Rolls-Royce has a history of being one of the only carmakers that has a category of their own. Sure, they are often compared to Bentley, but some of Rolls-Royce’s cars cost almost twice as much. That’s not to discredit Bentley, but just proving that a Rolls-Royce, is truly like nothing else. This emerges from the sheer engineering that goes behind each car, the attention to detail and the company’s reputation for never saying no to a customer’s requests. After all, it was a special request that gave birth to the iconic starlight headliner. More on that later. So, let's take a look at 10 of the coolest, craziest facts about Rolls-Royce. Prepare to have your mind blown.
To help photographer Mark Riccioni on his shoot for the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge, the company designed a bespoke ‘Recreational Module’ in the back of that particular Cullinan, complete with an Apple iPad Pro, a Macbook Pro, a DJI Mavic Mini drone and some Supreme clothing. We assume the latter was so he could blend into his shoot location, Los Angeles.
The Phantom VIII’s Gallery is built in a ‘Clean Room’ which has sensors that continually measure particle concentration to make sure the room is free of any contaminants. The sensors sound the bell when they detect a particle larger than 0.001 of a micron. For reference, a human hair is about 50-100 microns in diameter.
The Starlight Headliner mentioned earlier has about 1340 individual, handwoven, fibre-optics. Customers can choose to have any constellation above their heads, including one that would’ve been in the sky on a particular night at a particular place. The latest addition to this is a shooting star option which, as the name suggests, randomly shoots stars across the roof of your Rolls-Royce. Not that you need any more luck if you’re sat in one.
The sensors for the adaptive suspension in modern Rolls-Royce’s is so sensitive that it can tell if a passenger shifts their weight from one side to the other, and adjust accordingly.
All wood parts in any Phantom come from a single tree, to ensure “a seamless flow of grain.” These parts take up upto 28 days to produce. For reference, Maruti-Suzuki produced approximately 1.6 lakh cars in 28 days, back in March 2018.
The convertible roof on the Rolls-Royce Dawn is the largest of any production car in the world, while also being the quietest. The engineers were simply told to “recreate a silent ballet”.
Perhaps the greatest testament to the comfort of Rolls-Royce's signature ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ is when a person drove a Dawn through an earthquake, measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, as well as an aftershock that measured 2.6 on the Richter scale. He didn’t realise until he saw the news the following morning.
Sir Henry Royce put up a sign in the factory saying, ‘Caution: Silent Cars’ because the cars were so quiet that workers wouldn’t realise they were around. In today’s times, the people manoeuvring cars inside the factory must sound the horn as a warning.
A Peregrine Falcon remains the most detailed single piece of embroidery to ever feature on a Rolls-Royce. It took almost 2,50,000 individual stitches to create and a team of designers, craftspeople and engineers almost a month to develop.
Only one person in the whole world, Mark Court, is trusted to paint the optional Coachline that runs along the side of Rolls-Royce cars. It is hand painted, and the process takes three hours on each side. It is said that he probably has the steadiest hands in the world.
Rolls-Royce truly is in a league of its own, isn’t it? To be honest, some of these facts have blown our minds as well. It is easy to overlook the level of detail that goes into one because the company dives so deep into them. But those with an eye for it, pay through their nose for one and they wouldn’t want anything less.