This spectacular example of contemporary coach building by automotive house Rolls-Royce harkens back to to glory years of the early 20th century where the likes of Nutting & Co., Figoni & Falaschi, Gangloff and Hooper ruled the roads of the well heeled driver that came with a chassis, an idea, and a large sum of money. This one-off creation based on the EX103 evolved over a collaborative period of 4 years between the factory at Goodwood and a clearly dedicated customer. The 'Sweptail' (as it's named) made its debut at the Concorso D'Eleganza at Villa d'Este on Lake Como.
Sweptail is the automotive equivalent of Haute Couture,” comments Giles Taylor, Director of Design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “It is a Rolls-Royce designed and hand-tailored to fit a specific customer. This customer came to the House of Rolls-Royce with an idea, shared in the creative process where we advised him on his cloth, and then we tailored that cloth to him. You might say we cut the cloth for the suit of clothes that he will be judged by.”
Inspired by the beautiful coachbuilt Rolls-Royces of the 1920s and 1930s, the customer’s desire was for a coachbuilt two seater coupé featuring a large panoramic glass roof. As a connoisseur of Rolls-Royces, he was inspired by many of his favourite cars from the early 20th Century, as well as many classic and modern yachts.
Over the course of a number of years, Taylor and his team of designers engaged with the client in a wonderfully intellectual journey as they worked together to realise the customer’s distinct vision and bring it to life. The result of this one-off coachbuild project is the completely unique Rolls-Royce ‘Sweptail’.-- Rolls Royce Public Relations
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