Victoria Bennett Talks Rolls-Royce at Masterpiece 2011

The one-off Phantom Drophead Coupé was hand-built by craftspeople at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood home in the south of England, and comes with a number of lavish, customised features.

As well as bespoke luggage, the car includes a specially-designed Asprey jewellery box, housed discreetly in the glove compartment, offering storage for drivers and passengers so they can enjoy roof-down driving without having to worry about their precious trinkets.

During our visit to Masterpiece, Superyachts.com sat down with Victoria Bennett, Marketing Director for Rolls-Royce, to discuss the inspiration behind the concept, and Rolls-Royce participation at the lavish fair.

“It’s something very new for us,” Ms Bennett told Shari Liu, Superyachts.com's luxury director.

“It’s the first time we’ve exhibited at a fine art and antiques fair, but so far so good. The preview day proved to be very successful for us, and fingers crossed we’ve sold the car from the stand, just waiting to finalise the deal.”

The deal to which Ms Bennett alluded is said to be in the region of £340,000. So as well as its luxurious accessories, what else makes the car so unique?

“This car is particularly special,” Ms Bennett explained. “It’s the first time we’ve painted a car in Mazarine Blue.

“You can see very much from the design styling, especially present within the teek decking, that it takes its inspiration from yachts.”

Also featuring on the stand are eight images by the photographer Rankin, who was asked to create his interpretations of the “Spirit of Ecstasy”, Rolls-Royce’s iconic logo which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

As for the future of Rolls-Royce, Ms Bennett sees good times ahead.

“We’ve had two record years, almost doubling our production with the introduction of our Ghost range, so things are looking very promising for us.”