Rolls-Royce has revealed the Arcadia Droptail, which is the luxury brand’s third Coachbuild Droptail commission. The luxury car maker revealed that the Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail has been presented to commissioning client at private ceremony in Singapore. In addition to this, the brand also revealed that the Arcadia nomenclature draws inspiration from the Ancient Greek mythological place, and means ‘Heaven on Earth’.
Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail – Design
The commissioning client insisted that the car remained faithful to the earliest hand-drawn sketch, which was first presented in 2019. The Arcadia Droptail incorporates the client’s favourite regions around the world. This includes tropical sky gardens seen in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as the British ‘Biomimetic’ architecture. The Arcadia Droptail also features low and bold stance with angular ‘Sail Cowls’ that resemble a yacht’s jib.
Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail – Exterior Finish
The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail features a timeless white colourway. But the colour finish features a natural dual tone. At the first sight, the colourway looks like a simple solid colour. But, as per the client’s wishes to create an intriguing feature. Upon closer inspection the colour creates the illusion of unending depth in the paint. Rolls-Royce achieved this by infusing aluminium and glass particles in the paint. This also creates an effervescent shimmer when the light strikes the coachwork.
The brand also departed from the fully or partially exposed carbon fibre used to construct the lower sections of Droptail. Upon the client’s request, the lower sections are painted using a Bespoke silver colour. This also visually lifts the motorcar and intensifies its posture. The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail also gets ‘kinked’ vane pieces on the grille with a mirror finish. The 22-inch alloy wheels also receive a brilliant mirror polish.
Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail – Interiors
On the inside, the Roll-Royce Arcadia Droptail features a wooden theme. The brand had to develop completely new techniques to fulfil the commissioning client’s wishes. The Santos Straight Grain was chosen for its unique, interlocking grain pattern. The wood is one of the most difficult to work with as it easily tears when machined and ‘checks’ (a crack that appears parallel to the grain) during the drying process.
Applying the wood to complex inner structures complied Rolls-Royce engineers to develop an entire new substructure. Rolls-Royce employed the carbon fibre layering techniques used in Formula 1 motor racing. This helped develop a stiff base onto which the wood could be applied, without compromising the dynamic loads it will be exposed to.
In addition to this, the aerodynamically functional rear deck section, features an open pore veneer laid at a perfect 55-degree angle. The composition took a total of 233 wood pieces throughout Arcadia Droptail, with 76 pieces applied to the rear deck alone. The wood pieces and protective coating required more than 8,000 hours of development.
Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail – Timepiece
The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail also features a clock conceived and developed by Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and craftspeople. Rolls-Royce reveals that it is the most complex Rolls-Royce clock face ever created. The clock took over 5 months to complete its assembly and was preceded by more than two years of development. The clock incorporates a geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets. The 119 facets symbolically coincide with Rolls-Royce 119-year anniversary which was celebrated in 2023 and the same time when the client first saw a preview of the motor
car.
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