{"id":202827,"date":"2021-05-27T11:34:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=202827"},"modified":"2021-05-27T11:34:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:34:55","slug":"one-off-rolls-royce-boat-tail-goes-forward-into-the-past-glories-of-coachbuilding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/05\/one-off-rolls-royce-boat-tail-goes-forward-into-the-past-glories-of-coachbuilding\/","title":{"rendered":"One-Off Rolls-Royce Boat Tail Goes Forward into the Past Glories of Coachbuilding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new \u201cBoat Tail\u201d is definitely not your typical Rolls-Royce, not with its wooden rear deck with stainless steel inlays that hinges open for a pop-up parasol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new Rolls-Royce Boat Tail allows for picnicking in style, including some sun protection with the integrated parasol.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The newly revealed model is a unique one-off, almost from the ground up. The Boat Tail is one of three completely customized models that will mark the debut of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild Design. That\u2019s a new venture allowing the automaker\u2019s most well-heeled customers collaborate in the design of a completely unique vehicle reflecting their personality, tastes, and even their hobbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRolls-Royce Coachbuild clients are intimately and personally involved at each step of the creative and engineering process,\u201d explained Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten M\u00fcller-\u00d6tv\u00f6s. “We work in harmony with the client to gain complete fluency in the nuances of their character and personality. We carefully translate these qualities into the elements with which they wish to imbue their commission.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolls returns to its roots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead is a Rolls underneath the exterior sheet metal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Coachbuild process has its roots in the earliest days of the motor industry. Through the start of World War II, it was the norm for luxury buyers to order a vehicle from manufacturers like Rolls that would provide a rolling chassis. But the actually coachwork, both body and interior, were then completed by one of a myriad of custom coachbuilders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That included such well-known names as H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward, Le Baron and Louis Labourdette. Rolls didn\u2019t make its own bodies until 1946. But, by the 1950s, the independent coachbuilders had all but vanished, and government safety regulations have made it difficult for them to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan Rolls announced today won\u2019t bring back the legends of the past, nor a new generation of independent coachbuilders. Instead, the British marque will do the customizing internally through the Coachbuild Design unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rolls offered the opportunity customize vehicles for decades, including the 1972 Phantom VI model complete with dinnerware.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A step beyond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rolls has long offered buyers the option to extensively customize their vehicles, but that has largely been limited to exterior colors and various interior details, such as woods, fabrics and options like a champagne cooler or custom seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coachbuild Design will take things significantly further, the new Rolls-Royce Boat Tail being the first example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoachbuild provides freedom to move beyond the usual constraints,\u201d said Alex Inness, head of the new unit. \u201cNormally, there is a natural ceiling to Rolls-Royce Bespoke<\/a><\/span><\/strong> by way of the canvas. At Rolls-Royce Coachbuild we break through that ceiling, embracing the freedom of expression afforded by coachbuilding to shape a concept directly with our commissioning patrons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new team spent four years working with the customer. The process came close to being a marriage, with Coachbuild all but embedded at the buyer\u2019s home learning about their personal likes and desires, and even their personality quirks. All that was eventually used to craft a rough design that was eventually translated from pen and paper to digital rendering to final production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new Boat Tail draws on nautical theme for its design as well as the owner’s love of finely crafted timepieces.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s all in the details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the Boat Tail starts with current Rolls underpinnings, including the brand\u2019s beefy V-12, virtually everything else has been customized \u2014 all told about 1,800 new parts and components were used, a Rolls official told TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boat Tail picks up some of the cues first seen in the Rolls-Royce Sweptail concept<\/a><\/span><\/strong> of 2017, with a rear deck of wood and inlayed stainless steel. But that\u2019s just the start. The panel is split in the middle and cantilevers up for access \u2014 and to allow the parasol to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body, overall, is hand painted in a gradated blue, which also has nautical connections, even the wheels finished in bright blue. Other blue hues where used within the cabin, including the leather seats, dark in front, lighter in the rear. Open-pore Caleidolegno wood, resembling the hull of a classic wooden yacht, adds to the nautical theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"2017
The new Boat Tail’s design is based off this 2017 Sweptail concept by Rolls-Royce.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Picking up on the new owner\u2019s love of watches, a Bovet 1822 timepiece was commissioned and a special holder was designed into the instrument panel. A special, hand-crafted box of aluminum and leather will reside in the glove box to hold one of the client\u2019s \u201ccherished\u201d Montblanc pens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More to come<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Boat Tail is just the first of three projects Coachbuild is now finishing up. Unlike the pre-War era, when every Rolls was a customized work of art, the automaker expects to be working on only a handful of such models at any given time. While no pricing was released, the cost of a Coachbuild vehicle is widely believed to be in the millions, something only the most elite of the Rolls-Royce elite could contemplate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There also are regulatory issues to consider. While there are loopholes allowing such projects to take to the road in many countries \u2014 including the U.S. \u2014 the numbers would be severely limited, a company official explained on background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, Rolls is confident that there are plenty of ultra-rich motorists who will want a true, one-off vehicle that they share with nobody else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The uniquely customized, one-off Rolls-Royce Boat Tail marks a return to the days of classic coachbuilding. Now, the British marque is bringing that concept back to life, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[770,772,771,773,344],"make":[],"post-state":[335],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202840,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202827\/revisions\/202840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202827"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=202827"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=202827"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=202827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}