“Rolls-Royce Boat Tail challenges the notion of what a motor car means. Boat Tail exists far beyond a mere means of transport. It is not just the method to reach a destination, but the destination itself.”
As the world’s oldest and arguably best-known luxury car brand, Rolls-Royce can probably be forgiven a bit of hyperbole. Its reputation was forged in the days when very wealthy people commissioned a bespoke body to clothe the company’s phenomenal chassis and powertrains. It was an idea that really took flight during the Roaring Twenties, and as we stumble Bambi-like out of the pandemic and economists predict a successor to that spectacularly louche period, cometh the hour cometh the car.
Actually, Rolls has been riding the vogue for contemporary coachbuilding for a few years now. But the Boat Tail, which takes its inspiration from a model the company made in 1932, is an even more exotic creation than 2017’s Villa d’Este-starring Sweptail. And that was hardly hiding its light under a (£10 million) bushel. Both exhibit a fascination for the nautical form, this latest one-off adventure really doubling down on the “yacht for the road” concept (J-class rather than superyacht, needless to say).
Such is the formality of Rolls-Royce that it’s not a company renowned for its sense of humour, but the Boat Tail allows itself at least a hint of a wry smile. Rolls talks about a “generosity of proportion”, which is a polite way of saying that it’s big – not far off six metres long, in fact. While the front end features the signature “Pantheon” grille, it’s all a little softer and more approachable. But it really does resemble a Gatsby-era Rolls fast-forwarded to the 21st century.
The nautical allusion is best appreciated in the side profile. The rear deck uses Caleidolegno veneer, matching some of the materials used in the cabin, where you’ll find it in the lower cabin and on the floor. It’s an open-pore material that features a linear wood grain given extra visual impact by the addition of brushed stainless-steel pinstripe inlays. This treatment is repeated in the lower transom and RR’s wood specialists have finessed the wood so that it matches the flow of the car’s body. A fixed canopy roof is another left-field touch, complete with flying buttresses.
A car as grand as this automatically generates a sense of theatre, but push a button and the Boat Tail’s rear deck opens like butterfly wings to an angle of 67 degrees to reveal a “hosting suite”. (Rolls says the cantilevers designed for the job were inspired by the work of architect Santiago Calatrava – check out the City Of Arts And Sciences in Valencia). There’s a chest on one side dedicated to aperitifs, with room for haute cuisine – or a Pret sandwich – on the other, complete with cutlery engraved with the name Boat Tail, made by Christofle in Paris. There’s also a refrigerator created to house the clients’ preferred vintage of Armand De Brignac champagne, as well as a pair of rotating cocktail tables and two stools hidden within, created by Italian furniture maker Promemoria.
Turns out the Boat Tail’s owner is also a fan of haute horologie, so Rolls has crossed the most luxurious of streams with Swiss-based House Of Bovet to craft two reversible timepieces that can be stowed in the car’s dashboard or detached and worn on the wrist. Pens are another passion: a beloved Montblanc gets its own aluminium and leather case and lives in the glove box (no word on whether there are any actual gloves in there, though Rolls has missed a trick if not). The instrument dials use a jewellery and watchmaking technique called guilloche to add another detail twist.
There is still a car beneath all this finery, one that reworks Rolls-Royce’s excellent aluminium spaceframe to enable the Boat Tail’s structural and design differences. The company’s proprietary 15-speaker audio system uses the car’s floor as a resonance chamber for the bass speakers. The hosting suite required five dedicated electronic control units of its own and a new wiring harness (which took nine months to develop). Plus there are two new cooling fans to keep that costly cargo at the correct temperature. In all, 1,813 new parts needed to be engineered and manufactured to support the car.
As to that last remaining question, you know the answer. If you have to ask…
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