silver Shadow.

The tabula rasa of a bespoke platform means Rolls-Royce can evoke the past in the Ghost’s control surfaces even more convincingly than before. Yet it’s a steampunk take on history, with LCD gauges and a constellation of infotainment buttons on the vintage-feeling, thin-rimmed steering wheel. In the heat of a fall Austin, Texas afternoon, the HVAC system is both powerful and nearly silent, courtesy of polished-metal eyeball vents and felt lining for the tubing behind them. All of this is operated via heavily damped, lovingly bechromed switches which would not be out of place in a cost-no-object megayacht.

Rear-seat accommodations are relatively simple; you’ll find more bells and whistles in a Black Label Lincoln Continental. The legroom of the standard-wheelbase Ghost, which makes up the bulk of sales in the States but elsewhere will occasionally yield pride of place to the extended model with its reshaped roof and additional passenger pampering, is adequate but not extravagant. All four doors are power-operated, this point being made in unsubtle fashion by depriving them of pull handles. The firm’s marketing materials speak of “Post-Opulence”, implying a lack of adornment. In the case of the interior, it means that you’ll need to engage another motorcar company if you want quilted leather and the like. These seats would not be out of place in a 1982 Silver Spirit, which is high praise in an era where some of the competition is sailing dangerously close to the wind of the Los Angeles lowrider aesthetic.

The close-coupled cabin and the simplicity of interior design suggests that the Ghost is meant to be that most potentially self-loathing of vehicles—the “driver’s Rolls”—but the car dispenses with the Damoclean difficulty of an appropriate ride/handling balance by simply being excellent at both. It’s very fast in a straight line, as was its predecessor, and for the same reason, namely a twin-turbo V-12. Rolls-Royce representatives warned us repeatedly about the possibility of accidentally going far too fast for conditions, something we shrugged off until we found ourselves very placidly traveling at more-than-misdemeanor speeds without truly realizing it. Presented with a sharp curve at speed, the Ghost simply bends through without much fuss and with no feedback whatsoever through the fingertip-light steering. This is as it should be; if you don’t like it, buy an AMG Benz. Our impression is that the Ghost can easily double the posted speed in most corners, regardless of whether the sign says fifteen or sixty-five.

This car could be successfully operated anywhere one could drive an S-Class. It’s not fussy about steep driveways or tight parking-garage spirals. Unsurprisingly, the first few hours behind the wheel are marked by innumerable ohmygosh this is a Rolls-Royce moments, but after a while one’s focus shifts to the sheer usability of the thing. The simplicity of the controls and the light touch of both steering and brake make it a compelling long-haul companion. It’s so much less hassle to drive than a big German sedan or even the Titanosaur SUVs from Lincoln and Cadillac; in fact, one suspects there’s some money to be made by replicating this simplicity of operation in an affordable luxury sedan. (Genesis, we are looking at you.)

Complaints: Even the $10,000 “Bespoke” audio system option seemed a little short on power in our pre-production test car. Real doorhandles would be nice in a pinch. Ventilated rear seats should not be a four-figure option in a quarter-million-plus-dollar automobile. There is almost no situation in which a sane person wants to apply full torque in leisurely fashion to third gear at thirty miles per hour and therefore the transmission should be smart enough to recognize this and immediately supply the right ratio. LJK Setright’s famous saying about a turbocharged engine and automatic transmission being perfect partners is occasionally found wanting in the Ghost; perhaps it’s because the gearbox is too busy using its fancy satellite terrain recognition features to listen to an unambiguous demand for full afterburner from the cockpit.

This is all minor stuff. The new Ghost is so good, so perfectly judged against the desires and foibles of its potential owners, that any criticism comes off as mean-spirited. In reality, your humble author has just one problem with the car—namely, that it is a little too subtle in traffic. We found ourselves face to face on a four-lane highway with a fellow in a lovely two-tone Corniche; he didn’t seem to notice the Ghost. Post-opulence, indeed. Not to worry. There will surely be a Wraith and Dawn coming to gratify the attention-seeker in all of us. In the meantime, the new Rolls-Royce charms on every level and will surely thrill its owners. Good vibes only, indeed.

2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost

Price: $332,500 base; $361,125 as tested.

Highs: Fast without being furious, effortless in operation, an unashamedly real car in a market segment filled with toys.

Lows: A little generic-looking, slow-witted drivetrain, costs as much as three well-equipped S-Class Benzes, really should have a proper Parthenon grille and to hell with anyone who feels differently.

Summary: Like the Silver Shadow before it, this Ghost aims to pamper its buyers in uncertain times. Unlike the Silver Shadow, it exceeds the cheaper competition in every measure and covers ground like a French TGV. Recommended.

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Rolls-Royce owner BMW Group has filed a trademark for the name Silent Shadow, leading to speculation that the nameplate will be applied to the company’s first EV.

CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Automotive News Europe that Rolls-Royce will build its first electric car “within this decade” and that electric power “fits perfectly” with the brand. “It’s silent and torquey and that is the reason to go directly from combustion to electrification,” he added.

The company’s aluminum spaceframe which underpins the Phantom, Cullinan, and new Ghost can be adapted for an electric powertrain, which would most likely come from BMW’s iNext. In current form that can provide a 120-kWh battery which would be good for a range of over 400 miles.

Rolls-Royce showed an electric Phantom, the 102EX, as long ago as 2011, but the project ran out of juice. This time things are different as some 20 cities have said they will ban combustion engined cars by 2030, which will force customers to plug in instead. Not that they will actually have to handle any cables themselves as Rolls-Royce is reportedly working to develop a robotic charging system.

If you can’t wait ten years for an electric Roller from the factory, then you could always have a classic converted by the experts at Lunaz. If you have half a million dollars or more to spare then Lunaz will build you a pure electric Silver Cloud or Phantom.

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After pioneering its performance SUV line in the U.S.A. first with the Edge ST and then the Explorer ST, Ford has unveiled a hot Puma for Europe.

The Puma is Ford’s smallest SUV offering, but is the first to get the ST treatment and is a massive step up from the standard model. Out goes a one-liter, mild hybrid, three-cylinder motor and in comes the 1.5-liter turbo from the latest Fiesta ST with 200 hp, and 236 lb-ft of torque.

Despite being a little heavier than lesser Pumas the ST still screeches from 0-62 mph in 6.7 seconds. It’s front-wheel drive only, and drivers get to row through the gears with a six-speed manual transmission. There’s a mechanical limited slip differential and torque vectoring to aid traction and cornering capability. Also included are “force vectoring springs” plus a much stiffer rear torsion beam, and new anti-roll bars front and rear. The steering rack is faster and the front brakes are beefed up. There’s even a Track mode which disables the traction control and de-sensitizes the stability control. If that’s not enough then an optional performance pack adds launch control.

A sportier look comes from new front splitter, a rear diffuser, twin tailpipes and 19-inch alloys. The Mean Green paintwork is exclusive to the ST. Inside there are Recaro front seats, a new flat-bottomed steering wheel and various ST badges.

Beginning in 2019 Ford axed the Fiesta in North America, along with the Focus and all other cars except the Mustang, but seeing as the Puma is an SUV maybe, just maybe, it could find a place here if you ask nicely, and loudly, enough.

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When it comes to collector automobiles, it can seem like your money doesn’t go as far as it once did. We dug into the data to see what affordable vehicles can be had for a reasonable budget of $15,000 in #3 (Good) condition. Why #3 condition? Our research has found that, time after time, the condition of the average collector automobile falls right within this classification. A #3 car is ready for a long drive without making excuses, but it may have some flaws and/or incorrect parts.

Here are 8 cars and 2 trucks we found that fit the bill. While this is not a comprehensive list of vehicles that fall within a $15,000 budget, these are some well-known and emerging collectors to consider if you’re in the market. We also posted a livestream on this subject, which you can find here.

1984–1996 Chevrolet Corvette

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $6500

When it comes to bang for your buck, it is hard to beat a Corvette. In the case of the C4 Corvette, that saying is as true today as it was back in the day. The C4 offers a wide variety of options that fits within most price ranges. While the ZR-1 and Grand Sport are beyond the scope of this list’s budget, you are still spoiled for a sub-$15K choice when it comes to the C4.

You can find a near-perfect 1984 model for $15,000, but if you desire performance, the LT1- and LT4-powered cars of the 1990s are well within reach. Perhaps the ideal choice for this budget would be a 1996 C4 equipped with the 330-hp LT4 engine, which required the inclusion of the six-speed transmission when ordered new. Never fear the dreaded Optispark system on the LT1/LT4 cars either—by now most issues with the ignition on individual cars have been fixed or were never a problem in the first place.

2004–05 Mazdaspeed Miata

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $10,400

Of course Miata is the answer to the question at hand, and internet meme lords would not let us get away with a list of affordable cars that didn’t include a Miata.

Adding some grunt to an already nimble and zippy little roadster, the Mazdaspeed Miata made waves in 2004 and 2005 with a turbo engine that yielded an extra 36 hp over the standard NB-series Miata. Not enough of a boost to set the world on fire, but more than enough to shave more than a second off of the standard Miata’s 7.9-second 0–60 time. A factory-installed turbo means that it was engineered for the application and built with quality parts.

Driver-quality cars average $10,400, but #2-condition (Excellent) examples are still sub-$15,000. That’s not as cheap as many people expect when buying a Miata, but the price is well worth it if you desire a little extra punch. The added exclusivity of a two-year-only model is worth mentioning, too.

1979–93 Ford Mustang

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $7700

Few cars epitomize the 1980s like Fox-body Mustangs. They look great and offer very good performance from an era in which auto manufacturers were starting to gain back some of the horsepower lost in the mid-1970s. Much like the third-generation Camaros and Firebirds, Fox-body Mustangs offer a lot of car for the money and have only recently started to experience notable gains in value.

The more popular 5.0 GT hatchbacks from the late ’80s can be had in Good condition for under $8000, but truly pristine examples can also fall under our $15,000 budget. If you are willing to sacrifice some of the ground effects for the 5.0 LX “notchback” coupes, a perfect example can usually be had for just over $15,000. Watch out for cheaper examples though; as with any unibody car, undercarriage and strut tower rust can be a problem and although these are resilient cars, no vehicle can sustain infinite abuse. Be wary of cars that have been driven hard and show obvious signs of neglect.

These are great machines for anyone on a budget desiring a rear-wheel-drive, V-8 car. They perform well in stock form, but an abundance of aftermarket upgrades means that Fox-bodies can be a blank slate for anyone who wants to create something unique down the road.

1989–91 Porsche 944 S2

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $15,000

Porsche is not the first make that comes to mind when you brainstorm affordable vehicles. Over the past several years, values for just about every Porsche model have experienced a hefty bump, and the few that have settled have done so at levels nowhere near where they started. Even the previously snubbed transaxle Porsches have flipped the script. That said, a few good models can still be picked up at a reasonable price.

The 944 S2 is a great option for the budget-minded buyer who wants a great grand tourer. Power output for the S2 got a much-appreciated 43-hp gain with its larger 3.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Still not quite as powerful as the Turbo, but enough to satisfy. This is a slam dunk of a car from a time period that is becoming increasingly desirable, and by virtue of it being a Porsche, you are joining a fraternity of hardcore fans who deeply love their cars. At a price tag of $15,000 for a Good example that’s been well cared for, it’s hard to go wrong.

1983–89 Mitsubishi Starion, Dodge/Chrysler Conquest

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $8000

The Mitsubishi Starion and Dodge/Chrysler Conquest (aka Starquest) is not an obvious choice for an affordable collector car, and for good reason. They’re fairly obscure cars these days; finding a choice example is a challenge. These vehicles were used hard.

Assuming you do find a quality example, Starquests represent great value for a rear-wheel-drive, turbocharged enthusiast car. Very few cars have sold publicly above our $15,000 budget and the average-condition Starquest is usually well under $10,000. Of course, these figures can fluctuate depending on options and make. Starions command a premium over Conquests, and 1986-and-later cars are in higher demand due to the intercooled G54B four-cylinder engine, which is good for 188 hp. The top models are the Starion ESI-R and Conquest TSi, packing all the available performance improvements plus the added benefit of a wide-body kit.

When it comes to Starquests, you should buy the best example you can afford. Since parts are far less plentiful than those for a comparable Honda or Toyota, previous owners and their level of care matter just as much as the overall condition of the car.

1981–87 Alfa Romeo GTV-6

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $14,600

An Italian sports car for under $15,000?  The GTV-6 is a beautifully designed ’80s Alfa Romeo, and the V-6 engine has a shriek as intoxicating as any Italian exotic from the era. These cars are known to be great fun to drive. The downsides aren’t many, assuming that the car was well cared for throughout its life. The synchros are a known weak point and build quality is typical of any 1980s Italian sports cars.

Best practice with a GTV-6 is to buy the best car you can afford with as complete of a service history as possible; it may save you a massive headache down the road. Expect to max out our $15,000 budget to ensure the car you are buying is in good running order. Pristine examples can be had for more, of course.

1992–99 Chevrolet Blazer/Tahoe and GMC Yukon

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $14,000

After an 18-year run, General Motors finally updated the Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Jimmy for 1992. The Chevy kept the Blazer name, but GMC adopted the Yukon moniker. As with 1988 GM pickups, the Blazer and Yukon traded the solid front axle for independent front suspension, in turn picking up many standard creature comforts: better sound deadening, improved ride quality, and more amenities. The basic formula would remain the same, albeit with a shortened half-ton chassis and driveline on the two-door utility vehicle. The Blazer name would be dropped in 1995 and Tahoe swapped in,  but the biggest change to the lineup would be the change from throttle-body injection to multi-port fuel injection in 1996. GM thus introduced the Vortec engine, boosting power an additional 45 horses in its 350 V-8.

Like the prior square-body Blazers and Jimmys, the Blazer/Tahoe/Yukon have remained quite affordable, and two-door models still command a niche following. Good specimens with the Silverado and SLT trim packages can be had for about $12,000, but expect to pay a premium for the rarer Blazer Sport and Yukon GT. With the rates for earlier Blazers spiking and 1990s Ford Broncos rising quickly, don’t expect these trucks to remain a good buy forever.

1965-1980 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Sedan

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $8,700

Usually the terms “budget” and “Rolls-Royce” uttered in the same sentence is cause for great concern. It’s a widely accepted truth that the cheapest Rolls-Royce will cost you the most in repairs down the road. While that is certainly something to keep in mind when looking at a Silver Shadow, a $15,000 Rolls-Royce isn’t necessarily cause for panic.

For starters, by Rolls-Royce standards the Silver Shadow was a mass-produced model: The firm built 16,717 of these sedans. They are not over-the-top complicated cars, but like with any Rolls-Royce, regular documented service is crucial. Be especially wary of problems with the braking system and suspension; they are especially costly to fix. The budget-conscious might be tempted to go for an imported right-hand-drive model, but approach with caution: Many have been exported from their native U.K because they’ll no longer pass MOT inspection.

If you know what you’re getting into, you can enjoy the Rolls-Royce brand for what it is: a titan of the British luxury industry. Very good cars are affordable and within reach of a $15,000 budget, but you’ll look and feel like you are driving around in something worth substantially more.

1997–2006 Jeep Wrangler

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $12,400 

TJ Wranglers are rightfully regarded as peak Wrangler among the Jeep faithful. Wranglers have a lot to offer; they are very capable off-road, but take the top and the doors off and you have the perfect weekend cruiser. As far as Wranglers go, the TJ has some special sauce.

The obvious perk is that the looks were greatly improved over the previous YJ, but the major attraction is that it retains Jeep’s venerable 4.0-liter inline-six, and it was the first Wrangler to sport a more capable four-link rear suspension. The TJ also introduced the Rubicon variant, which added heavier duty Dana 44 axles with locking differentials, noticeably improving off-road capability and toughness. Mechanically, these are bulletproof vehicles. However, like all Jeeps that came before it, rust is a pain point. Frames are especially susceptible to rot, so be sure to get underneath any TJ you are considering and inspect it carefully. Rust issues are fixable by a competent welder, but it is best not have to deal with the issue at all.

Values for TJs in #2 (Excellent) condition have begun to creep up across the board, but depending on where you live, values can vary widely in regions with a strong Jeep following. $15,000 can net you a very solid Rubicon. For less money you can snag a standard model and have cash left over for a bunch of upgrades. Like the Fox-body Mustang, the TJ is a canvas for the imagination.

1962–1970 Datsun 1500/1600/2000 Roadster

Average value in #3 (Good) condition: $9700

Datsun Roadsters should not be overlooked. They’ve been long overshadowed by the MGB, which came out at about the same time and were built in larger quantities. Japan’s take on a small, sporty roadster was equally capable and creatively designed. Throughout the years, the engine size grew from a 1500- to 1600-cc four-cylinder, finally settling on a very peppy 135-hp 2000 cc.

More powerful models, such as the 2000, will max out a $15,000 budget for a good-quality car, but 1500 and 1600s allow for better selection under the price cap. The only downside is that the comparable MG will have better parts availability, so while Datsun has a good reputation for reliability, finding a part when something does break will be more difficult. Overall, the Datsun Roadster is a great alternative for the enthusiast who wants to stand out among the more numerous British roadsters out there.

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After a postponement of over five months, one of the most highly anticipated collector car auctions of the year finally wrapped up on Saturday, September 5 to the tune of £34,048,900 ($45.3M). Held at London’s picturesque Hampton Court Palace near the River Thames and in conjunction with the Concours of Elegance, Gooding & Company’s “Passion of a Lifetime” sale was one for the books. Gooding always emphasizes quality over quantity and holds only a handful of auctions annually with no more than a few dozen consignments at each. The “Passion” sale distilled that formula even further, offering just 15 cars, mostly from a single collection, at one of the most scenic auction venues we can remember. Each car was a star in its own right, and all but one found a new home in a sale that combined phone, absentee, and some live, in-room bidding.

We speculated before the auction that we would see some records fall, and now that the numbers are in, we count eight records total. The average sale price was $3.2M, the highest ever at a collector car auction. Of the 14 cars that sold, half brought a record number either for the marque or the model. Gooding’s “Passion of a Lifetime” sale was a public confirmation of a strong high-end market, and we’ll look in detail at the seven record-breaking cars below, in addition to the overall average sale price record.

1971 Lamborghini Miura P400SV

Lot 002

Sold for £3,207,000 ($4,270,000)

Presale estimate: £1,600,000–£2,000,000

Any Miura is special, and the P400 SV is both the most powerful and most valuable regular production version. This one has the added distinction of special-order equipment, and that’s a big deal to people who collect cars like this. Bought new by a French industrialist, it got dry-sump lubrication and a ZF limited-slip diff at the factory, neither of which came as standard equipment. One of just 150 SV Miuras built, it has since been restored in its original Oro Metallizzato, aka metallic gold.

This Miura is remarkable and nearly one-of-a-kind, but this price surprised everyone watching. The final number smashed both the car’s presale estimate and the previous record price for a Miura, another SV that sold for €2,388,400 ($2.54M) back in 2017.

1924 Lancia Lambda 3rd Series Torpédo

Lot 005

Sold for £391,000 ($520,030)

Presale estimate: £320,000–£400,000

The list of Lancia’s innovations is a lengthy one, and Vincenzo Lancia’s 1922–31 Lambda boasted several of them. Among production cars, the Lambda was the first to have a V-4 engine and, more importantly, the first to have a monocoque chassis. Its independent sliding-pillar front suspension was another breakthrough, so it’s no wonder that these cars are highly collectible today.

This is a relatively early third-series car, wearing the more desirable Torpédo body style. Delivered new to Uruguay, it stayed in the same family for 60 years and has since been restored. It sold at the top end of Gooding’s estimate range, which was enough to handily beat the previous Lambda record, a 1925 example that sold for $302,000 back in January of this year.

1924 Vauxhall 30-98 OE-Type Wensum

Lot 012

Sold for £1,247,000 ($1,660,000)

Presale estimate: £800,000–£1,200,000

This streamlined, doorless, boat-like car is indeed a Vauxhall and a far cry from today’s budget-friendly Astra and Insignia hatchbacks. It’s the most expensive Vauxhall ever sold at auction, and the first to break seven figures.

According to Gooding, it is one of just a dozen OE-Type 30-98s fitted with this Wensum coachwork and “arguably the finest surviving example of the legendary OE-Type 30-98.” The previous record for a Vauxhall was another 30-98, which sold for £437,000 ($557,313) in London two years ago.

1919 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle Tourer

Lot 014

Sold for £1,023,000 ($1,365,000)

Presale estimate: £1,000,000–£1,400,000

Built for nearly 20 years, the Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP (aka Silver Ghost) was an incredibly versatile model. There were sporting Silver Ghosts used in trials competition. There were sumptuous chauffeur-driven Silver Ghost limousines. There were even armored cars that rode on a Silver Ghost chassis. This car is of the more sporting variety, one of a few cars built to honor Rolls-Royce’s performance in the 1913 Alpine trial, hence the “Alpine Eagle” name.

Bought new by an Uruguayan politician and businessman, it has since been restored under its current ownership. At the “Passion of a Lifetime” sale, it became the most expensive post-WWI Silver Ghost ever sold at auction. It may be a bit of an obscure record, but it’s a record nonetheless.

1928 Bugatti Type 35C

Lot 010

Sold for £3,935,000 ($5,230,000)

Presale estimate: “In excess of £3,000,000”

Technically, this was the least expensive of the three phenomenal Bugattis in this sale, but it is nevertheless the most expensive Type 35 ever sold at auction.

The Type 35 hardly needs an introduction. It is one of the most successful racing cars ever designed, dominating motorsport for much of the 1920s. This car is a 35C, distinguished by the Roots-type supercharger fitted to Bugatti’s 2.0-liter straight-eight. It was the Bugatti works entry at the 1928 Targa Florio, an event that Type 35s won five years straight from 1925–29.

This car then went on to compete in circuit and hill climb events, and in 1932 received the red paint job it wears today. Like the Type 59 in this sale, the car wears just the right amount of patina, though it received a sympathetic mechanical restoration to keep it usable. The previous record for a Type 35 was a three-owner 1925 car that sold for $3.3M in Scottsdale back in 2017.

1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante

Lot 015

Sold for £7,855,000 ($10,450,000)

Presale estimate: “In excess of £7,000,000”

All of the Bugattis in this sale were exceptional examples. All were record-breakers. Unlike the other two, this Type 57S isn’t a race car and it has been fully restored, but it was still one of the highlights of the sale and the second most expensive car of the whole auction.

It is one of just 17 Type 57Ss fitted with the glorious Jean Bugatti-designed Atalante bodywork, and it sold new to Earl Howe, a pivotal figure in the British racing scene who co-founded the British Racing Drivers Club, won Le Mans in 1931, and served as the president of the Bugatti Owners Club.

Its next owner fitted the 3.3-liter straight-eight with a supercharger, and the car eventually found its way to an English doctor named Harold Carr. The doctor parked it in his garage in Newcastle in the early 1960s, and the car stayed there until it was discovered after his death in 2007. If this story is starting to sound familiar, it’s because this car sold in Paris back in 2009 for €3.4M ($4.4M). It has since been restored—though it retains its original chassis, body, engine, and period supercharger—and now holds the distinction of being the most expensive Bugatti Type 57 ever sold at auction.

1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports

Lot 004

Sold for £9,535,000 ($12,680,000)

Presale estimate: “In excess of £10,000,000”

This 86-year-old race car, described by Gooding as “one of the most significant and original competition Bugattis extant,” is the most expensive Bugatti ever sold at auction. It started as a works Grand Prix car, driven by René Dreyfus to third place in Monaco and to victory at the Belgian Grand Prix. It then got a second lease on life with revised chassis, body, and running gear for a successful season of sports car racing in 1937. It has had just five owners from new, and one of those was King Leopold III of Belgium. In addition to all that racing provenance, this car is fit for a king—literally.

A fascinating car with special bodywork, Bugatti’s signature piano wire wheels, tons of positive camber, and great history, it also retains the perfect amount of patina. That patina celebrates the car’s history, which is arguably better than hiding that heritage behind a shimmering restoration. The star car of an already star-studded auction, it will likely be the most expensive auction car of 2020. If that holds, this will be the first time since 1991 that a Bugatti has topped the year’s auction charts.

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“My name’s Harv Bannister, I work for Tipsy McStagger’s Good Time Drinking and Eating Emporium.” – Harv Bannister

“Oh, yeah? Hey, what’s Mr. McStagger really like?” – Moe

“Actually there is no Tipsy McStagger, he’s just a composite of other successful logos.” – Harv Bannister

“Well, you tell him from me that he makes one great mozzarella stick.” – Moe

“Yes, fine, I will.” – Harv Bannister — The Simpsons Episode 045, “Flaming Moe’s”

Unlike Tipsy McStagger, Charles Rolls and Henry Royce were very real — but they are long gone. Charles Rolls died in a plane crash one hundred and ten years ago; Henry Royce succumbed to health issues twenty-three years later. There are no living human beings who can remember a meeting with either of them. In the nine decades since the death of Henry Royce, the firm bearing his name was alternately split, bankrupted, placed under government protection, privatized, and torn asunder in an internecine squabble between German megacorporations. What we think of as “Rolls-Royce” today is actually a clean-sheet venture undertaken by BMW at the turn of the century; the firm’s production facilities at Crewe were retained by Volkswagen for its Bentley sub-brand. Not that Henry Royce ever turned a wrench at Crewe, mind you.

In other words, it’s more than a little justified to dismiss Rolls-Royce as nothing but a brand. The modern idea of a brand is substantially younger than the jet plane or the digital computer. The purpose of a brand is to erase meaning via the pretense of creating it. The automakers talk about “brand DNA” which is, of course, a ridiculous idea. It’s all a shell game designed to help you define yourself via your consumption of products which are nearly identical to, but labeled differently from, the products consumed by others.

The advent of globalization made brands very important, particularly luxury brands. There are a lot of rich people out there — about fifty million people with a million dollars or more, and more than two thousand people with a billion dollars or more. Many of them are quite recently arrived to wealth, and most of them are eager to signify their status to their peers and to those below them. Subtlety is out of the question, for the same reason that playing an un-amplified upright bass at Madison Square Garden is out of the question: among a crowd that large, it takes major wattage to be heard.

Prior to the BMW/Volkswagen kerfluffle, Rolls-Royce wasn’t a brand so much as it was an actual company of actual human beings. This company frequently struggled to make payroll. Heartbreaking economies were taken in the design and testing of Rolls-Royce vehicles; the engineers wore thick sweaters to avoid the cost of fitting pre-production cars with heaters. Having read several full-length books about the development of the Silver Shadow and its successors, I cannot recall ever reading a budget figure above five million dollars for any vehicle or variant. Compare that to the six billion dollars spent on the development of the Ford Contour. Rolls-Royce made cars for the rich and famous, but it operated on a shoestring. Much like a Savile Row tailor, the R-R engineers were given plenty of leeway to use expensive materials but no room whatsoever to be wasteful in that usage.

The threadbare nature of Rolls-Royce engineering was often more obvious than one would prefer. Car and Driver once wrote that “A mid-’80s Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit could best be described as a really bad Lincoln Town Car with great paint and gorgeous upholstery.” The last models to be designed entirely under British ownership, the circa-1995 MkIV variants of the Silver Spur, Silver Dawn, and Bentley Turbo, were lightly-facelifted takes on a heavily-facelifted take on a 1963 design. They felt like vintage cars even as they arrived in showrooms. A W140 Benz or a Lexus LS430 bore the same resemblance to a Silver Spur that an iPhone 11 does to the Bakelite rotaries of my earliest memories.

Much of this was beside the point — or perhaps it was the point. The shabby-genteel nature of Rolls-Royce as a firm simply served to accentuate the sprezzatura of its customers. Imagine being gauche enough to obsess over the reliability of one’s automobile, the way a Lexus LS400 owner might! An undue emphasis on reliability suggests that one might be at someone else’s beck and call, and that one would need a perfectly reliable vehicle with which to be perfectly subservient. Should the typical Shadow owner experience a “failure to proceed”, by contrast, he could just send his man, meaning his valet, to handle the business for him.

Rolls-Royce in the late Twentieth Century was never quite as handmade as its advertisements suggested — the welded unibody of the Shadows and Spurs was handled by the same subcontractor that made Austins and Rovers — but it was still a far more personal, and personalized, item than any mainline Mercedes or Jaguar. Each and every car to leave Crewe before the German takeover was as individual as a thumbprint. A good friend of mine spends a lot of time working on Bentley Turbos and he tells me that no two examples have the wiring done in exactly the same way. This is, as you can imagine, a bit of a hassle when it’s time to fix the car. So be it. If you want machine-made perfection, buy a Camry.

For these reasons, and for many others, I am unashamedly part of the Rolls-Royce fanbase. Someday I’d like to be an owner, and I know the car I want: a 1995 Flying Spur. In a pinch I’ll take a late Silver Spur. The Everflex vinyl roof is a non-negotiable demand. I can be more flexible on color and interior trim, if necessary. I know it’s a “bad Town Car”, which is fine. I’m sure that my Richard Anderson sportcoats look fairly shabby and antiquated to the Patagonia-vest crowd, and that my Edward Green spectator shoes absolutely confuse the athleisure set with their lack of water-resistance and Allbirds-style breathability. That’s not the point. The point is to own something that reflects the humanity of its makers, rather than the precision of a CNC machine.

Rolls-Royce the modern brand, the division of BMW, builds some astounding automobiles. They are light-years beyond the Silver Spur and they are fully competitive with any luxury vehicle one could mention. The Phantom, Ghost, Wraith, and Cullinan require no excuses whatsoever. To operate one of them is to exist in the Platonic ideal of a Rolls-Royce. Every button and surface is of impeccable quality. Happily, the brand continues to respect the Shadow-era virtues of fingertip-light operation and comprehensible controls. The same climate-control computer that BMW owners command via iDrive or gleaming LED displays is here operated by turning simple knobs. The old Ghost and Wraith didn’t perfectly hide the hard points of the BMW 7-Series within but there’s precedent for this; Turnbull&Asser uses the same fabrics that many other shirtmakers do. The difference is in the execution, here and there.

The styling of the current cars is more of an acquired taste. Only in retrospect do we see how tasteful the Shadow and Spur were in their tidy proportions and elegant, fuss-free detailing. The 1999 Silver Seraph, designed by Graham Hull and executed using German money, appears almost willfully humble when parked next to a Phantom or Ghost. The new cars are a bit shouty. They have to be. Their owners expect it.

It’s hard to imagine the 2003 Phantoms and its successors following in the used-car footsteps of the Shadow and Spur. Those older “Royces” are often lovingly maintained and operated by middle-class people who wouldn’t dream of buying a new Lexus but who are emotionally involved with the idea of a handmade British car from another era. When the RROC (Rolls-Royce Owners Club) took its first halting steps online in the Nineties via USENET and America Online, it was noted that schoolteachers comprised an unusual percentage of Silver Shadow owners, often doing their own maintenance in home garages. Will this hold true a decade from now? Will tomorrow’s teachers work on Phantoms and Cullinans in the evenings, after signing off their Zoom classes?

The complete divorce from Crewe, the clean-sheet nature of the Phantom, the somewhat terrifying size and weight of all the current models, the lingering sensation that the whole thing amounts to nothing more than an exercise of raw budgetary and technological prowess on the part of the Bavarian Motor folks — all of this goes a long way to diminish the romance of Rolls-Royce ownership, at least for proles like me. And yet it’s impossible to drive one of the new cars and not fall in love. They’re executed to a peerless standard. In that regard, at least, they hew much closer to Henry Royce’s original vision than the Shadow and Spur ever did. They are shameless statements of engineering excellence. Utterly separated from the Rolls-Royce of 1995, they sometimes feel very close to the Rolls-Royce of 1925. Would it be more honest for them to wear some other name, perhaps the Rapp-Motorenwerke of BMW’s earliest history? Possibly. In the end, it doesn’t matter. These vehicles are writing their own story. I can’t help but care about them, no matter what name they have on the grille. Tipsy McStagger, like him or loathe him, makes a great mozzarella stick.

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Rolls-Royce has been down this road before — at least twice. Fifty-five years ago, the firm responded to emerging concerns about economic austerity and oil shortages by rolling its mid-sized “Burma” and slightly-larger “Tibet” concepts into a single sensible luxury car called Silver Shadow. Intended to be driven by its owners where practical, the Silver Shadow’s only real shortcoming lay in Rolls-Royce’s inability to predict just how sybaritic and self-indulging its owner base would eventually become. In a very real way, it just wasn’t outrageous enough. Twenty-five years ago, the firm’s brand-new Silver Seraph received a last-minute reduction in size and specification due to similar concerns about conspicuous consumption. That, too, was probably a mistake, one eventually rectified by replacing the sensible-shoes Seraph with the velvet-slipper Phantom.

Like Roger Daltrey, however, Rolls-Royce won’t get fooled again by a downturn in the global economy, no matter how severe. So its second-generation Ghost is bigger, more bespoke in both engineering and execution, and unashamedly more self-indulgent. Having spoken with existing Ghost owners at length, the firm believes it better understands what buyers want in a $250,000 luxury sedan.

The first order of business was to divorce the Ghost from its 7-series roots. The “F01” Bimmer with which the 2010 model shared various underpinnings ceased production five years ago. While Rolls-Royce claimed no more than a twenty-percent commonality between the two cars, much of it was easy to spot from the driver’s seat, the same way an experienced Volkswagen Phaeton owner could close his eyes, hold out his hands, and immediately find everything from the headlight switch to the seat heater in a Bentley Flying Spur.

This new Ghost shares the all-aluminum architecture of the current Phantom and Cullinan, gaining more than an inch of width in the process. What this means for driving position and overall experience remains to be seen, but one immediate payoff is the availability of those more expensive vehicles’ bespoke interior features.

Rolls-Royce is particularly proud of a “starlight interior”, which extends the popular twinkling-light headliner option to a panel facing the front passenger. The entire automobile is tuned to a single “whisper” resonant frequency. Both the original Ghost and its Wraith coupe derivative could close their doors with the press of a button; the new one offers a power-assisted opening mode as well. Pull the handle twice, and the door will swing open automatically until you release the handle, at which point it will remain fixed in that position.

As is expected of all new putatively upscale vehicles now from the Hyundai Sonata on up, the Ghost has a remarkable amount of LED lighting up front. Otherwise, it looks much like its predecessor, from the shrunken-Phantom nose to the standard-steel-saloon droop of the trunk. There’s just enough difference to reassure the valets that you’re not driving a decade-old used car.

In a nod to the fashions and concerns of the current year, Rolls-Royce offers a micro-filtration system to defend passengers from unspecified exterior contamination. The wood of the dashboard and doors is open-pore rather than glossy by default, a knowing nod to the reclaimed-wood farmhouse tables in the open-plan kitchens of its customers’ Manhattan condos.

While the business case for the Ghost has always seemed somewhat tenuous in theory — an “entry-level” automobile with a quarter-million-dollar price tag — in practice the car has proven quite popular around the world. The current model is obviously a bit in the tooth, but it remains a charming and impressive drive. In about thirty days, we will be able to tell you whether or not the new one is even better.

The post New Rolls-Royce Ghost abandons humble roots, reflects changing tastes appeared first on Hagerty Media.

You may not have heard of Hubert Fabri, but you can bet the Belgian car collector is smiling to himself. Next month, 15 of his rare Aston Martins, Bentleys, Bugattis, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Lancias will go under the hammer at Gooding & Company’s Passion of a Lifetime event in the U.K. Industry observers expect records to be broken.

On September 5, the collection of some of the world’s most sought-after cars will be brought to the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, a stone’s throw from the River Thames. From there, a virtual auction will take place. If estimates are met, the auction will set a record for the highest average price per vehicle—a staggering £2.5 million ($3.34M)—and six of the 15 vehicles on offer could a record for their individual models.

Fabri made his fortune through African rubber and palm-oil plantations. And while Fabri is widely known to be the seller here, Gooding states that it does not wish to confirm the owner’s identity. “These cars are of such significance, it hasn’t been hard for people to figure out who is selling them,” a representative said.

Gooding is based in California, and the Passion sale is the first that the company has held outside of America. Originally scheduled for April, the auction was postponed until September due to the pandemic. “These 15 extraordinary cars,” the firm says, “hail from one of the world’s most revered private collections and represent the culmination of decades of research and dedication. The collector’s meticulous passion for the very finest brings together the most coveted and valuable examples of European sports and racing automobiles of the 20th century.”

Here are six highlights from the Passion of a Lifetime auction, along with the relevant standing records.

1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

Estimate: £7,000,000–£9,000,000 ($9,361,800–$12,036,600)

Current record: £9,422,773 ($12,602,017), RM Sotheby’s

Revealed at the 1960 London Motor Show, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato was limited in production, if not appeal. Just 19 examples were built, making the car considerably more rare than a Ferrari 250 GTO. (The Aston’s immediate rival was the GTO’s more affordable relative, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta.) With more than 300 hp from its twin-cam straight-six, the British car was a valiant effort against Maranello’s competition-spec Berlinettas.

This model, chassis 0176/R, was the sole example finished in Peony, a dark red. Its first owner was Teddy Beck, who bought the Zagato new in October 1962 for £5210, from Hersham and Walton Motors in Walton-on-Thames. Subsequent owners included Victor Gauntlett, the former chief executive of Aston Martin.

Fabri has owned this Zagato since 1985, but he hasn’t always been complimentary toward it. “Why didn’t it sell at the time?” he said, in 2014. “Simply because it was overpriced, too heavy, and not competitive. I’ve put my Zagato on the track, and [driving it] you soon see why. This overweight, over-high lump of an engine only generates comic understeer,” a trait worsened, Fabri said, by the car’s short wheelbase.

1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports

Estimate: In excess of £10 million ($13,374,000)
Current record: £1,321,500 ($1,767,374), Bonhams

This Grand Prix Bugatti was campaigned by the works in 1934 and ’35, with no less than Bugatti legend René Dreyfus taking the car to a third-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix and an outright win at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. The Bugatti is powered by a supercharged straight-eight engine and can boast a royal owner in its past, King Leopold III of Belgium. The standing sales record for a 1933 Type 59, £1.3 million, was set in 2005. The house estimate for this auction states only “in excess of £10 million.”

John Wiley, Hagerty’s manager of valuations, says that the auction has created a buzz across the classic-car community. “If either of the Bugattis sell, this year could be the first since 1991 that a Bugatti has landed the year’s highest auction price. If the Bugattis don’t sell, the DB4 GT Zagato would need to sell for more than £5.31 million to beat the most expensive car sold this year—the 1932 Bugatti Type 55 sold by Bonhams in March.”

1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante

Estimate: In excess of £7,000,000 ($9,361,800)
Current record: £6,333,278 ($8,470,126), RM Sotheby’s

Bugatti built a mere 17 examples of the Type 57S Atalante. This car, chassis number 57502, was originally bought by Earl Howe, co-founder of the British Racing Drivers Club and former president of the Bugatti Owner’s Club. The car’s next owner uprated the 3.3-litre, straight-eight by fitting a Marshall supercharger. The Atalante eventually found its way into the hands of Dr. Harold Carr of Newcastle, England, in 1955. It was parked in Carr’s garage in the early ’60s and not discovered until after his death, in 2007, looking decidedly sorry for itself. Since restored, this Bugatti is as grand and opulent as pre-war cars come.

1924 Lancia Lambda 3rd Series Torpédo

Estimate: £320,000–£400,000 ($427,968–$534,960)
Current record: £231,791 ($309,997), Gooding & Co.

This is a remarkable motor car. Widely considered a groundbreaking model, Vincenzo Lancia’s 1922–31 Lambda set the standard that competitors scrambled to match. The car featured an innovative monocoque chassis, independent sliding-pillar front suspension, and a narrow-angle V-4. The driving experience was said to be head-and-shoulders above that of the car’s contemporaries. In the same family for two generations and 60 years from new, this example has been subjected to a sympathetic restoration.

1919 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle Tourer

Estimate: £1,000,000–£1,400,000 ($1,337,400–$1,872,360)
Current record: £443,933 ($593,716)

The current record for a post-World War I Silver Ghost stands at nearly £444,000. The Alpine Eagle variant was based on the car that competed in the 1913 Alpine Trial. Driven by privateer James Radley, that machine won every stage of that famed reliability run, soldiering on through Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy, and beating Bugatti and Daimler in the process. Previously restored by P & A Wood, a Rolls-Royce specialist, it’s ready to recreate the Alpine Trial all over again.

1924 Vauxhall 30-98 OE-Type Wensum

Estimate: £800,000–£1,200,000 ($1,069,920–$1,604,880)
Current record: £436,355 ($583,581), Bonhams

William “Bill” Boddy, MBE, the editor of Motor Sport magazine from 1936–91, drove or rode in just about every pre-war car going. He declared the Vauxhall 30-98 the greatest of them all, writing, “For me, no car of the vintage period has the same appeal as a 30-98.”

That’s some compliment. Yet many will fall under this car’s spell without knowing of its reputation; its rare Wensum bodywork (featured on just 12 OE-Types) is both sporty and elegant, a streamlined, doorless affair that mimics a motorboat, complete with a beautifully finished deck behind the third passenger seat. The Wensum style was created by Vauxhall’s Jock Hancock, who was said to be inspired by a boat that he kept on the Norfolk Broads.

Will any of the striking automobiles listed above set a record? Only time will tell. We’ll be watching on September 5, along with many of you.

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Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet has turned the Rolls-Royce Wraith into a glorious shooting brake. The Silver Spectre is a luxurious long-roof creation that’s only missing a brace of Purdeys in the trunk.

A swathe of chrome follows the sweeping lines of the roof and rear and also does wonders to visibly reduce the heft of the additional metalwork, giving the Silver Spectre the sleek profile that defines any shooting brake.

Carat Duchatelet hasn’t shown the interior, aside from the all-important extended cargo area, which features a fetching two-tone design echoing the exterior. Chrome luggage rails are a classic touch.

No details of any mechanical changes have been revealed, but the standard $330,000 Wraith’s 624 hp V-12 should be ample to get to any grouse moor.

Carat Duchatelet has just delivered its first customer car and says that a total of seven Silver Spectres will be built. No prices have been revealed, but given that the company’s existing clientele includes some 40 heads of state and royal families around the world, money is likely no object for those on the list.

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Whether or not you think F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is better than the four movie and TV adaptations that followed, the star car in Francis Ford Coppola’s film version of The Great Gatsby is likely more magnificent than anything the author could have imagined.

Although Fitzgerald wrote of Gatsby’s “yellow Rolls-Royce” in detail, the story was set in 1922, and the book was released three years after that. So Fitzgerald couldn’t have possibly known the magnificence of the 1928 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Phantom I Ascot Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton that Oscar-winning actor Robert Redford drove while portraying Jay Gatsby on the silver screen in 1974. Or could he?

“Gatsby’s car was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length, with triumphant hatboxes and toolboxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns.” – The Great Gatsby

As beautifully written as Fitzgerald’s words were—and 30 million copies of The Great Gatsby have been sold—sometimes seeing is believing. This stunning Hollywood automobile is a cultural icon, and now it could be yours. Phoenix-based Classic Promenade Collectible Motorcars will open online bidding for the Gatsby Rolls on October 12.

“They could not have selected a better car for the movie,” says Harry Clark, Classic Promenade’s owner and a concours master judge. “It completely represents the slightly avantgarde, almost ostentatious nature of Gatsby. It has elegance; it’s sporty … Of the 28 Ascots (built), there was only one with this unique (dual-cowl) body style. This one.”

Chassis #S304KP last crossed the block more than a decade ago, selling for $238,000 at Bonhams’ 2009 Greenwich auction. It has since undergone a concours-quality restoration that was finished just last year, which should push its value well into seven figures.

“The body isn’t original to the car, but the freshness of the restoration and the movie history more than make up for that,” says Hagerty auction editor Andrew Newton. “It’s not the movie icon that the Bullitt Mustang or James Bond’s Aston Martin are, but it is famous, which should be enough to justify a healthy premium.”

S304KP currently shows 73,848 miles, the most famous of which were driven on the big screen, with Redford behind the wheel and co-stars Mia Farrow (Daisy Buchanan) or Sam Waterston (Nick Carraway) riding shotgun.

The car was originally a Town Brougham delivered to Mildred Loring Logan of New York City, and it was later owned by American Tobacco Company president George Washington Hill. The Ascot body was originally mounted onto chassis S240RM and was moved onto S304KP sometime around 1945. The history of the Rolls is well researched and documented; copies of the factory and historical information are included in the sale.

At the time The Great Gatsby was filmed, the Rolls had just been purchased by Ted Leonard, a well-known collector from Seekonk, Massachusetts. Since it didn’t match the color combination that Fitzgerald described in his novel, it was repainted in creamy yellow, and its leather interior was dyed green. Leonard owned the car for the next 36 years. Legendary collector John O’Quinn purchased it from Leonard’s estate in 2009 through the Bonhams Greenwich auction. O’Quinn died suddenly just a few months later, and the Rolls was sold to its current owners, who began a ground-up restoration in 2011. The eight-year project that was completed in 2019.

Steve Littin, from Vintage & Auto Rebuilds in Chardon, Ohio, did the mechanical work (including its 7.7-liter inline-six engine and three-speed manual gearbox), and Shawn Robinson, from Yesterday’s in Tyler, Texas, performed the paint and body work. In addition to the flawless exterior and mechanicals, the interior is complemented by a tan Haartz cloth canvas convertible top and a wood dashboard with chrome bezels. According to Promenade, the car’s restoration alone cost “in excess of $1 million.”

As F. Scott Fitzgerald can attest, the Rolls cost Gatsby a lot more than that. (Spoiler alert: Whatever you do, don’t let Daisy drive.)

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Rolls-Royce has a Silver Bullet and it’s not afraid to use it. As this glorious set of photographs shows, the British luxury brand has added a very special Dawn roadster to its line-up.

The Silver Bullet does away with the rear seats, replacing them with an aero cowling that Rolls-Royce describes as “rakish”. In fact that’s quite a good description for the whole car. One can just imagine some cad shamelessly swishing around Italy’s Lake Garda, up to no good. Oh, wait, that’s exactly what the photographs show.

The pictures also reveal the car’s Brewster Silver paintwork, which is a throwback to Rolls-Royce trials cars of a century ago. There’s a titanium wind deflector with “Silver Bullet” engraved, darker headlamps and dark grey wheels. Inside there’s exposed carbon fiber on the fascia and the rear cowling.

Mechanically, the Silver Bullet retains the Dawn’s 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 with the same 570 hp on tap. However, the Silver Bullet is likely to be a tad lighter and so may well improve on the Dawn’s 4.9-second 0-62mph acceleration.

Rolls-Royce will produce just 50 Silver Bullets, with prices not yet announced. The standard Dawn starts at $350,000 so it’s hard not to think that Rolls-Royce will be shooting for seven figures with this limited model.

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With Bentleys and Jaguars already under its belt, British EV entrepreneur Lunaz Design has turned to Rolls-Royce to create the ultimate luxury volts-wagons.

The Silverstone-based company is offering 30 build slots for electrified classic Phantoms and Silver Clouds, and claims to be able to convert any body style from a four-door limousine, to a two-door coupe or drophead.

The first car to be completed is a massive eight-seater 1961 Phantom V. Like every commission the Phantom underwent a complete bare metal restoration before the electric powertrain was installed. A 120-kWh battery pack gives the Phantom a stated range of over 300 miles on a charge. Other upgrades include modern air conditioning, an infotainment system with screens for rear passengers, and a navigation system for the chauffeur.

Owner-drivers might prefer the Silver Cloud. The Lunaz conversion can be done on any model from 1955 to 1966 and uses a smaller, 80-kWh battery but still achieves a driving range in excess of 300 miles.

Founder David Lorenz says: “The time is right for an electric Rolls-Royce. We are answering the need to marry beautiful classic design with the usability, reliability, and sustainability of an electric powertrain. More than ever we are meeting demand for clean-air expressions of the most beautiful and luxurious cars in history. We are proud to make a classic Rolls-Royce relevant to a new generation.”

With Silver Clouds starting at $460,000 and Phantom prices from $660,000 the cost of driving a classic with a clean conscience is considerably higher than that of its ICE equivalent.

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It’s a battle of the Brits as Rolls-Royce and Bentley reveal scale models with super-sized price tags.

In the black corner is Rolls-Royce with a 1:8 scale replica of the Cullinan SUV for $40,000. The model has more than 1000 components and takes 450 hours to assemble—that’s about half the time it takes to build a real Roller. The model can be hand-painted in any of Rolls-Royces 40,000 standard colors, or, just like when they order a full-size car, customers can provide a paint swatch of their own to be matched.

It’s small but perfectly-formed, with remote-controlled lights and an exact copy of the 6.75-liter V-12 under the hood (non-functioning, sadly). Inside there are illuminated treadplates and there’s even real wood trim.

In the blue corner we have Bentley with its $8000 Continental GT. Bentley says that its model is also made up of over 1000 pieces, and takes 300 hours to put together. The model is customizable, with the full range of Bentley paint and trim options offered. Bentley also boasts about the accuracy of the model inside and out.

Are you the kind of model citizen who would pay real-car prices to add one of these to your collection?

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Rolls-Royce has confirmed that the all-new Ghost will be all-wheel-drive. Scheduled to be unveiled in the fall, the new luxury sedan has been designed to be the ultimate daily-driver.

Researchers at Rolls-Royce identified that the Ghost is usually the go-to car in its customers’ collections, and the goal for the new model was to further improve the experience from both the back seat and behind the wheel. Sometimes even Jeeves needs the day off.

The Ghost sits on an aluminum spaceframe developed for the latest Phantom and Cullinan SUV, which also enables the use of all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering for improved traction and agility in any conditions.

A key new feature for the Ghost is a Planar system to guarantee a magic carpet ride no matter what the road throws up. Planar is comprised of an additional upper wishbone damper unit, cameras to read the road and ready the suspension for surface changes, and a transmission that uses GPS to follow the driving route so it can pre-select the right gear for an upcoming corner.

It’s smart stuff and you can find out more detail by watching the video below or tuning in to a new podcast series. Just search “Ghost Stories—A Rolls-Royce Podcast” on your chosen platform.

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Rolls-Royce has sent its Cullinan Black Badge out under the cover of night to join the hot rod community, as you can see in this short video.

Why? Because apparently Rolls-Royce believes that, like its own customers, hot rodders “take risks, break rules and build success on their own terms.”

We’d have like to have seen the Long Beach, California crew take their angle grinders to the Cullinan and create a R-R Rat Rod, but sadly they don’t get their hands on the Roller, cruising alongside it instead.

Still, credit where credit’s due, Rolls-Royce is at least willing to take risks in its marketing exploits, whether it’s this or creating a whole car around a puzzle.

The video was shot as part of an exhibition called “King of the Night” which was on show at Rolls-Royce Beverly Hills.

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Rolls-Royce has announced that its new Ghost luxury sedan will debut in the fall.

The smaller Roller proved to be the British brand’s best-seller during its ten-year tenure, so the new model has a lot riding on it. It, too, is expected to last for a decade and will be new from the ground up, with only the Spirit of Ecstasy and the door-stored umbrellas carried over.

Rolls-Royce describes a more reductive design, created with a restraint that the designers call “Post Opulence.” Current Ghost customers already appreciate “a slightly smaller, less ostentatious means to own a Roll-Royce.” (Their words, not ours). The new Ghost will cater to this crowd, leaving the Phantom and Cullinan for those who want to flaunt their success.

Despite the minimalist approach to design, Rolls-Royce promises a car with “effortless technology and real engineering substance.” Unfortunately there’s no further substance to the information released at this time.

We do know that the Ghost is being built around the flexible architecture that underpins the Phantom and Cullinan, and will almost certainly arrive with the 6.75-liter V12 shared with its siblings. All-wheel-drive is also a likely option with this platform, but, given the car has to live for a decade, could the new Ghost be the first Rolls to be electrified? We’ll find out in a few weeks.

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Rolls-Royce has launched a run of puzzling special-edition Wraiths called the Kryptos Collection. Each of the 50 cars in the series features a set of mysterious ciphers decorating the exterior and interior.

The idea came from designer Katrin Lehmann (clearly a fan of The DaVinci Code and escape rooms) who says: “I’ve always been fascinated by the notion that you can communicate messages that are understood by only an elite few, using symbols, pictograms, and ciphers. Finding the key becomes integral to appreciating the full meaning of an item that can otherwise be viewed simply as a work of art.”

Owners will be challenged to decrypt the message which begins at the Spirit of Ecstasy on the hood and extends to the illuminated kickplates, headrests, headliner, door trim, and interior fascia. Even the Delphic Grey paintwork, with its Kryptos Green and Dark Grey hand-painted coachlines, depict clues to the mystery.

The answer is apparently only known to Lehmann and Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, who has it locked in his safe. The only way to submit suggestions is via a members-only app called Whispers.

Cracking or crackpot? You decide.

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If there’s such a thing as Automotives Anonymous, I’m never going to get a sober coin. In the past 14 months I’ve bought … ah, hold on, let me count … six cars and sold just one. My wife and I are now at the point where we are hiding Miatas and Neons and full-sized Mercurys in random garages the way that alcoholics are known to keep a bottle in toilet tanks. Friends and even acquaintances have learned not to mention the existence of an empty driveway slot on their properties, lest we pounce on it with the fanatic fervor of a multi-level-marketing representative asking you if you’d like to work with major companies such as Coca-Cola. Including motorcycles, we have either 21 or 22 gas-powered vehicles, depending on whether my pal Sidney is ever going to let me ride the Yamaha FZ-1 we bought as a cooperative project back in 2017.

This level of ownership, while well short of the collections enjoyed by many Hagerty members, brings up what feels like an ethical dilemma to some younger and more socially-conscious members of our community. We all understand that it’s not feasible for every human being on the planet to own 10.5 cars each. It’s probably not feasible for every human being on the planet to own one car each. A publication devoted to the glorification of “microliving” and whatnot recently wrung its hands in public about New York City having 1.85 million parking spots. The sheer waste of it! Think of how many nightclubs and bakeries and pop-up denim stores you could fit in all that space! Yet that’s just one parking spot for every five New Yorkers.

Even if we could park ’em all, we can’t make them all; an auto industry which fulfilled Henry Ford’s Model T dream on a global basis would have to produce perhaps 20 times what it produces today for decades to come. Getting the raw materials to do that would be virtually impossible. Once you’ve built them, you have to fuel them, using either politically volatile hydrocarbons or battery power. As for the former, it couldn’t be done. As for the latter, the materials in electric motors are called “rare earths” for a reason. (No, many of them are not actually rare, but they are all expensive to mine, separate, and process—both in terms of cash and energy.)

You get the idea. Not everyone in the world can have a Silverado LTZ or a Mercedes-AMG S63. They can’t even have a Smart car. Getting everyone a 49cc Honda “Scoopy” scooter is probably pushing it. This has led a lot of young people, even people who consider themselves to be automotive enthusiasts, to adopt an attitude about the privately-owned car which is somewhere between guilt and active sabotage. They engage in long public self-flagellation sessions regarding the environmental and social impact of the automobile. (Which, if you compare how people lived in 1920 to how they live in 2020, has been much more positive than most public-policy types would like to admit.) They agitate for democratic-socialist strategies like high gas tax, mandatory speed limiters, and other leveling measures. Yesterday I read a suggestion that each individual citizen should be given a certain amount of fuel flow per second on the move, the same way that some race series limit injector size and pressure. “That way, a Lotus Elise can go really fast and a pickup truck has to go really slow.” Why this is a good idea, or how it would lead to anything other than leather-jacket-Mel-Gibson levels of carnage on the road, was not explained to anyone’s satisfaction.

For me, this apparent ethical dilemma is resolved in a couple different ways. The first is my steadfast belief that Harrison Bergeron was a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual. I don’t resent Bob Lutz because he owned a fighter jet. I hope that the fellow on a scooter doesn’t resent me for having a Mercury Milan 2.3-liter five-speed. I hope that the fellow without a scooter doesn’t resent the fellow who has one. In any sane world, some people will have more than you have and some will have less. Every attempt to rectify this with science and rational thought has led to nightmare levels of violence. You start out with something reasonable sounding like, “Hey, maybe people shouldn’t have to eat dirt in order to survive,” and you end up killing people because they wear glasses or know a foreign language, Khmer-Rouge-style.

The other way in which I rationalize ownership of a 208-horsepower motorcycle and whatnot is this: Human beings tend to specialize in consumption. I buy a lot of cars, but I don’t have much of a house. You might travel to Europe six times a year while living in an 800-square-foot apartment. Some people are out there at different restaurants every night but they wear thrift-store clothing. You get the idea. Only the super-rich have the best of everything. I’ve been using the same microwave since April 2001. It broke on Monday, by the way.

If we follow the above thoughts and justifications to their logical conclusion, however, we come up with a nasty piece of business that reads like so: It’s OK for some people to have a Rolls-Royce Camargue, but not OK for everybody to have one. I mention the Camargue because it was the first Rolls-Royce I remember seeing in a dealership, circa 1982 or so, and because I just finished Malcolm Bobbitt’s book about Silver Shadows and their derivatives. You might not like the Camargue—not many people did—but I think it’s gorgeous. It has real presence to it, and it’s not beautiful in the manner of an E-Type or 250 GTO that’s alright. I’m kind of a Camargue myself. Larger than the average fellow, unlovely around the edges, with a face to clear traffic out of the left lane.

The Camargue was the most expensive British car of its time. One writer noted that on its debut it was priced even with English city townhouses which now fetch north of $7 million. It wasn’t actually that large of a car, casting just a little more of a shadow than a 1976 Cutlass Supreme, but it was thirsty and it consumed tremendous resources in its creation. Rolls-Royce didn’t get a thousand of them out the door over a 15-year period, no surprise given its appearance and cost. From what I’ve read, some people who could afford a Camargue chose to buy a less-expensive Silver Shadow instead, just because they didn’t like the social messaging of buying something that outrageous. I can attest that it took the Columbus, Ohio, Rolls-Royce dealer well over a year to sell its white-with-black-leather example. Midwesterners, even wealthy Midwesterners, can be a little diffident about driving a Rolls-Royce, to quote Mr. Ogilvy.

Big and brash it may have been, but the Camargue wasn’t even a blip on the planetary balance sheet. Using a Hofstadter approach to the problem, I estimate that the entire Camargue production run had less impact on the environment than, say, the annual operation of an F-22 squadron or perhaps even the life cycle of a single Regional Jet. If the polar ice caps melt into the sea and the Adirondacks become beachfront property, you won’t be able to blame the Camargue.

Could you blame the Bonneville? My friend and fellow Hagerty contributor Tom Klockau just found this gorgeous 1978 Bonnie coupe for sale. It reminds me of the Camargue in its profile and its pressed-crease edges. Compared to the Rolls-Royce original, it was about 10 percent longer, that much more spacious at least, and just as powerful. Heck, I think they have the same transmission and steering gear. If you buy it, let me know and I’ll meet you somewhere to pay for your dinner.

Pontiac didn’t sell a lot of Bonnie Brougham Coupes, but it moved a fair number of B-body cars overall. The nearly-identical Impala/Caprice moved a million units in its debut year of 1977. I’d guess that GM sold maybe 10 million full-sizers of this generation total. That’s 15 thousand or more LeSabres and Eighty-Eights and whatnot for every Camargue. Each of them requiring a similar amount of glass, steel, rubber, and fuel. That probably did make a dent in the planetary resources, although perhaps not like the Chinese container-ship trade or the Airbus A380.

It’s possible to have an ethical stance on the automobile which allows for the Camargue but denies the Bonneville’s right to exist. The numbers would be on the side of anyone who felt that way. We cannot issue a Camargue, or a Bonneville, to every human being on Earth. Some of us will have to go without the unalloyed joy of full-sized coupe ownership.

How should that joy be restricted, demarcated, parceled out? Some of my younger contemporaries will self-righteously declare something along the lines of “nobody needs that car,” perhaps unaware that they are sitting in a tent while eagerly tugging on the curious nose of a totalitarian camel. Others may declare that the full-sized coupe should be available to anyone who can afford it, even though it’s possible to imagine a scenario in which we bankrupt the earth’s crust doing so. There’s always a temptation for older people to pull the ladder up behind them; “Sure, we had V-8s for everyone in my day, but now that I’ve had my fun I think that the next generation should be conscious of the environment and their responsibilities to it.” That attitude strikes me as occupying a moral ground somewhere between hypocrisy and outright evil.

If we wait long enough, perhaps technology will solve the problem. Imagine a machine (or, given the way things work now, an app) which reads your mind and determines what you truly want most in the world, then somehow clears the path for you to get it. If you truly love being a foodie, you get to go to all the restaurants where they torture geese or whatever’s going on in there, but you don’t get to buy a new Tesla chock full of environmentally-dodgy batteries. If you want to own a jet plane more than anything else, maybe you have to live in a micro-apartment and eat ramen noodles in between flights. There are no doubt people who have other desires which cannot be printed in the virtual pages of this family-friendly website; maybe they can exercise those desires, but they can’t go to a Bass Pro Shops, ever.

As for me? What happens when I press that scanner up to my forehead and get my allocation of passion? Will it tell me to stay at home and play guitar? Go out and ride my BMX bikes? Could it decide that I have to focus all my economic power and attention on the maintenance of my ragtag race car fleet? Or maybe, just maybe, will I hear a triumphant little jingle from my smartphone’s speaker, followed by an on-screen notification that I am finally going to live my automotive-addict dream? That I will finally be the owner of a charmingly-ugly, leather-lined, bi-level-climate-control-equipped … Rolls-Royce Camargue?

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There are so many collector car owners eager to move past the health crisis and stretch their legs, minds, and wallets that RM Sotheby’s has expanded its upcoming online auction. Bidding in RM Sotheby’s Driving into Summer event is scheduled to begin on May 21 at 1 p.m. ET, with staggered closures on lots now extended to two days—starting May 28 at 11 a.m. ET and continuing May 29—due to “significant consignor interest.”

Topping a diverse lineup of more than 100 motor cars, plus automobilia, are an early production 1995 Ferrari F50 and a rare 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO.

Hagerty auction editor Andrew Newton says collectors obviously haven’t lost their enthusiasm during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and are ready to return to some semblance of normalcy. In the meantime …

“Given recent activity on established online auction platforms, like Bring a Trailer and Hemmings, as well as the successful pivot to online sales from traditional auction houses, it’s clear that people are still interested in buying and selling collector cars, even if they have to do so in a modified form,” Newton says. “We’re particularly interested in seeing how the seven-figure Ferraris (288 GTO and F50) will do, since in an online setting, cars at that price point are somewhat uncharted territory.”

Here are seven—ranging from supercars and luxury automobiles to muscle cars, Japanese sports cars, and oddballs—that we’ll be keeping an eye on.

1966 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica

Estimate: $30,000–$40,000 (no reserve)

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: N/A

Yes, this is a minicar, but it comes from perhaps the most-upscale microcar brand. Riding on Fiat 500D chassis with 499-cc engine, the Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica is surprisingly spacious for a vehicle of its size. Painted in two-tone red over white, it underwent a recent full-body restoration and is accessorized with period stickers, roof rack, and picnic basket. It’s a sweet treat that will definitely brighten your neighborhood—even if your neighbors can’t yet come over and get a closer look.

1972 Datsun 240Z

Estimate: $35,000–$50,000

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: $42,100

When introduced 1969, the Datsun 240Z immediately changed the reputation of Japanese cars—in a positive way. Beautiful styling, a smooth 2.4-liter, overhead-cam straight-six engine, and independent rear suspension made the Z a solid all-around sports car. And its top speed of 125 mph was better than the Porsche 911T and Jaguar E-Type of the day—for about half the price.

1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine by James Young

Estimate: $60,000–$70,000

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: $169,000

Originally owned by country music legend Roy Clark, this ’64 Rolls-Royce limousine is one of 217 Phantom V models with James Young coachwork. Clark owned the Rolls from 1977 until his death in 2018, so it seems appropriate that it is monogrammed with his initials. With more than $30,000 in service completed by Austin’s Luxury Auto Works in 2019 and ’20, the estimate seems awfully low. A bargain in the making, perhaps?

1970 Pontiac Trans Am

Estimate: $75,000–$85,000

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: $74,800

Even if bidding reaches the high estimate for this 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, its new owner will still be thousands of dollars ahead, considering that $120,000 has already been invested in the stunning muscle machine. One of 1769 Trans Ams equipped with a Ram Air III engine and manual transmission in 1970, it has been driven only 789 miles since undergoing a rotisserie restoration by Trans Am Depot.

2002 Ferrari 575 Maranello

Estimate: $225,000–$275,000

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: $248,000 ($123K + $125K premium for manual)

Delivered new to Canada and one of only 246 to leave the factory with North American specifications, this first-year 575 Maranello packs a 485-hp, 5.5-liter V-12 and is fitted with the highly desirable Fiorano Handling Package and six-speed manual transmission. Resplendent in Giallo Modena paint, the Maranello currently displays less than 15,000 kilometers. (If older Ferraris are more your speed, a 1964 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series I by Pininfarina is also available.)

1985 Ferrari 288 GTO

Estimate: $2,200,000–$2,400,000

HPG #2 (Excellent) value: $2,350,000

The first of Ferrari’s incredible series of supercars, the highly anticipated, race-bred 288 GTO was built to impress. It is equipped with a 2.8-liter V-8 engine with twin IHI turbochargers, pumping out a monstrous 400 hp with 366 ft-lb of torque, and has a top speed of 189 mph.

One of just 272 produced, this 288 GTO was purchased new by well-known Ferrari collector Hartmut Ibing and has had only four owners from new. It is also one of the few examples originally equipped with optional air-conditioning and power windows.

1995 Ferrari F50

Estimate: $2,500,000–$2,750,000

Hagerty Price Guide #2 (Excellent) value: $2,100,000

The second production model of 349 F50s produced, this matching-numbers F50 was displayed at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show and shows only 3371 miles. Intended as an early celebration of the marque’s 50th anniversary, the F50 split the difference between raw Ferraris of the past and the high-tech future, as its 512-hp, 4.7-liter V-12 stretched the limits of natural aspiration and its shapely body was created from carbon fiber. Of note: The F50 production prototype hammered not sold at a $2.5M high bid at Worldwide Auctioneers’ Scottsdale event this past January.

Which car will you be eyeing among this eclectic mix, come May 28?

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Today, following the break from production forced upon it by the pandemic, Rolls-Royce restarted car production at Goodwood—exactly 116 years to the day after Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester to talk business for the first time. Henry Royce was an engineer who went further than most to create excellent engines. Charles Rolls was an aristocrat and keen motorist also experienced in selling imported cars. The two met on 4 May, 1904, after which Rolls declared of Royce: “I have met the greatest engineer in the world.” Rolls-Royce was founded as a private company in 1906, though just four years later, Rolls would die in an airplane crash.

With Rolls’ business partner Claude Johnson stepping into the role of Managing Director of the new Rolls-Royce company, Sir Henry Royce kept coming up with new designs at his home in West Wittering, just ten miles down the road from the current Goodwood plant.

Today, the company says that, while COVID-19 “is possibly the biggest test Rolls-Royce has ever faced, it’s certainly not the first.” In this field, the first was 1918’s global pandemic, the Spanish Flu; and history has thrown quite a few events at the automaker since, including its entering of voluntary liquidation in 1971. What’s for sure is that, though the Spanish Flu was not gone from Europe by 1919, Rolls-Royce’s 1917 modification of its first engine—the 300-hp Eagle VIII—was strong enough in a pair to power the first successful transatlantic flight that year. Starting from St. John’s, Newfoundland and heading for County Galway in Ireland, British adventurers Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown flew into the unknown.

As you would expect, a hundred years later, Rolls-Royce came up with a 50-unit special edition called Wraith Eagle VIII to celebrate their achievement:

Starting today, Rolls-Royce employees can once again be just as busy at Goodwood as the inhabitants of the six traditional beehives they have on site. With those happy bees producing what Rolls-Royce calls “the world’s most exclusive honey” and expected to break volume records this year, your ultra-luxury automobile shouldn’t be far off its original delivery schedule either.

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Car factories demand vast pieces of land, and more often than not, it’s farmlands that get carved up into a new industrial park just outside the city. In the olden days, the story would have stopped there, but now, all sorts of creative green initiatives land on the table to make car production kinder to its local environment.

One prime example of social media-ready eco-friendliness is Porsche’s Leipzig factory, where safely separated from the plant’s off-road track, wild horses and aurochs live their happy lives. Across the water, Rolls-Royce operates with smaller creatures, producing honey to help bees and other endangered pollinator species thrive. And with quarter of a million of them buzzing around the Apiary, Goodwood proves once again that for BMW, moving Rolls-Royce to Lord March’s backyard was a grand idea.

It all happened when, after the historic Crewe plant and other Bentley assets landed in Volkswagen’s hands, BMW had to build a new Rolls-Royce factory to assemble its 2003 Phantom. Lord March invited the project to the Goodwood Estate, which next to housing the race tracks and golf courses is also home to a 12,000 acre organic farm in the West Sussex countryside, as part of the South Downs National Park. The Duke of Richmond had a few conditions before shaking hands with the German executives, of course. Namely, that that the factory couldn’t be seen from any point outside its gates, and that the building remains modular so that they could pack it up without leaving a trace, shall such a situation ever arise. The Goodwood plant lies in an “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

In the early 2000s, Eden Project architect Nicholas Grimshaw started with some landscaping to make sure the Rolls-Royce factory would satisfy all concerns. He also designed an artificial lake to provide zero-emission cooling, while the building’s roof is home to eight acres of sedum plants.

Three years ago, Rolls-Royce went further by setting up its Goodwood Apiary. This consists of six traditional wooden beehives, home to 250,000 English Honey Bees free to have a blast around half-a-million trees, shrubs, and wildflowers flourishing across the 42-acre Rolls‑Royce site plus the eight acres of the living roof—or even further out, around the Goodwood Estate’s 12,000 acres. Next to producing what Rolls-Royce refers to as “the world’s most exclusive honey,” though, this traditional activity serves a higher purpose, as explained by the factory:

“The Apiary project is Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ response to the real and present threat facing Britain’s Honey Bee population. Honey bees are the principal pollinators of numerous tree and plant species, including many of the fruit and vegetable crops that are crucial to the local agricultural economy around the Home of Rolls-Royce. However, a shortage of suitable forage, primarily caused by habitat loss, has put their numbers under great and growing pressure in recent years. The South Downs National Park, on the doorstep of the Home of Rolls-Royce, mirrors this national trend. Chalk downland, which supports pollinators including honey bees, bumblebees and the Adonis blue butterfly, now accounts for just four per cent of the National Park’s total area, in fragmented pockets that make it harder for pollinators to move through the landscape.

Through providential timing, the creation of the Apiary gave an early boost to a new South Downs National Park Trust campaign to address this critical problem. The Bee Lines initiative supports farmers and landowners in creating new flower-rich “corridors” to link areas of habitat and help bees and other pollinator species to thrive. Residents and businesses within the National Park boundaries are also being encouraged to get involved through initiatives such as planting wildflowers in gardens and grounds.”

With the bees through winter in excellent health, Rolls-Royce is now entering its third full season of honey production, ready to exceed its 2020 volume targets. What’s for sure is that with humanity (and car production) still under lockdown, honey bees can really dial up their buzzing.

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One of the oldest and most distinguished luxury automakers in the world is appealing to a younger crowd these days. Much younger.

Rolls-Royce is inviting a new generation of aspiring designers to bring their automotive dreams to life through a special “Young Designer Competition.” Launched to provide home-bound parents and children a distraction during the COVID-19 outbreak, Rolls-Royce is encouraging youth age 16 and under to design a Rolls-Royce of the future—like the “Crabmobile” above, drawn by Thomas.

The overall winner, as judged by the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Design team, will receive a digitally rendered illustration of their submission. One U.K. entrant will be driven to school in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce, and their school will receive a Greenpower electric car for participation in the Greenpower Goblin Challenge. All runners-up will receive hand-signed certificates from Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Entry deadline is May 18, 2020.

According to Rolls-Royce, the competition is an extension of on held each year for Rolls-Royce employees’ Family Day Celebration in Goodwood, England. Rolls-Royce is opening up the competition to a worldwide audience to “stimulate design talent; inspire greatness; and provide a welcome distraction from self-isolation and social-distancing measures being adopted by many countries around the globe.”

Young designers can share their innovative designs for a future Roll-Royce at http://rolls-royceyoungdesignercompetition.com.

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