Recently, a small ripple was made in the auto world as Rolls-Royce gently broke the news of the new, über-luxurious Phantom coupe they’ve introduced exclusively to the Middle Eastern market. While Rolls-Royce PR refrained from saying, “Hey, we just follow the money people,” they did attempt to distract suspicious auto experts by releasing a few coveted specs on the half-pint Rolls.
Although perhaps not as immediately attention-grabbing as the current melee in Detroit, there’s at least one industry analyst at Automoblog who wasn’t particularly captivated by Rolls-Royce’s carefully worded hype.
Currently a running back for the New York Jets, Thomas Jones keeps a colorful lineup of whips in his garage including a candy apple red Rolls Royce Phantom, a violently orange Ferrari 360 Spider, and a surprisingly subdued cool-blue Range Rover. Media shy both by nature and on principle, a glimpse into Jones’ private life is a rare treat indeed as Jones is one of those increasingly rare NFL players with a healthy dose of humility. Although it seems painfully cliched to further explain that Jones’ grew up in a small coal mining town to hard-working parents who always stressed the value of education - it’s a fact worth mentioning regardless.
A phenomenal athlete with an unpretentious character the likes of which I haven’t seen Barry Sanders, I like Thomas Jones so much, I’m not even going to give him a hard time for that obscenely-hued Phantom.
Picked up again by the impossible-to-elude photographers at the Brenda Priddy/LeftLane camp, the new “entry-level” Rolls-Royce RR4 was caught rolling around wearing a surprisingly minimalistic disguise. Sporting little more than a bra, the new baby Rolls appears to be growing into quite the little luxury sedan, retaining much of the same styling as its esteemed elder, the Rolls-Royce Phantom. While definitely sleeker and slightly smaller than the Phantom, the RR4’s large, 5,000-lb body and rumored V12 engine will still offer a commanding presence. While dubbed by Rolls-Royce as an “entry level” sedan, the “baby” Rolls is still expected to come with a $300,000 price tag and like its baby daddy the Phantom, production will be limited to 800 vehicles per year.
Between Rambo and Rocky, Sly must make a killing [groan], because photos and video footage have cropped up recently of the action movie buff behind the wheel of a VW Phaeton, a Rolls Royce Phantom, and a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.
Initially, I was heavily skeptical of the Phaeton sighting, but once you get a load of those lips and hear his gruff request for “no video”, there’s no denying it’s him. As for the Rolls sighting, the picture clearly captures Stallone’s front profile, no doubt that’s definitely the champ getting behind the wheel. The Ferrari, eh, I’m not so sure - the shot is so vague it could be Jose Conseco for all I know. Hit the jump to see for yourself
Remember that old email about the New York man who bought land in Portugal and found a mysterious barn full of old cars on it? Well that story is bunk, although with a delicious nugget of truth in the center, as usual. Instead of being a magical mystery barn that some lucky fool found on his newly purchased land, it actually just belongs to an old man who owned a car dealership in the 70s and 80s. He decided to save the more interesting cars that he came across during his life.
The pictures came about on the internet because the owner hadn’t seen his collection for a while and asked a man to go take pictures of the barn and the cars for him, and he did. According to that guy, there are 180 cars in the barn.
Recently, Christina Aguilera and husband Jordan Bratman were seen cruising around in a glacier white Rolls Royce Phantom. First debuting her post-baby body at the 2008 MTV VMA awards, it’s definitely been a while since the ex-pop queen has been spotted out and about. Unfortunately, motherhood seems to have cleaned her up a bit, and I admit that I’m a little disappointed there isn’t anything trashy I can immediately make fun of. My only comfort is the knowledge that, regardless of how classy Christina Aguilera becomes, I’ll always have Britney Spears to fulfill my trailer park train wreck fantasies.
Beating out a hot pink Stude and lime green HUMMER for the coveted title of our eBay Motors find of the day is a 1983 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit Roadster, “A Little Piece of Us Dies Inside Every time We Look At It” Edition. Deceptively poised as a convertible, this bagged Rolls comes permanently topless with approximately $60k worth of modifications and more yellow-gold plating than can be accurately conveyed using a simple hip-hop analogy. Although we mourn the defacement of what had the potential to be one hell of a resto project, we have to begrudgingly issue points for the superior custom craftsmanship.
September 3rd, 1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell drove his specially built Campbell-Railton Bluebird, powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce R V12, across the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, surpassing 300 mph and breaking the land speed record for the ninth time.
“If you had all the money in the world, what car would you buy?” This hypothetical question came up in conversation the other day, and I just couldn’t come up with a satisfying answer. It’s a tough question, like asking “Whats your favorite food?” There are so many variables.
Do I go for the fastest car? The flat out most expensive? The rarest? Best looking? Most fun to drive?
In 2010, the Rolls Royce Phantom and the BMW 7-series will become big brothers when parent companies Rolls Royce and BMW release their new lovechild, the baby Rolls Royce. Referred to internally as the Rolls Royce RR4, the baby Rolls was spotted testing in Germany and the UK last April and does indeed bear a striking resemblance to its older, epicurean siblings.
According to spy shots, the Rolls Royce RR4 features the same long hood, short rear deck lid, and rear suicide doors as the Phantom, and appears to share the same chassis/wheelbase as the BMW 7-Series. Although nothing has been confirmed, rumors of engines ranging from a V8 to a V12 are being considered for the Baby Rolls – including speculations about a later-model diesel edition.
