Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe Waterspeed Collection
18/08/2014
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection, which was conceived to celebrate Sir Malcolm Campbell’s act of setting a new world water-speed record in 1937, has made its North American debut following its presentation at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering Event.
It was on the morning of 1 September 1937 that Campbell established his legend, setting a world-record speed of 126.33mph on Italy’s Lake Maggiore in the famous Bluebird K3 boat powered by a Rolls-Royce R-Engine. The following day he went one better, piloting his craft to 129.5mph, emphatically breaking the United States’ five-year stranglehold on the world water-speed record. Campbell’s momentous achievement captured the world’s attention and reaffirmed the Rolls-Royce R-Engine’s record-breaking superiority after triumphs on land and in the air.
To celebrate this incredible act of British heroism, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ Bespoke Department created the Waterspeed Collection, 35 specially designed Phantom Drophead Coupés. One of these superlative motor cars was displayed at The Quail on 15 August and will appear on the concept car lawn at Pebble Beach on 17 August.
Echoing the cutting-edge technology employed in the construction of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird K3 craft, only the finest contemporary materials furnish the Waterspeed Collection. Brushed steel perfectly complements an exclusively developed ‘Maggiore Blue’ colour scheme, whilst hand-crafted Abachi wood inlays evoke the sense of a boat effortlessly gliding through water at pace. The exterior coachline and laser etchings inside the car bring Campbell’s ‘Bluebird’ motif back to life.
At the North American debut of Waterspeed at the Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach, California, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars said, “Sir Malcolm Campbell’s successful pursuit of world-speed records on land and water were the result of his commitment to the most exacting standards of British design and engineering excellence. Such attributes are hallmarks of every Rolls-Royce motor car. This special Collection serves to display the breadth of Bespoke personalisation available to every Rolls-Royce customer. We are thrilled to celebrate excellence in automotive design and showcase the Collection at the crown jewel of automotive events here at Pebble Beach.”
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