Rolls Royce decided to honor Donald Campbell who, for those unaware, was the driver who managed to break 8 absolute speed records, divided between boats and cars. The model chosen for this honor was the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé and, once again, Rolls Royce shows all its expertise in car personalization.
Presumably Donald Campbell had a great fascination for blue vehicles, so great that all his machines designed to break world speed records were dubbed the "Blue Bird", the boats were no exception. In this way, the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed could not have another predominant color other than blue: on the outside with nine layers of “Maggiore Blue” paint, on the inside with several details of this color and, for the first time in the history of the brand, also the engine compartment had the right to be customized with this color.
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Naturally, metal has always been a predominant material in Campbell's vehicles and so the deck of this special edition Phantom Drophead Coupé is made of brushed metal instead of traditional wood. The use of brushed metal extends over the entire length of the car: “deck”, windscreen frame and bonnet.
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Note that the production of the brushed metal effect is done manually and consumes 10 hours…per piece. Not even the wheels have been forgotten and the “Maggiore Blue” is also applied between each of its 11 spokes. The “cherry on top of the cake” is a horizontal line, drawn by hand, with motifs reminiscent of Campbell's fast boats tearing through the waters.
The interior is arguably one of the most beautiful ever presented by the automotive industry. The first time is the use of Abachi black wood parts, which are assembled in such a way as to recall the trail left by Donald's boats. The armrests are also noteworthy: they are produced in metal and in a very time-consuming process, they are engraved with the typical “Blue Bird” motif that identified Donald Campbell's vehicles. The use of two tones on the steering wheel is also a first, made in black and blue leather.
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The manometers are also alluding to those used on record-setting boats, with characteristic hands, the most curious of which is the Power Reserve manometer, whose pointer moves backwards as you press more on the accelerator and, if the pedal is pressed. At the bottom, it enters a yellow and blue zone, which in Donald's K3 boat gave rise to the expression “going into the blue”, this being the zone of maximum engine power. To make Campbell's three water records definitively in history, Rolls Royce has placed inscriptions with the British sprinter's water records on the glove compartment lid.
