Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has the honor of presenting Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail, a coach-built masterpiece that celebrates the cultural heritage and passions of its clients.
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- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars introduces the Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail
- The birthstone of a patron’s son inspired an extraordinary coach-built project
- The collection combines exquisite craftsmanship and focused minimalism
- The largest wood surface produced by Rolls-Royce is the veneer aft deck
- The rear section of a new car is the only wood surface that can be used to create aerodynamic lift.
- Interior and exterior are decorated with precious amethyst gemstones
- The Pantheon grille is the first to have both a brushed and a polished finish.
- The finish was inspired by Haute-Horlogerie and based on a Vacheron Constantin watch.
- Unveiled at a private event in Gstaad to a commissioning client
This stunning Rolls-Royce Droptail captures the soul and spirit of its client. The global outlook, refined taste, and deeply rooted heritage of this distinguished and international client were fascinating to discover. Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail is a statement of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild’s intention: to work closely with clients to create a historic expression of applied arts. Coachbuild’s motor cars have a unique character because of the personal involvement of their clients. These products are a reflection of a visionary approach carried out with conviction. Amethyst Droptail captures all of these qualities in extremes.”
Torsten Muller-Otvos, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“A Coachbuilt Rolls-Royce’s identity and legend derive from the achievements, sensibilities, and personality of its owner. This human element, coupled with a highly innovative design, makes the Coachbuilt Rolls-Royce unique and irreplaceable. This specificity gives coachbuilder commissions timeless and artistic durability. Amethyst Droptail, a Rolls-Royce design, will be remembered as an example of our ability to accurately project the soul of a client’s commission through both literal and conceptual expressions.
Anders Warming is the Design Director at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail epitomizes quiet artistry, and its significance is in the depth of its detail. We explored the values, interests, and sensibilities of a discerning client whose character resounded throughout the commission through carefully curated pieces. Each piece was imbued with profound symbolism. Amethyst Droptail was created for a person who is passionate about modern design and haute horlogerie and whose family holds a special connection with gemstones. It’s a stunning reflection of connoisseurship and contemporary design.
Alex Innes is the Head of Coachbuild Design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
AMETHYST DROP-TAIL
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has the honor of presenting Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail, a coach-built masterpiece that celebrates the cultural heritage and passions of its clients.
Amethyst Droptail was commissioned by an entrepreneur whose business grew from a small gemstone shop to a multi-national corporation with diverse interests. The client, who is extremely well-traveled and internationally educated and has truly global inspirations, is a patron of the arts whose collection includes precious jewels and motor cars, as well as contemporary artworks.
A patron commissioned Coachbuild to design an elegant Droptail that Amethyst inspired, the birthstone for their son. Amethyst is a symbol of clarity, purity, and resilience. These themes are explored in great depth throughout this extraordinary motorcar. Amethyst Droptail is a reflection of the client’s love for subtle artistry. It rewards those who take the time to study it.
The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail, as well as its owner, family, and friends, were unveiled at a private function in Gstaad (Switzerland), a place of special significance to the patron.
A FLOWER in the Desert
The patron of the Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail and its co-creator expressed a deep desire to celebrate their cultural heritage. Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers chose the Globe Amaranth, a wildflower that grows in the desert near the home of one client, to inspire the exterior design.
The exterior duotone paint finish captures the multiple stages of flower bloom. Globe Amaranth, a purple shade with a silver undertone named in honor of the flower, is enhanced by finely powdered aluminum flakes that reflect light to create an iridescent effect. The Amethyst paint used for the upper coachwork of the car is a deep purple with a silver undertone. It contains a mixture of red, violet, and blue mica flakes, creating a mauve color with a metallic shine.
The client said that in sunlight, the car revealed a slight hint of mauve on the inside of its 22-inch wheels. This provided a subtle yet elegant contrast to the mirror-polished aluminum surface.
The lower sections of the car are finished in a highly complex but subtle carbon fiber treatment. After two years of research and development, Rolls-Royce’s artisans created a chevron design book matched on two axes that adds geometric detail to the technical exterior surfaces of the Amethyst Droptail. Carbon fiber is coated with a thin layer of lacquer that has been tinted Amethyst, which appears as the body color in most lighting conditions. The client wanted to hide this intricate, technically challenging detail until it was examined closely. It reflects his passion for restraint and subtlety.
DEEP DETAIL
Pantheon Grille Treatment demonstrates the client’s confidence in Rolls-Royce artisans to complete the most difficult flourishes. Exterior grille surrounds and ‘kinked vane’ pieces are hand-brushed and then hand-polished. This surface treatment has never been attempted before. The idea was proposed by the client’s son, who is a haut horlogerie collector. A piece of historical importance inspired him in his collection that had brushed hands. The perfect uniformity of the finishes and the sharp contrast between finish types were the result of over 50 hours of collective effort.
Under this incredible expression of contemporary artistry is an intricate lower-front air intake. This complex piece was designed digitally and then ‘printed’ on a lightweight composite. It incorporates 202 hand-polished stainless steel ingots that have been painted individually by hand with the Globe Amaranth color.
The front is finished with an amethyst-cabochon-encircled Spirit of Ecstasy figure. To avoid an obvious sparkle, the client requested a cabochon, which is when a gemstone has been shaped and polished to a round form rather than being faceted. This small detail evokes the client’s first venture in the precious stone business.
CELEBRATION OF MATERIALS
The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail is a celebration of the materials and crafts that were personally selected by the client who commissioned it and his family. Material selection started with a wood sample provided by the client. It was a beautiful Calamander Light wood that had a complex texture and long bands in color.
The client’s first wood sample was used to inspire the leather treatment for the car. The leather in Sand Dunes, a softly contrasting shade, was designed to match the caramel strands of the Calamander Lightwood. Wood specialists then had to find material that was the same color as the leather. This task took six months and required specialists to examine more than 100 logs.
The exterior is finished in a pearlescent lacquer that resembles the brilliance and shine of the gemstone for which the car was named.
Rolls-Royce created the largest wooden surface in its history for the Amethyst Droptail. The material extends from the fascia, doors, shawl panel, and cantilevered “plinth” center armrest to the aft deck.
The aerodynamicists of the marque and wood specialists collaborated closely to test different wood grain textures, as well as the exact angle at which the veneer was placed. The result is a piece of art and the only ‘raw wood’ surface in the world that can produce downforce for a new motor vehicle.
Amethyst Droptail was the first to use a new, completely different veneering technique. Each veneer sheet is placed upside-down so that it can reveal its raw wood texture. Two methods are used: “book matching” at 55 degrees, in which sheets of veneer are mirrored, and “slip-matching,” in which sheets of veneer are lined up side by side to create an organic, natural look.
Amethyst Droptail was tested in different climates to ensure that its client could enjoy it. The interior wood parts have been tested and must meet the same endurance standards as the exterior parts. More than 150 samples were tested for over 8,000 hours before the final product was built. The tests included a simulation of full sunlight exposure, a rain fastness evaluation, and durability testing in temperatures from +80degC down to -30degC. Amethyst Droptail’s deck coatings have their patent.
The client wanted to add an elegant touch: to adorn the dials of the rotary clocks with rare amethyst gemstones. The gems are also shaped like the ones at the base of Spirit of Ecstasy but in a convex style cabochon rather than faceted. Each stone has a depth and clarity that is usually reserved for fine jewelry. The client personally approved each stone after an expert within his organization thoroughly examined it. The interior suite was filled with woven floor mats, a subtle nod to the centuries-old weaving techniques found in the souks where the client grew up.
