We can't resist this piece of extravagant engineering. The Aviator is a new niche model from Rolls-Royce's Bespoke Vehicle department. Designed to simultaneously honour the plane-spotting passions of company founder Charles Stewart Rolls while also giving its contemporary designers, seamstresses, woodworkers, and craftspeople something of a work out, the Phantom Coupé Aviator Collection is a strict limited edition.
Just 35 examples of this finely honed automobile will be built, each featuring a host of unique details designed to hark back to the glory days of flight.
Before Rolls-Royce's aviation concerns were hived off to form a separate company, the name was associated with attempts at the world airspeed record through the Schneider Trophy of the early 1930s. The Rolls-Royce-powered Supermarine S6B, one of the most evocative aeroplanes of all time, is referenced in the interior of the new car, with its aluminium, leather and wood interior.
Rolls himself was a pioneering early balloonist and aviator - indeed, he was Britain's very first aviation casualty when he was killed in his Wright Flyer in 1910. The interior of the Aviator is unashamedly retro, but the functionalist feel of exposed fixings, rich mahogany and plenty of spinning dials makes for a truly evocative space.
The Rolls-Royce-powered Supermarine S6B, one of the most evocative aeroplanes of all time, is referenced in the interior of the new car, with its aluminium, leather and wood interior
Just 35 examples of this finely honed automobile will be built, each featuring a host of unique details designed to hark back to the glory days of flight
The interior of Aviator is unashamedly retro
But the functionalist feel of exposed fixings, rich mahogany and plenty of spinning dials makes for a truly evocative space
Rolls himself was a pioneering early balloonist and aviator - indeed, he was Britain's very first aviation casualty when he was killed in his Wright Flyer in 1910
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