Rolls Royce Hyperion up for grabs

Rolls Royce Hyperion by Pininfarina - up for €4.5 million

A what, I hear you ask? A Rolls Royce Hyperion? Never heard of it! Well, that’s hardly a huge surprise as there has only been one built – a custom job by Pininfarina.

Based on the Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe, the Rolls Royce Hyperion is a one-off custom coachbuild by legendary Italian firm Pininfarina. How much, I hear you ask. €4.5 million. Plus tax. Plus shipping. Ouch!

But, and it’s a big but, you happen to have squillions in the bank, and you want something no one else has, this may be the car for you.

In historical terms the Hyperion goes back to the roots of Rolls Royce. There was once a time when Rolls Royce provided the chassis and a coachbuilder like Park Ward supplied the bodies. And in essence this is just the same. The donor car is a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead, but completely rebodied by Pininfarina in a style that echoes the lines of the glorious luxury convertibles of the 1930s – cars like the Packard and Mercedes SS.

And there is more history to the Hyperion than just the echoes of 1930s classics. This is the last project overseen by Andrea Pininfarina before he was tragically killed in a crash last August on his scooter whilst on the way to sign-off the Hyperion for a reveal at Pebble Beach. A real loss to the car world, Andrea was just 51 and at the helm of Pininfarina. The company will probably never be run by a Pininfarina again, so Andrea’s untimely death adds a certain poignancy to the Hyperion – his last project.

So you get a glorious looking car, with real historical roots and a dose of Pininfarina magic, plus a ridiculously expensive Girard Perregaux watch that slots in the dash, for €4.5/£4.1/$6.1 million.

What price history?