The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, the third Coachbuild Droptail commission, was envisioned by the client “as a serene space characterised by reduction, material depth and tactility.” Named after Arcadia, the mythological ‘Heaven on Earth’ of the Ancient Greeks, the car’s wood sections took 8,000 hours to create, and feature the most complex clock face in Rolls-Royce history, whose assembly alone took five months.
In line with the client’s expectations, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers developed a calm, natural duotone colourway for the motor car’s coachwork. The main body colour is a solid white infused with aluminium and glass particles. This not only creates an effervescent shimmer when the light strikes the coachwork but, upon close inspection, creates the illusion of unending depth in the paint. This is contrasted by a faceted, striking metallic silver using larger sizing of aluminium particles.
In a key departure from the other three coachbuilt Droptails in this series, the carbon fibre used to construct the lower sections of Droptail is painted in the solid Bespoke silver colour rather than left fully or partially exposed. The exterior grille surround, the ‘kinked’ vane pieces and the 22-inch alloy wheels have been fully mirror-polished.
The interior is a deeply personal reflection of the client’s individual aesthetic, in which wood development was a central component. Santos Straight Grain was eventually selected based on its rich texture and visual intrigue, thanks to its interlocking grain pattern. However, this high-density hardwood posed a significant challenge for the marque’s craftspeople, as it has one of the finest grain types. It easily tears when machined and cracks during the drying process, if not handled with the greatest care.
Despite the challenges, Santos Straight Grain is used throughout the Droptail, including the aerodynamically functional rear deck section, where the grain of the open pore veneer is laid at a perfect 55° angle. Rolls-Royce artisans used a total of 233 wood pieces throughout Arcadia Droptail, with 76 pieces applied to the rear deck alone. Since Arcadia Droptail will be used internationally, including in some tropical climates, a bespoke lacquer was developed that requires just one application for the lifetime of the motor car.
The leather interior is finished in two entirely Bespoke hues, named after the client and reserved exclusively for their use. The main leather colour is a Bespoke White hue, continuing the exterior paint theme, while the contrast leather is a Bespoke tan colour, developed to complement the selected wood.
The interior also includes the exquisite shawl panel that unites all four Droptail motor cars and is the largest continuous wood section ever seen on a Rolls-Royce motor car. In the Arcadia Droptail, it is made in the same Santos Straight Grain open pore veneer as the rear deck, book-matched at the same 55° angle, with individually shaped leave stripes running seamlessly into the door linings.
The car’s fascia incorporates a haute horlogerie clock, the most complex Rolls-Royce clock face ever created. Its assembly alone was a five-month process, which was preceded by more than two years of development. The clock incorporates an exquisite geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets.
This specially designed clock face also includes partly polished, partly brushed hands and 12 ‘chaplets’ – or hour markers – each just 0.1mm thick. To ensure its readability, each chaplet has an infill bridge which was painted by hand using a camera capable of magnifying an image by up to 100x.
The watch is finished in a ceramic coating, with small areas of this coating laser-etched away to reveal the mirror finish of the aluminium material beneath it. Like every piece within the timepiece, including the Bespoke ‘double R’ monogram, they were individually machined from a solid stainless-steel billet and polished by hand prior to assembly.
Themes from the clock are paired with the instrument dials, sharing materials, techniques and execution. They feature the same repeated guilloché pattern, as well as brushed and polished brightwork and frosted white inserts, recalling the colourway of the motor car.
“This motor car is one of the most faithful expressions of an individual’s personal style and sensibilities we have ever created within the Coachbuild department,” says Alex Innes, Head of Coachbuild Design at Rolls-Royce. “In capturing their spirit, we reveal a unique appreciation for simplicity, serenity and beautifully restrained elegance – one that was a privilege for me to have been a part of.”
