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GOODWOOD (Britain): Rolls-Royce has introduced the Phantom Coupé Aviator Collection to pay homage to founder Charles Stewart Rolls and the 1930s Schneider Trophy-winning Supermarine S6B.
The first in the collection of 35 Phantom Coupé Aviator Collection models - which feature a range of design concepts, colour combinations and new materials - debut last week at the Pebble Beach Quail gathering in the United States.
Finished in Aviator Grey, the Phantom Coupé Aviator Collection features a contrasting matt bonnet, window and grille surround while inside, the interplay of wood and metal hint strongly at a cockpit theme.
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(Photos: The Star/ANN) |
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A Thommen, aviation-grade clock with orange needle tips is embedded in the metal foil upper fascia, complemented by matt black dials for power reserve, speedometer and fuel gauges.
The lower fascia is veneered in mahogany, painstakingly shaped by craftspeople just as the early record-setting propellers were fashioned and features Sapele contrast.
Polished stainless steel veneer 'onlays' with bullet-shaped ends are designed to match floor mat fixings.
Between 1931 and 1933, the Schneider Trophy was held in the South of England, not far from the current Home of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars here. The Supermarine S6B plane was powered by a Rolls-Royce R Type engine.
Collection cars celebrate the victorious S6B aircraft with transmission tunnel in anodised aluminium with exposed torx fixings and swage lines that echo the oil cooling veins on the S6B fuselage side. These highlights are repeated on collection car armrests.
The leather-lined glove compartment includes an embossed Charles Rolls quote following his first flight with the Wright Brothers in 1908: "The power of flight is as a fresh gift from the Creator, the greatest treasure yet given to man."
A centre console chrome plaque describes Rolls - only the second man in Britain to hold a pilot's licence - simply as Pioneer Aviator, below a representation of his sweeping signature.
Phantom Coupé Aviator Collection models are now available for orders.
 
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