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A few years ago Rolls-Royce and
Bentley were split, with Volkswagen buying Bentley
and BMW buying the Rolls nameplate. Naturally,
BMW takes a more modern view of marketing than
the hide-bound British , which is reflected even
in their brochures and press kits.
Their first new model, the Phantom — a huge
slab-sided monolith of a car — was not greeted
with universal favor but appears to be ever so
slowly winning over the upper crust.
Rolls management found a way to make it more appealing
when they came out with a shorter wheelbase 100EX
concept car, a convertible (which the British
call a "drophead coupe"). This show
car was a grand touring tour de force, with such
touches as "coach doors" (their phrase
for rear-hinged doors) and a brushed metal hood.
Really unique was a wooden-clad boot lid for the
folded convertible top, with slats that are reminiscent
of the teakwork on fine yachts.
To promote the concept they put it on tour and
even issued a beautiful little booklet entitled
simply "100EX" to the press. The booklet
measures roughly 6" tall by 8" wide,
and has a full color cover. The booklet has many
design sketches and clay model shots as well as
quotes from the designers. Some of the pictures
are black and white.
It is rare that an automaker
goes to the trouble to make an actual book rather
than a phamplet on a concept but you have to figure
that Rolls' strategy was to pre-sell the convertible
even a few years before it would be available.
They obviously figured right as the order book
filled for one year's worth of production once
they displayed the production car outside the
concours at Pebble Beach.
The prototype book has a CD-ROM
so you can see the pictures in greater glory on
your computer.
A smaller press kit book was issued for the production
car, this one called "Rolls Royce Phantom
Drophead Coupe Press Information." It has
a nice simulated brushed-aluminum cover. This
one is about 5" tall and 8" wide. It
is full color and shows the production car (one
with the optional brushed finish bonnet and optional
wood on the rear boot lid) being driven out in
the country, probably at the preview in Spain.
It has many unusual views of the car such as one
shot aimed down on the car from directly above.
And shots in the Rolls factory, the body being
sanded, and so forth. The words are a "sell
job" but very well written with lots of facts
("350 man hours to build each car",
etc.)
When comparing the two books,
each only half an inch thick, I have to say that
the concept book's attraction is mostly in the
rough sketch drawings that show the character
of what the designer was aiming for. But that
book is overshadowed by the production car press
kit which has wonderful first class printing,
plus color from cover to cover, including many
exciting shots of the car on the road.
Now the problem is arriving at a value for such
booklets. Officially, this type of limited edition
press kit is only handed out when the car is introduced
at major auto shows and even then dispensed them
only to reporters. Unofficially, the souvenir
hunters always get these things and they pop up
for sale before the car hits the showrooms.
I would say that, since they represent one of
the most expensive cars in the world, they are
worth far more than, say, a preview book on the
Ford GT, maybe $250-300 for the set if you get
everything intact (both have sleeved cartons they
fitted into) including the CD-ROM.
Let's face it, $440,000 cars aren't offered that
often (Chevrolet is even nervous about offering
a $100,000 Corvette in '09…) and these books
celebrate the freedom the Rolls' designers had
in creating a modern car that would match the
quality and panache of the Duesenbergs of the
1930s.
Although my forte is fast Fords, I collected these
simply because they show the most expensive convertible
on the American market and thus constitute celebrations-in-print
of the glory that a mere car can attain when the
automaker tells the designers "cost is no
object".
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