Rolls Royce Phantom 'Masterpiece London 2011' Drophead Coupé

One off Rolls Royce DHC created for the Masterpiece London 2011 Event

Rolls Royce has created a one-off DHC for the Masterpiece London 2011 event at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, featuring an integrated custom Asprey Jewellery box.

The Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe isn’t the most ubiquitous car on the road. Yes, you’ll see a few if you frequent certain postcodes in London, but they’re a rare old sight.

Much of that is down to price, ostentation and weather. We Brits (national stereotype warning) don’t like to show off, and a soft-top Roller is definitely on the showy side.

We also don’t really have the weather. Yes, there are good days and yes, we do buy more convertibles than almost any nation. But most Brits with enough money to buy a Phantom DHC (£330k) prefer a slightly lower profile.

Still, as soft tops go, there really isn’t anything better than a Phantom DHC. We know one or two owners, but they tend to use their DHC at ‘the other house’; the one in the sun where they don’t feel ostentatious cruising along the Boulevard de la Croisette. But not at home. The DHC and the man-bag are definitely for ‘Away’.

So we’re not expecting too many Brits queueing up to buy the one-off Rolls Royce Phantom ‘Masterpiece London 2011’ Drophead Coupé, a DHC speacially created by Rolls Royce at Goodwood for the ‘Masterpiece London 2011’ event in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

The Masterpiece London event is a “… unique opportunity to purchase some of the finest pieces on the market” according to the organisers, so the DHC should be a good fit.

Finished in a new custom colour – Mazarine Blue – the DHC gets teak decking, engraved tread plates and a Spirit of Ecstasy inscribed to commemorate this year’s centenary.

The USP for the Masterpiece London DHC is undoubtedly the Asprey jewellery case integrated in to the glove box. The man from Rolls Royce said:

“The Asprey jewellery case, which fits neatly into the passenger glove compartment, took two working days to finish, using a hide of softest grade-one suede cut into 15 separate pieces.
Its central earring holder is detachable and can be interchanged for use with clip earrings or stud styles. There are also two additional sections for elegant cufflinks, and a separate compartment for the owner’s most precious rings. An embossed silver foil Asprey stamp finishes this stunning one-off feature.”

Other custom goodies include a natural grain leather interior in Seahell with Navy contrast, RR logos on the headrests and a set of custom luggage. The teak decking gets mother-of-pearl inlays – as does the clock and rotary controllers – and the regular instruments get changed for white-faced ones.

Because this custom Rolls Royce has been created as a one-off for a customer, we have no idea how much Rolls Royce charged or how much the car will be offered for by Masterpiece London. But there’s a fair chance it will be somewhat less than the DHC-based one-off Rolls Royce Hyperion that was up for €4.5 million a couple of years back.

Which makes the Masterpiece London DHC something of a bargain.