ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM DROPHEAD COUPÉ WATERSPEED

COLLECTION SET FOR UK AND EUROPEAN DEBUTS

ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM DROPHEAD COUPÉ WATERSPEED COLLECTION

Two highly fitting locations have been selected for the UK and European debuts of the latest Bespoke Collection from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection will be previewed to selected UK press and customers at an exclusive event on the site of the original Bluebird Motor Company – now the Bluebird Restaurant – on the King’s Road, London on Tuesday 13 May 2014.

The Bluebird Motor Company building was commissioned in 1923 to be Europe’s largest garage and was built in the era’s characteristic Art Deco style, a style which it preserves today. The business would ultimately help fund Campbell’s pursuit to wrest the Waterspeed record from its American holders.

The car will then head to the world-renowned Concorso D’Elegenza at Villa D’Este on the shores of one of Italy’s world-famous lakes, Como, where it will be unveiled to the public for the first time. It was on the adjacent Lake Maggiore where, on 1 September 1937, Campbell established his legend, setting a world-record speed of 126.33 mph in the famous Bluebird K3 boat powered by a Rolls-Royce R Engine.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection:
Waterspeed Collection Phantom Drophead Coupés feature a number of exclusively created Bespoke design and engineering features, perfectly executed to create a thoroughly contemporary tribute to Campbell’s famous craft.

“This very special motor car serves to pay a perfect homage to my grandfather’s remarkable acts of British daring and endeavour,” said Donald Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell. “The extraordinary attention-to-detail and commitment to engineering excellence so evident in these motor cars perfectly echoes the lengths my grandfather and his colleagues went to in their pursuit of the waterspeed records.”

The car is finished in a specially developed ‘Maggiore Blue’ exterior paint, inspired by Bluebird’s famous colour scheme. Nine layers of paint are applied before an exhaustive process of hand-sanding and the application of a cutting-edge powdered lacquer is undertaken to ensure an impeccable finish. For the first time in Rolls-Royce history the exterior finish extends to the engine, creating a visually striking homage to the power behind Campbell’s records. The finish also adorns the car’s specially developed, fully-polished eleven-spoke wheels for the first time, providing a subtle decorative accent.