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Rolls-Royce releases sketch of Phantom Drophead Coupe Bespoke Waterspeed Collection

A limited-edition Rolls-Royce Phantom is something of an oxymoron. The company only sold 3,630 cars last year, and even fewer of those were its flagship Phantom. However, that isn't keeping the company from regularly revealing even more limited editions of its already hyper-exclusive cars. This is precisely the case with the new Phantom Drophead Coupé Bespoke Waterspeed Collection, a forthcoming model limited to 35 examples.
The special models are inspired by a famous speedboat race on September 1, 1937, between the United States and Great Britain on Lake Maggiore on the Swiss-Italian border. The British fielded the Bluebird K3 hydroplane boat powered by a massive supercharged V12 Rolls-Royce R-Type engine with Sir Malcolm Campbell at the helm. All that displacement shot the sleek watercraft to 129.5 miles per hour, claiming a new world waterspeed record in the process.
For the special commemorative Drophead Coupé model that celebrates "a seminal act of British daring and endeavor," Rolls-Royce is finishing the convertible in Maggiore Blue paint with a brushed steel hood and tonneau cover, along with inlaid wood trim. Rolls is not announcing an official release date or price for the special cars yet, but they are going on sale before the end of the year. Scroll down for the whole story about the car's inspiration.

Rolls-Royce to reach 4,000 units this year

Rolls-Royce is, by nature, an exclusive auto marque, but it has been steadily increasing its sales to the point that it could be looking at 4,000 units by the end of this year, setting a new record for the German-owned British automaker.
You don't even need to go back a decade to find Rolls-Royce sales hovering around the 1,000-unit mark. But that was when Goodwood only offered the Phantom saloon. The subsequent addition of the Phantom DHC and Phantom Coupe helped expand its portfolio, enlarged even further by the addition of the Ghost in 2010, by which time total sales were reaching 3,000 units.
The Spirit of Ecstasy marque has been hovering around the 3,500 mark ever since, but with the Wraith now in the mix and its reach extending into growing markets around the world, Autocar reports that global sales could top 4,000 units this year. (Of course that pales in comparison to one-time sister brand Bentley, which topped 10,000 deliveries last year, but Rolls-Royce typically competes at a higher price bracket.)

eBay Find of the Day: Andy Warhol's 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

Andy Warhol is one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th Century. With hits like his famous Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe portraits, he is likely the first name you think of in association with the pop art movement. He isn't known for being an auto enthusiast, though, but maybe that's not entirely the case - there was his BMW M1 art car, after all. Now, Warhol's 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is up for auction on eBay Motors.
According the seller, Warhol never had a driver's license, but he still wanted to own a luxurious car. It's claimed that he occasionally had his famous friends, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, chauffeur him around in the Rolls. Following Warhol's death in 1987, the car was auctioned for $77,000, and since then it has only been sold to one additional owner.
The Rolls is painted Walnut and Mason's Black, which appears closer to a shade of brown in these photos, with a black leather interior. The engine is the company's' popular 6.75-liter V8 with a three-speed automatic transmission, and there are just 56,000 miles on this luxurious classic. The seller is including copies of original purchase order from Rolls-Royce and the title to Warhol Enterprises to prove the famous artist's ownership of the car, plus all of its service records.