rolls-royce's third coachbuild droptail 'arcadia' glistens with glass particles & raw-metal clock

Rolls-Royce releases its third Coachbuild Droptail, Arcadia

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars unveils its third Coachbuild Droptail commission named Arcadia, a motor car that glistens with a mix of aluminum, glass particles, lacquered wood, and its meticulously made timepiece in the cabin made of a geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets. The client, who has strong ties to architecture and design, and Rolls-Royce zero in on white as the primary color of the Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail. But this hue is not singular; it is layered with different materials and shades. While the main body color is solid white, aluminum and glass particles shine throughout the motor car, creating a shimmer when the light casts its beam on the vehicle.

images courtesy of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

The Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ specialists developed a faceted metallic using larger sizing of aluminum particles since the client’s request involved the contrast between the Bespoke silver underneath and the white color. The Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail also departs from the usual design approach of the series since it employs carbon fiber to construct the motor car’s lower sections, painted in solid Bespoke silver. The vehicle’s exterior grille, kinked vane pieces, and 22-inch alloy wheels have been fully mirror-polished, and to further highlight the subtle design cues of the motor car, Rolls-Royce applied muted paint colors along the motor car to reflect sunlight and cast shadows.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars unveils its third Coachbuild Droptail commission named Arcadia

233 Santos Straight Grain wood pieces for the interior

Wood is another central material in the Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail, a recurring design element in the series, including Rolls-Royce’s Amethyst. The client worked with the car brand, handing them references drawn from architecture, residences, and classic cars to help them build the motor car with wood that displays its texture, grain, color, and richness. Rolls-Royce ended up choosing Santos Straight Grain, a high-density hardwood, as the winning material and had to assemble it with care since this type of wood can be easily torn or might crack when machined or during the drying process. Santos Straight Grain is used throughout, and Rolls-Royce artisans used a total of 233 wood pieces throughout the Arcadia Coachbuilt Droptail, with 76 pieces applied to the rear deck alone.

the motor car glistens with a mix of aluminum, glass particles, lacquered wood, and its meticulously made timepiece

The client is expected to drive the Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail across cities, so Rolls-Royce has to pay attention to how the Santos Straight Grain wood might react to the varying climates. To achieve this, the design team developed a protection system and testing process for the exterior wood surfaces, an in-house Bespoke lacquer that requires just one application for the lifetime of the motor car (the design team initially considered coatings employed on superyachts but rejected them since they require regular servicing and re-application). The wood pieces and protective coating were subjected to more than 8,000 hours of development since the design team needed to test the materials’ endurance and robustness in cycles of tryouts, including spraying sample wood pieces with water intermittently, leaving them to dry in darkness, and exposing them to heat and bright light.

the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ specialists developed a faceted metallic using larger sizing of aluminum particles

most complex clock face in raw metal with 119 facets

The aluminum and glass particles for the exterior shine, and the 233 lacquered wood pieces in the cabin glisten. Another feature that shimmers is the cabin’s clock face, conceived by Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and craftspeople. The team says it is the most complex clock face they have ever created since the assembly alone took five months to finish and its development lasted for two years before it materialized. It makes sense given the thorough crafting of the clock, which incorporates a geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets. The tailored clock face includes partly polished, partly brushed hands and 12-hour markers, each just 0.1mm thick.

the continuous wood section in the motor car may be the largest one yet for Rolls-Royce

Meticulous crafting is a term that Rolls-Royce’s design team took to heart when they assembled the Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail’s clock face, given that each hour marker is hand-painted using a camera capable of magnifying an image by up to 100x, filling each bridge manually to make the hours stand out. The timepiece’s minute marker is finished in a ceramic coating since Rolls-Royce says that this approach makes it more stable over time and lets its aesthetics last. Small areas of the coating were laser-etched away to reveal the mirror finish of the aluminum material beneath it, including the Bespoke ‘double R’ monogram, and they were individually machined from a solid stainless-steel billet and polished by hand before assembly.

a Bespoke Tan color complements the Santos Straight Grain wood and the Bespoke White leather hue

To finish off the tailored Arcadia Coachbuild Droptail, the study of white permeates the inside with a leather interior finished in two entirely Bespoke hues, named after the client and reserved exclusively for their use. The Bespoke White hue is the main leather color, which is also found on the exterior, while the contrast leather is a Bespoke Tan color to complement the Santos Straight Grain wood. The continuous wood section in the motor car may be the largest one yet for Rolls-Royce, placed at the rear deck with individually shaped leaf stripes (CAD tools were used to map the placement of each wood piece). The design team adopts carbon fiber layering techniques for the dashboard, door linings, and central cantilevered ‘plinth’ armrest, the ones used in Formula 1 motor racing, to make sure that the base is stable and robust, and can weather rigid conditions.