During Monterey Car Week, Rolls-Royce showed off La Rose Noire, the first limited-edition Droptail. Now, the company has shown off the second. Amethyst is the name of this Droptail because it looks like a purple gem. The paint is airy, and the amethyst in the gauge cluster is real. It also has pieces of open-pore wood and carbon fiber that are purple. The Rolls-Royce Droptail, a beautiful new convertible, made its appearance this month at Monterey Car Week. The two-door car with a V-12 engine will only be available in four different designs. The first version of La Rose Noire was made of 1063 pieces of wood trim arranged in a geometric design. It was painted a rich, appealing shade of red. The second Droptail from Rolls-Royce is called “Amethyst” after the name of a jewel. It is made of a huge amount of open-pore wood, has an amazing purple paint job, and is made of real amethyst crystals. Rolls-Royce hasn’t said how much the Droptail will cost, but their special project Boat Tail cost more than $20 million. Rolls-Royce says that the secret client started out in the gemstone business and then grew it into a big business. The customer has a private museum where they keep gems, cars, and works of art, so we can only assume that the high price didn’t bother this rich person. The purple colors used in the car came from the amethyst, which was their son’s birthstone. The beautiful paint job, on the other hand, is based on a plant called globe amaranth, which, according to Rolls-Royce, “blooms in the desert near one of the client’s homes.” The different shades of purple on the body and hood are meant to show the different steps of a flower blooming. Powdered metal flakes make the light purple body sparkle. The lower half of the carbon fiber body has a distinctive zigzag pattern with a tint of amethyst, and the 22-inch polished aluminum wheels also have a touch of purple paint. With the Droptail grille, Rolls-Royce broke with tradition by making the vertical vanes point inward for the first time. One of the blades on the Amethyst Droptail is hand-brushed, and the other is hand-polished. The strange method, which is thought to have taken 50 hours, was inspired by the brushed hands on a watch in the collection of the owner’s son. Like La Rose Noire, the bottom air inlet has a fancy, complex design made of 202 hand-polished stainless steel rectangles painted the color planet amaranth. The Spirit of Ecstasy pendant is made up of amethyst cabochons, which is a term for when a stone is polished into a round shape instead of being cut into facets like many gems on wedding rings. It is on top of the wide hood. The electrochromic glass on the Droptail can change from being clear with a purple tint to being clear with a bit of the Sand Dunes color. It also has a retractable plastic roof. The client picked a Calamander Light open-pore strain to go with the leather accents made of Sand Dunes leather. The whole cabin is made of wood. Rolls-Royce had to look for six months to find wood that went well with the leather. The main upholstery is purple leather, but the seats and controls are made of tan leather. The dashboard, door panels, and “aft deck” are all made of wood. The “aft deck” is meant to look like a luxury boat, and the wood grain makes a dramatic V-shape there. The wood was tried for 8000 hours in direct sunlight, rain, and temperatures ranging from 176 to -22 degrees Fahrenheit, according to reports. Rolls-Royce says that the deck is also used to make the car more aerodynamic and that it is the “world’s only ‘raw’ wooden surface that produces downforce on a new roadgoing motor car.” The measures are the same as the Spirit of Ecstasy on the hood, which has amethyst stones set in cabochons. The interior also has woven leather floor mats, which Rolls-Royce says are a tribute to the traditional weaving seen in the souks, or Arab markets, of the owner’s family home. Like La Rose Noire, the dashboard has a place for a one-of-a-kind watch that the customer buys from the Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin. The watch’s panel case can be taken off and worn.
