Rolls-Royce Unveils Amethyst Droptail: An Expression Of Purity, Clarity And Resilience
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is honoured to present Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail – a breathtaking coachbuilt masterpiece that celebrates its commissioning client's cultural heritage, family legacy and personal passions.
Rolls-Royce Droptail represents a modern interpretation of the roadster body type for the first time in the marque's contemporary era. Defined by its intimate and cosseting interior, Droptail celebrates the romance of the two-seat motoring. Only four Droptails will ever be made; while they share a common body style, the individual and highly personal commissions tell the unique story of each motor car's owner.
Amethyst Droptail is inspired by the precious amethyst gem – the birthstone of the client's son and an enduring symbol of purity, clarity and resilience. Commissioned by a patron whose family business has grown from a gemstone boutique to a multinational corporation with diversified interests, Amethyst Droptail pays homage to the family legacy.
The exterior paint captures the hue of the Globe Amaranth wildflower, which blooms in the desert near one of the client's homes. The duotone combination – a silver undertone, named Globe Amaranth, and a deep purple Amethyst contrast paint – reflects multiple stages of the flower's bloom. The lower sections of the motor car are constructed with subtly tinted carbon fibre, which in most lights reads as body colour. Closer scrutiny reveals a complex chevron pattern, book-matched along two axes. Sunlight exposes another elegant touch – a hint of mauve paint on the inside of the 22-inch wheels.
The unique Pantheon grille treatment reflects another passion of the commissioning client and their family: haute horlogerie. The kinked vanes of Amethyst Droptail's grille are partially hand-brushed and partially hand-polished, with a precise line demarking each finish – the result of more than 50 hours of collective work.
The amethyst cabochons which beautifully adorn the base of the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine and the interior rotary dials pay homage to the client's early enterprise in the precious gemstone business. Each stone was examined by experts within the client's organization before they were personally and individually approved by the client.
Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail's interior serves as an exceptional canvas for highly bespoke wood craft. Amethyst Droptail features the most extensive wooden surface area in the marque's history: the wood. extends from the motor car's fascia and doors to the shawl panel, which wraps around the driver and their companion, the cantilevered 'plinth' center armrest and onto the aft deck.
Material selection began with a sample of Calamander Light open-pore wood, offered by the client. This wood is defined by a complex texture and long bands of colour. The contrasting leather hue, named Sand Dunes, was specially developed by Rolls-Royce specialists to match the caramel strands on the wood sample. Following this, wood specialists spent over six months sourcing the wood with bands precisely matching the leather colour, inspecting more than 100 logs before the perfect piece was discovered.
The Droptail's aft deck section, which sits between the occupants, performs an aerodynamic function by producing downforce to improve stability when the motor car is traveling at speed. In applying wood to Amethyst Droptail's aft deck, the marque's specialists experimented with not just the form of the panel, but with different wood-grain textures and the precise angle of the veneer placement.
A completely new veneering process was developed for Amethyst Droptail: each veneer sheet is placed upside down to expose the raw wood texture. Two techniques are combined: 'bookmatching' at 55 degrees, in which wood sheets mirror each other, and 'slip-matching', in which the wood sheets are aligned side by side in sequence, to create an organic, natural effect that gives the illusion of a single piece of wood.
To ensure Amethyst Droptail can be enjoyed in a variety of climates, the interior wood parts were tested to meet the same rigorous endurance standards as the exterior parts. More than 150 samples underwent over 8,000 hours of testing, including sunlight exposure simulation, lightfastness assessments and durability tests in temperatures ranging from +80°C to -30°C.
A removable hard top has been designed to give Rolls-Royce Droptail two distinct characters: without its roof, Droptail is a lithe, open-top roadster; with the roof installed, it is a formidable and dramatic coupé. The roof features electrochromic glass, which can change color and transparency instantly.
In accordance with the client's request, the marque's specialists developed glass with a unique chameleon effect that would alter its hue to match the motor car's colourway. When deactivated, the glass is completely opaque and has a subtle purple tint, mirroring the motor car's Amethyst exterior finish. Once activated, the glass becomes translucent, matching the Sand Dunes leather color used in the interior suite. Over 60 iterations of glass coloring were created before a perfect match was found.
The fascia is graced with a unique timepiece by Vacheron Constantin, specially commissioned by the client. 'Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon' timepiece has an intricate hand-wound movement and is securely housed in a specially designed holder. The instrument dials combine amethyst-colored inserts with the partially brushed and polished finish of the timepiece's hands, mirroring the Amethyst Droptail's design treatment. The timepiece is affixed to a white-gold baseplate with a hand-crafted sunburst guilloché pattern.
