The design of the Rolls-Royce Phantom drophead coupe that made its debut at the Detroit show in January looks quite familiar. For three years now, the international auto-show circuit has played host to the Rolls-Royce 100EX convertible and the 101EX coupe. The Phantom drophead is the production version of those concepts. The BMW home office expects to build just 100 of them annually. Price: $412,000.
Rolls-Royce insists the 100EX was not simply a preview of the Phantom drophead. Rolls did see an open-air two-door car as the next step after the Phantom sedan, but the 100EX’s design was purely speculative. The 100EX had a 9.0-liter V-16, a polished aluminum hood, and wooden yacht decking forming the tonneau cover. After it first turned up at the Geneva auto show in 2004, the 100EX went on a world tour to gauge interest from potential buyers.
Rolls’s well-heeled clientele responded positively to the convertible, especially the rear-hinged “suicide doors” and unpainted hood, but they said they didn’t need an engine larger than the Phantom’s 6.8-liter V-12. Several hundred orders were accepted, and Rolls decided to make the production version similar to the 100EX.
Work started on a production model based on the Phantom sedan but in the image of the 100EX. The smaller engine meant a shorter front end. Although the aluminum body structure uses similar principles to those of the sedan, it is 8.9 inches shorter and requires substantial stiffening via thicker sills and extra crossmembers. Rolls claims the convertible’s torsional rigidity is very close to the sedan’s. The triangular A-pillars and the spring-loaded pop-up rollover hoops behind the rear seats provide what Rolls calls “outstanding rollover safety.”
Unique features such as the polished metal hood and teak tonneau cover made it to production as options. The hood is now brushed stainless steel instead of aluminum because stainless doesn’t stain or discolor as readily as aluminum. And the teak tonneau will require oiling at regular service intervals. Base cars get a painted hood and a leather tonneau.
A brief drive in a preproduction car with the roof down bore out Rolls’s claim that the Phantom drophead is extremely quiet for an open car, and there was no sign of cowl shake from the structure. Four large persons fit inside comfortably. The sofa-like rear seat has curved sides and is divided by a wide drop-down armrest. Passengers in back will feel the breeze, but those up front are well shielded from the outside world. Rolls will not deign to offer a mesh wind blocker.
Ian Robertson, chairman and CEO of Rolls-Royce Motors, says, “We don’t want this car to be super-practical.” The hessian floor mats and the teak trim inside the car aren’t exactly what we’d call practical. At least the cloth top is power operated—even if the blind spot with the top raised is large enough to hide a full-size SUV—and trunk space is decently sensible at 12 cubic feet.
Chief designer Ian Cameron sums up the Phantom drophead coupe as “exuberant” and “a celebration.” Celebrating what, exactly? Perhaps being moneyed enough to afford a $412,000 convertible Rolls-Royce.
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