As the most highly regarded ultra-luxury name in the automotive industry Rolls-Royce has never been about making things more affordable. Instead of this they have gone about their business to create cars that boggle the mind, entice the imagination and truly tell and owner they have arrived at the pinnacle of success. You don’t buy a Rolls-Royce to have a race around the track, this is an investment into your lifestyle and many times you buy one because you want to be seen driving a car that is the most audacious luxury vehicle on the market today. Let’s look at some things you might not know about this amazing company and the vehicles they produce.
Youngest Owner – Many of us dream of reaching our sixteenth birthday and buying a car. It almost doesn’t matter what the car is as long as it runs, and even that doesn’t mean much at times. The thought of the freedom and excitement our own vehicle brings to us is amazing but can you imagine having a Rolls-Royce at sixteen. Actually, the youngest person to ever buy a Rolls-Royce was only twelve years old and lived in Taiwan, he chose to the Phantom, which was an excellent choice, but had to have his own driver since he wasn’t even old enough to drive yet.
Starlight Star Bright – The headliner of many Rolls-Royce models is called the Starlight Headliner because it shows off many points of light on a black background. Not only does this headliner have several points of light, it can be customized to show any star pattern you choose with several constellations or just a particular night sky. This headliner uses 1,350 individually hand-woven fiber optic lights and two kilometers of cable to make this work and it will cost you as much as $12,000 to have it as part of your Rolls-Royce vehicle.
Hiding the Hood Ornament – Why do so many cars come without hood ornaments today? Not only because they became obsolete with design changes, but because many of the higher priced ornaments would be stolen on a regular basis. Most manufacturers used only a weak cable to keep the ornament in place that could be twisted off and removed with a strong twist for those who wanted to steal them. The Spirit of Ecstasy still proudly rides on the front of Rolls-Royce vehicles, but is stashed away when the car is not in use which takes up to 24 lines and bearings to safely hide this beautiful symbol of luxury.
Paint and more Paint – On any car you might be shocked at how much paint is used. Many times we know there is at least three coats, the primer, the color and the clear coat. This does add weight to the vehicle and in some sports cars less paint means more weight savings, but it’s not a significant factor. Take Rolls-Royce for example, they use five coats of paint which is applied over seven days which weighs in at over 100 pounds total when the car is finally finished. This creates a flawless finish to every single model that comes out of the Rolls-Royce factory.
Indulgence- Being at the top of the market means you have some customers who are more than a little eccentric. Many Rolls-Royce customers have interesting requests and the company is able to indulge them. In order to ensure some features are safe for the vehicle the company has to crash test the feature on a separate model which causes the customer to have to pay for two cars instead of one and the time for the crash test. Amazingly, many of the customers of these cars don’t mind paying for the added cost.
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