Rolls-Royce Motor Cars demonstrated its Bespoke expertise at the 2015 Bangkok Motor Show today with the unveiling of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection, its first public debut in Asia Pacific. It will be displayed at Southeast Asia’s largest motor show until 5 April 2015, together with Wraith and the new Ghost Series II, the latter recently launched in Thailand.
It was on the morning of 1 September 1937 that Campbell established his legend, setting a world-record speed of 126.33mph (203.31kmh) on Italy’s Lake Maggiore in the famous Bluebird K3 boat powered by a Rolls-Royce R-Engine. The following day he went one better, piloting his craft to 129.5mph (208.4kmh), emphatically breaking the United States’ five-year stranglehold on the world water-speed record. Campbell’s momentous achievement captured the world’s attention and reaffirmed the Rolls-Royce R-Engine’s record-breaking superiority after triumphs on land and in the air.
To celebrate this incredible act of British heroism, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ Bespoke Department created the Waterspeed Collection, 35 specially designed Phantom Drophead Coupés. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection on display at the 2015 Bangkok Motor Show is only one of two in Asia Pacific (excluding China) in left-hand drive.
Echoing the cutting-edge technology employed in the construction of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird K3 craft, only the finest contemporary materials furnish the Waterspeed Collection. Brushed steel perfectly complements an exclusively developed ‘Maggiore Blue’ colour scheme, whilst hand-crafted Abachi wood inlays evoke the sense of a boat effortlessly gliding through water at pace. The exterior coachline and laser etchings inside the car bring Campbell’s ‘Bluebird’ motif back to life.
Paul Harris, Regional Director, Asia Pacific of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “This special Collection serves to display the breadth of Bespoke personalisation available to every Rolls-Royce customer with our authorised dealer here in Thailand, and also highlights the enduring appeal of the Phantom Drophead Coupé. Ghost Series II is also available with new Bespoke features, further strengthening the fact that Bespoke is Rolls-Royce.”
Chatvithai Tantraporn, Deputy Managing Director of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bangkok, said, “We are so proud to be the host country for the first public debut of Waterspeed in Asia Pacific, which underlines the importance of the Thai market. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bangkok, the only authorised dealer in Thailand, has two showrooms for customers to commission their very own cars.”
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection
The Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection features a number of exclusive Bespoke design and engineering features, perfectly executed to create a thoroughly contemporary tribute to Campbell’s famous craft.
A specially created ‘Maggiore Blue’ colour scheme flows like water over all the surfaces of Waterspeed, outside and in. Nine layers of paint are applied before an exhaustive process of hand-sanding and the application of a cutting-edge powdered lacquer is undertaken to ensure an impeccable finish. For the first time in Rolls-Royce history, the exterior finish extends to the engine, creating a visually striking homage to the power behind Campbell’s records. The finish also adorns the car’s specially developed, fully-polished eleven-spoke wheels, providing a subtle decorative accent. The exterior is completed with a hand-painted coachline that culminates in a Bluebird motif with the design taking Rolls-Royce’s master coachline painter four hours to apply by hand.
Phantom Drophead Coupé’s traditional teak decking to the rear makes way for brushed steel, with each piece of material individually beaten by hand for 70 hours and then hand-brushed for a further 10.
The car’s exterior finish is subtly echoed via accents on the dash-board that perfectly complement the ‘Windchill Grey’ interior leather scheme. The marque’s hallmark attention-to-detail extends to the application of laser-engraved door armrest tunnel caps featuring a new interpretation of Campbell’s famous Bluebird motif.
Abachi wood also makes its Rolls-Royce debut in Waterspeed. By nature, the material is cool to the touch with a satin-like tactility, and is bookmatched at an angle to echo the wake left by a boat moving at speed.
Further reference to Campbell’s craft is made via a new interpretation of the famous ‘power reserve’ dial. As the driver presses on, the dial moves backwards towards a yellow and blue zone, echoing Campbell’s original K3 boat’s ‘going into the blue’ at maximum engine revolutions. A Bespoke clock adorned with Bluebird’s infinity symbol and dials hewn from a billet of aluminium further evoke K3.
Direct tribute to the records is paid in the glove compartment, with a debossed panel expressing the records Campbell achieved on Lake Maggiore and on Coniston Water. Finally, the steering wheel is presented in two-tone for the very first time, with ‘Maggiore Blue’accents balancing perfectly with traditional black leather to complete a beautifully conceived interior design scheme.
“This very special motor car serves to pay a perfect homage to my grandfather’s remarkable acts of British daring and endeavour,” said Donald Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell. “The extraordinary attention-to-detail and commitment to engineering excellence so evident in these motor cars perfectly echoes the lengths my grandfather and his colleagues went to in their pursuit of the water speed records.”
