The tour of the Roller factories starts off in Unterhallerau, Germany where the frame and body are constructed and then shipped to Dingolfing for primer and paint and it's shipped again to the dedicated facility in Goodwood for final assembly and custom detailing. That Goodwood facility employs about 450 workers ranging regular assembly staff to experts in sewing and woodwork. Take a look for yourself

[National Geographic]

Yesterday, we had a Chrysler product from a by-gone era that came with a price which made 79% of you say buh-bye to it. Today we've got another pentastar player, but this one is wearing a disguise. Top billed as a 300C, this Phantom wannabe has had a Hollywood makeover, giving it the look of a Rolls Royce in the same way Frank Langella looked like Nixon on film.

And on film is where this car got its start. Built for the movie Duel of Legends and apparently unneeded for potential sequels, this 300 could go straight to your driveway at the same time the flick goes direct to DVD. The suicide rear doors and pinching-a-loaf-squint of the headlamps bring a visual interest to the staid gangster lines of the V8 rear-driver. Despite those styling cues, the Cinemascope-big overlapping Rs on the steering wheel will be a constant reminder that you're driving something from the prop department, and not the real deal

But what really sets this car apart - what alone may make it worth the forty one grand ticket price - is the eBay ad itself. Written in blue all-caps, and in impeccable Engrish, it brings new meaning to salesmanship. Where else will you find choice scripting such as:

IF YOU WANT TO OWN A CAR THAT BRINGS MORE ATTENTION THAN EVEN  $400K EXOTIC CARS, THIS ONE IS IT, AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPEND $400,000.00 USD. TO DO IT.

or:

IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ ALL THIS, IT WILL ONLY TAKE YOU 4 MINUTES, IF YOU DON'T YOU CAN BE MISSING OUT IN BUYING A COLLECTOR FILM CAR

So, there you have it; a real live Hollywood movie car, and an attention getter as well, for all you shrinking violets. And you can jump over it! But is all that paparazzi-luring panel work a bit over the top? And does the $41,000 asking price get a thumbs up from you reviewers? Or, is that a price that'll make you wait to see it on basic cable?

You decide!

eBay, or go here if the ad disappears.

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Nineteen eighty five centered the decade of personal excess and narcissism. A exemplar of that profligacy is the subject of our consideration today- a Johnson Phantom. Starting with a third-gen F-body, and ending with a grotesque approximation of a Mercedes 540K, the Phantom revels in all that was unfavorable about its era.

This one is being sold for the bargain price of $45. No, even Nice Price or Crack Pipe isn't cruel enough to take advantage of the seller's obvious unfamiliarity with commas and proper pecuniary delineation. Truth-in-advertising be damned, he means $45,000. And he'll only sell to someone who can prove that they will store the car in a garage- like you'd park this beauty in front of your house. For that not unsubstantial sum you get smoked T-tops, AM/FM stereo, some form of engine and automatic transmission, and the turning radius of the Exxon Valdez. Oh yeah, and lion upholstery.

Let's revisit that last item; it is claimed to have real lion upholstery.

Who does that? The kind of person who uses an elephant's leg as a footstool? A cleaved monkey's head as an ashtray? A hippo's mouth for a bidet? You'd think that a car which has been outfitted so as to appeal to one's inner Ted Nugent would sport a gun rack in order to provide easy access in the event, while motoring to the Piggly Wiggly, you happen to come across a sasquatch, or 30-point great dane. But such is not the case. Still, this is the perfect car for a drive to the neighborhood apothecary to pick up your endangered mountain panda gall badder aphrodisiac poultice. And you will likely be the only kid on your block with bucket seats trimmed in the King of the Jungle.

Lion upholstery is much more difficult to obtain than leather. For leather, pretty much all you have to do is walk out into the field and pull the skin off of a cow. They're extremely docile creatures, and there's probably a zipper down the front to ease the process. Lion, on the other hand, requires much more effort. First off, there aren't that many lions around, and unless you want to be skinning one in a zoo, you're going to have to go either to Africa, or Cost Plus. And you know parking at Cost Plus can be a bitch.

So, what'll it be for this freak show with a ticket price of $45,000? Is that a Nice Price for those simba-skinned seats? Or is it a Crack Pipe and maybe a PETA membership to wash away the stench of revulsion?

You decide!

Houston Craigslist, or go here if the ad get's confiscated by customs. Hat tip to texan_idiot25.

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If Rolls-Royce does sue it'll be purely on principle. Intellectual property lawsuits over clones are rarely, if ever, successful in Chinese courts. This may explain why Chinese automakers released these copycat cars at the Shanghai show this week:

JAC A0 = Toyota Yaris
Lifan Motors 320 = Mini Cooper Clubman
Geely ET925 = Honda Ridgeline
BYD B8 = Mercedes SL/CLK

[UK Telegraph]

The throne-like rear seat sits on plush red carpet underneath a starry night sky - the latter ripped straight from the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe.

No word on what engine underpowers the big Geely, but expect it to make an official premiere at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 20. [via TheTycho]

Take this Rolls Royce Phantom for example, spotted in the UK with it's look-at-me paint scheme of black and gold. How's that for a smack in the face of the ailing global economy. Apparently owned by a day-trading young chav in south London, this black and gold Phantom is said to be the only one in the whuurld of its kind.

If you can start to re-chew your lunch from the sight of the Rolls, take a peak at his equally ostentatious Range Rover with bonus octo-exhaust. As if the obnoxious black and gold stripes and cheap chrome accents weren't enough, he's applied cheap playboy bunny stickers on the number plates. This man truly knows how to outfit his rides.

According to the old adage, money can't buy taste, but it can buy more Sam Sparro!

[via Pistonheads]

Adding to his un-posh day, the car was also ticketed while it sat there holding its own key hostage. Apparently the Rolls Phantom had enough Grey Poupon and decided to really poop on Fiddy, leaving him stranded for hours. How embarrassing.

[via The CarFanatic]

MATTE BLACK ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM(Photo credit: Dilan Bandaranayake) [Streetfire]

To justify that price, it will use an engine, likely a V8, which will be unique to Rolls-Royce. Also expect Phantom-like interior accoutrements such as thick wool carpet and barbwire-pockmark-free leather. The company estimates that, while there are only about 100,000 people worldwide that can afford a Phantom, the market for the RR4 is one million strong, so expect to see plenty of these idling outside Harrods. [via Autocar]

Well, not really. But if Nick Hogan did have one, this is totally the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe he'd drive. In fact, we bet he has a poster of this exact car on his jail cell wall right now. We'd also say the odds are high on this Phantom sticking out like a sore thumb at the Pebble Beach Concours.


(Thanks to J.F. Musial for the tip!)

With this car, it's easy to draw comparison to Aristotle's model of the tragic hero. The tragic flaws are not in its character but in its history. It is not for lack of greatness but for the existence of those flaws that this car will never win the Concourse d'elegances. That, among many reasons, is why we offer it a place in our garage, with no questions as to its veracity.

Such glorious things rarely start life in such a perfected state, and thus is true for this Phantom. The 1925 Phantom 1 was originally bodied and sold as a Hooper Cabriolet to one Mrs. Hugh Dillman of Detroit, MI. Amusingly enough, it seems the car never left England before it again changed hands and was purchased by the Raja of Nanpara. It was at this point that the Rolls discovered its true fate at the hand of the Belgian coach builder Jonckheere Carrossiers. The car was rebodied in the entirely fabulous hand crafted aero-coupe livery you see today. The work won many awards, including its first concourse entry in le Prix de Cannes, where it won top honors. The details of this car go on for miles and we'll take time to point out only a few highlights.

The automobile was fitted with a six cylinder, 7.66L OHV inline six engine and a four speed manual transmission. The body was completely hand fabricated to include round doors, split-opening half-moon windows, twin sunroofs, bespoke luggage and a stabilizing fin at the rear. All told, the luxurious automobile was quiet enough to hold a conversation at speed and would easily travel at 100 mph.

As with all stories in this form, tragedy strikes early in the tale. Though vast sums had be spent on the car, it changed hands repeatedly within the 1940s and 1950s. It was eventually purchased by an American, Max Obie, when in near-derelict condition. He covered it with over six pounds of gold dust paint and used it as a traveling sideshow; any schmoe with a dollar could pay to marvel at its bastardized glory. And then it was lost to time.


In 1991, the car again emerged from its historical haze by way of international auto auction. The Phantom 1 Jonckheere Coupe was purchase by a private Japanese collector and stashed away for time to pass it by yet again. Here is where the story both diverges and follows the model of tragedy. Instead of descending into obscurity, the Petersen Museum convinced the collector to relinquish ownership and it became ward of the institution. It was promptly restored to is original glory and shown in the 2005 Concourse D'Elegance, where the final tragedy occurred. Because of the lack of provenance, the fates (and the judging committee) would not allow a best in class to be bestowed upon this lustrous wonder. The best it would do is the Lucius Beebe Trophy, awarded to the finest Rolls entered into the show.

With all that, we'll lay the choice with you. Whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fate, and in doing so rank among the members of Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, or failing that, be cast off into the abyss yet again.

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The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage:
Porsche 959 | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1 | Buick GNX | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R | Honorary Fantasy Garager: The LS1 Powered Rotus | Lamborghini LM002 | Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe | Ferrari 250 GTO | Bentley Speed Six | Talbot-Lago T150C SS Figoni et Falaschi Raindrop/Teardrop Coupe | Porsche 917 | Audi RS4 Avant | Lamborghini Miura | Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 | BMW E39 M5 | Jaguar E-type | Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | Dodge Charger/Challenger R/T | Toyota 2000GT | Facel Vega HK500 | Voisin C28 Aerosport | Bugatti Type 41 Royale | McLaren F1 | Maserati Bora | Continental MK II | Tucker 48 | Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato | BMW 507

Plastic surgery is never cheap, and this is no exception. Putting a Rolls nose on a Chevy seems to have had an impressive price tag. Rumors place it in the neighborhood of $150,000. But what's above the bottom line on that total? A $23,000 572 cubic-inch supercharged Merlin marine engine, for one thing. And those flashy TIS 30s run up to about $20 large. Candy-apple paint chipped in $12,000, and the air bag suspension another $7,000. Those are some hefty numbers, and we haven't even heard about the sound system or quite probably opulent interior yet. We believe the proper term in this case is not "creative," but dayum!

The writing was on the wall early for the RUF RT12. Its early inception and lack of respectable progeny placed it high on the list of potential candidates for the ax. Apparently, prodigious power and fancy paint jobs do not an ongoing fantasy make.

Progeny, it seems, rang the death knell of the ultraluxe Rolls Royce Phantom, as well. Perhaps a bit too much Swabish blood flows through its once proud British heart to allow it to stay in the garage. Perhaps that whiff of aristocratic excess overcomes its elegant craftsmanship. Regardless, it suffers the same fate as its Germanic compatriot.

And so, we've winnowed it down to 39 of the rarest, or most beautiful, or most lovable cars on the planet. And we're working up a special Friday JFG treat to heal the wounds you've all inflicted on each other during the past week's melees.

The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, As it Stands Today:
1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1 | Buick GNX | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R | Honorary Fantasy Garager: The LS1 Powered Rotus | Lamborghini LM002 | Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe | Ferrari 250 GTO | Bentley Speed Six | Talbot-Lago T150C SS Figoni et Falaschi Raindrop/Teardrop Coupe | Porsche 917 | Audi RS4 Avant | Lamborghini Miura | Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 | BMW E39 M5 | Jaguar E-type | Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | Dodge Charger/Challenger R/T | Toyota 2000GT | Facel Vega HK500 | Voisin C28 Aerosport | Bugatti Type 41 Royale | McLaren F1 | Maserati Bora | Continental MK II | Tucker 48 | Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato | BMW 507

Well, it wasn't all back-patting over 2007 sales of precisely 1010 members of the Phantom family (they've never cracked four figures before). Robertson announced that, thankfully, the new RR4—let's just call it the "Mini Rolls"—is a "truly authentic Rolls Royce." Maybe he thought we were expecting some kind of Lilliputian pastiche, ordered by parent BMW, and felt obliged to quash such errant musings.

The RR4 will also get a new engine, although Robertson declined to cough up details. They will be adding a second floor to their Goodwood plant, and they'll be bringing on extra "apprentices" to stretch the leather and rub the burl. Where can we sign up?

Yes friends, that's a Maybach 62 Hearse. We have nothing else to say. [CWW Cardesign]