The new Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II has a dark side
What is it? The Cullinan Series II is the revised and re-nosed version of Rolls-Royce's first-ever SUV, introduced in 2018 and now accounting for about 45 per cent of the company's sales. Explaining the Black Badge variant is slightly more complex. Rolls-Royce describes it as the standard car's 'alter ego' and even uses the term 'subversive' in its marketing. With black highlights, including a darkened Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet mascot and grille, lower front air intakes and a smidgen more power and torque, it's a performance variant, but in a very subtle way. It could be seen as less ostentatious than its chrome-laden sibling, but again only marginally.
What does it cost? From $895,000 plus on-road costs. As with other Rolls-Royces, most Cullinans will be heavily optioned. There are almost unlimited choices; our car had a four-seat configuration with the rear featuring fully adjustable bucket seats on each side of a large central console and champagne fridge. In this configuration, it gains a second rear windshield between the rear seats and the cargo area, further reducing noise, and allowing the cabin to be heated, cooled and/or kept fly- and mosquito-free if you are parked with the tailgate open and the Viewing Suite in use. This optional Viewing Suite includes two electrically deployable seats and a cocktail table, which project out the rear cargo area to provide the perfect vantage (and G&T-sipping) point for, say, a school sports carnival. You probably won't want to make eye contact with the other parents though.
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Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Sky News AU
King Charles III receives 'very expensive' ultra-luxury Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II from King of Bahrain, the same model favoured by A-List celebrities
What do King Charles and Kylie Jenner have in common? They're both the very happy owners of near-million-dollar Rolls-Royces. The 76-year-old monarch was gifted a Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II, worth a cool $895,000 plus on-road costs (according to The Australian Financial Review) by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain, just before his coronation on May 6, 2023. The flashy SUV, favoured by A-List celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and Mike Tyson, was revealed in a newly released record of official gifts published by Buckingham Palace. The Cullinan Series II, which runs on both petrol and biofuel, is now part of the royal fleet and is expected to be used for official duties, though it hasn't yet been spotted in public with any royals aboard. In an appearance on The Royal Report, Sky News contributor Louise Roberts described the gift as "very interesting". "It's a gigantic vehicle, very, very expensive as well," Roberts said, noting the model is "a favourite of the Kardashians". An official coronation gift list released by Buckingham Palace reveals the lavish SUV wasn't the only offering from the Bahraini King, who also gave Charles a decorative clock. Other gifts received by the King for his May 2023 coronation span the globe and range from deeply symbolic to historically significant. Amazonian Indigenous Leaders presented him with a feather crown, two beaded chest pieces, carved staffs, and a tobacco bowl and inhaler. From New Zealand, Kiingi Tuheitia sent a Greenstone Mere carved specially for the coronation. Australia contributed with a national gift towards the conservation of the critically endangered Western Ground Parrot. US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden gave the King a leather folder containing correspondence between Queen Elizabeth II and President Eisenhower, along with a framed photo of Marine One landing at Windsor. And before his untimely death in April, Pope Francis presented King Charles with a relic believed to be a piece of the True Cross, which has been incorporated into the Cross of Wales. According to the Palace's gift policy, official gifts, defined as those received in the course of royal duties or from individuals not personally known to the royals, become part of the Royal Collection and are not considered private property. These items cannot be sold or traded but may be used or displayed publicly. By contrast, personal gifts are treated like any other private inheritance and are subject to regular tax rules.
Man of Many
20-05-2025
- Man of Many
Everything We Know About Jaguar's Radical Type 00 Concept
Built in the U.K. on brand new Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA) (JEA) Expected price above £100,000 (approx. AUD $195,000) (approx. AUD $195,000) Targeted range of up to 770km WLTP (478 miles) and 430 miles EPA (692km) (478 miles) and (692km) Charging will be ultra-fast, with 321km (200 miles) of charge added in 15 minutes (200 miles) of charge added in 15 minutes Will be sold in ' a select number of exclusive brand stores ' ' Production car preview in late 2025 Jaguar took the covers off its futuristic 'Type 00' concept car at Miami Art Week in December 2024, and the world reacted accordingly. The advertising campaign was labelled as a woke PR stunt and the car was compared to a toaster, but it's been months since the concept was unveiled, and we're not sure the world feels the same way anymore. This all-electric vehicle will be built in the UK using the brand's Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA), which has been designed from scratch. We won't get a production car until late 2025, but the Jaguar Type 00's target range of up to 770km WLTP (478 miles) would put it amongst the longest-range EVs on the market. Charging will be ultra-fast with 321km (200 miles) of charge added in 15 minutes, close to what the top-of-the-range Porsche Taycan can achieve and quicker than a luxury EV like a Rolls-Royce Spectre. Still a concept, it previews what's to come from the brand as they wave goodbye to a passive old-school Jaguar buyer and make room for what the brand sees as a younger, wealthier audience that wants an electric alternative to a Rolls-Royce or Bentley. The jury is still out on whether or not that buyer exists, but for Jaguar's sake, we hope it does. Here's everything we know about the Jaguar Type 00! Jaguar Type 00 in Monaco in French Ultramarine | Image: Supplied / JLR Where Does the Name 'Type 00' Come From? The first thought we had was, 'Why not call it the Jaguar G-Type?' Well, the name 'Type 00' (Type Zero Zero) does reference the 'Type' nomenclature from the past, e.g. E-Type, and F-Type, but swaps it around for an all-electric future. Here, the first '0' stands for zero tailpipe emissions, and the second represents its status as car '0' in the brand's new all-electric vehicle line-up. Jaguar Type 00 at Warehouse Terrada G3-6F, Tokyo | Image: Supplied / JLR Why Does it Look Like a Concept Car? It looks like a concept car, because it is a concept car. We won't see a production-ready vehicle until late 2025. Until then, we have this concept car, which is making its way around the world as the official marketing vehicle before the production car is revealed to the public. While you shouldn't look too deeply into the design, most of this stuff will change to adhere to strict pedestrian safety regulations around the world, but there are some things we can learn from the concept. It has a very, very long bonnet, sweeping roofline, 23-inch alloy wheels, fastback profile and a boat tail, not dissimilar to a Rolls-Royce. However, like the Polestar 4, the Jaguar Type 00 uses a glassless tailgate, with a camera likely to replace the rear-view mirror on the production car, too. Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR Horizontal Strikethrough graphics, which some compare to the vents on an AC unit, are at the very least a visual point of reference for this new 'Exuberant Modernism' creative philosophy. Premium brands have been using this design concept for decades, but Jaguar says that it is 'unlike anything you've ever seen,' and that might be true if you'd never seen the Cadillac Celestiq, which is also an all-electric four-door sedan built on bespoke EV architecture that you can buy right now for USD$340,000. It seems Cadillac has already beaten Jaguar at its own game, but they've sold fewer than 25 of those vehicles, and it's probably too late for Jaguar to rethink its design strategy. 'Type 00 is a pure expression of Jaguar's new creative philosophy,' said Professor Gerry McGovern OBE, Chief Creative Officer at JLR on the design. 'It has an unmistakable presence. This is the result of brave, unconstrained creative thinking and unwavering determination. It is our first physical manifestation and the foundation stone for a new family of Jaguars that will look unlike anything you've ever seen. A vision which strives for the highest level of artistic endeavour.' Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR What's Going to Power the Jaguar Type 00? There are two things that we know for sure about the powertrain used in the Jaguar Type 00: It will have a targeted range of up to 770km WLTP (478 miles) and 430 miles EPA (692km) Charging will be ultra-fast, adding 321km (200 miles) of range in 15 minutes Everything else is based on educated guesses, but we'd be surprised if the new Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA) were based on anything besides a dual-motor powertrain. If it is indeed dual-motor, expect at least 400 kW of power and 900 Nm of torque, based on the outputs of its closest competitor, the all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre. 0-100km/h should be dispatched in around 4 seconds, unless it weighs 3 tonnes, which it might. How Has the World Reacted to the Jaguar Type 00? The response to the reveal of the Jaguar Type 00 was, quite frankly, mostly negative when unveiled at Miami Art Week in December 2024. They were accused of deleting thousands of negative comments on their social media posts, buying followers (apparently, they merged regional accounts), and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk chimed in on their X post to ask, 'Do you sell cars?' More recently, Jaguar has brought its Type 00 marketing cars to the streets of both Paris during Fashion Week and Monaco ahead of the Formula E race. Here, with a new colour scheme, the response from the public has been more positive. Still, Jaguar's creative accounts have recently been reviewed, and the brand is reportedly looking for a new advertising agency just months after their partner Accenture Song released the campaign to the world. They're under contract until mid-2026, so don't expect a change anytime soon—they will see the reveal of the new Jaguar product through to the end. Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / JLR What Does the Future of Jaguar Look Like? The Jaguar Type 00 is a starting point for things to come at the brand. We don't know what vehicles will follow next, and we don't know what the production vehicle looks like, but we do know that whatever follows will likely use similar design cues and be based on the new Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA). When it does make production, the Jaguar Type 00 will be sold in 'a select number of exclusive brand stores,' the first of which will be situated in the luxury fashion district of Paris, in the 8th arrondissement. 'The magic of Jaguar is close to my heart – an original British luxury brand unmatched in its heritage, artistry and emotional magnetism,' said Adrian Mardell, Chief Executive Officer, JLR. 'That's the Jaguar we are recapturing, and we will create the same sense of awe that surrounded iconic models like the E-type. Our journey is already underway, guided by our original ethos to Copy Nothing – and the results will be spectacular.' Jaguar hasn't listed a price for the Jaguar Type 00, but reports suggest the price is expected to be above £100,000 (approximately AUD $195,000) when it arrives in brand stores. We think it will be much, much more than that. Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / Jaguar Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / Jaguar Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / Jaguar Jaguar Type 00 | Image: Supplied / Jaguar
The Advertiser
17-05-2025
- The Advertiser
The cult of the car: an afternoon at the Rolls Royce Owner's Club rally in Newcastle
Those bastards were crazy. Kim Stapleton, the chief judge of a line of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motors worth millions, parked in formation at the Newcastle Museum on Saturday, thought the owners' club he joined in 1988 would be full of a "snooty bunch of bastards". What he found instead were loveable madmen, lifers; a congregation of true believers in pursuit of that most unattainable character in a car - perfection - and nevertheless willing to follow the winged woman on the bonnet (the Spirit of Ecstacy) in the wild chase until they found it. "They're nuts," he declared at the weekend. "These bastards are crazy; they are the greatest bunch of people I have ever met." Mr Stapleton had only recently joined the club, then, having picked up his 1977 Silver Shadow from a yard on Parramatta Road in Sydney in 1987. He had never stood in a yard of Rolls and Bentleys before, but he reasoned no one had ever died from just looking. "It was the worst thing I had ever done," he said mischievously. "I fell in love with it immediately." The first truth of a Rolls-Royce is that it is a vehicle built in pursuit of excellence. Every car is a singularity. Before 1940, a Rolls-Royce never sold as a complete vehicle. It was a chassis, a seat, and a steering wheel, which was then handed over to the owner's chosen coachbuilder to form the body like a drop of molten metal swept into an elegant, streamlined curve, and to add any modifications the owner desired. "It's romantic," Brian Crump, the chair of the Sir Henry Royce Foundation, said as families and visitors pawed over a vehicle that once carried Queen Elizabeth in the back seat next to the sherry canteen with crystal glasses. At the edges of the crowd, Roger Fry - a softly spoken man with a builder's hands - stood quietly in the shade, watching the procession with a bundle of display books under his arm. Mr Fry, now in his 80s, is one of a small faculty of Australian coachbuilders. He had built 58 custom bodies for owners over the past 50 years and knows the anatomy of a Bentley or a Rolls almost as well as he knows himself. There are 300 rivets in the bonnet of a Silver Ghost, he said. Each one costs $3. "I have to drill all the holes and it has to be exactly right," he said. "If you stuff up, start again. I've been doing it for a long time now." The merry band of owners and judges had come to the Museum for the club's annual rally to show off their motors and have them judged. Points were deducted for the smallest imperfections as the drivers lined up to admire the craftsmanship of a century. "The first thing I wanted was a driver's license," Victor Nash said. "You were out of the clutches of your parents. The world was your oyster. For me, it meant freedom." Mr Nash had two vehicles at the show: a Bentley Mark VI drophead coupe with a curving, dreamlike body, and an S3 Continental designed by a Norwegian with a clean mid-century aesthetic. When he describes it, he knows the designers by name. He knows their history, where they were built - even the chassis numbers, by rote. Mr Stapleton, as he reminisces, recalls a former member now passed, Malcolm Johns, who loved to show off how he kept his engine so immaculate he could slow it to a hum - low enough you could count the revolutions. The Rolls and the Bentley represent a different time for motoring; it was never about getting somewhere fast (though no vehicles in the line Saturday would struggle to keep freeway pace) or efficiently. It was about travelling in comfort and arriving in style. The leather is overstuffed and absorbing - the interior smells of polish and care. But, like any icon, they can be temperamental. The second truth of a Rolls is that it never breaks down. It only ever "fails to proceed". During an overland rally - the name the owners give to the long and often meandering journeys between their meets - in Western Australia, a Silver Cloud pulled into a one-horse town between Perth and Broome, where everything the place needed was under one roof; the pub, the petrol and the post. Having refilled, the Cloud failed to proceed and the convoy's mechanic was called in to assist. "The mechanic turns up, sticks his head under the bonnet and contemplates," Mr Stapleton said. A stuck solenoid was diagnosed as the issue. "He looked around, found himself a good stick, and told the owner to turn it over when he told him," Mr Stapleton said, spinning the yarn. "He turns it over. The mechanic gives the solenoid a whack with the stick - and it works." "Then he gives the driver the stick and tells him to hang on to it because he was going to need it again." In the window, a bewildered lad with a pint in his hand turned to the patrons and declared, "Isn't that amazing - here in the middle of the outback, and there's a Rolls-Royce mechanic available." "We all have these little stories," Mr Stapleton said. Those bastards were crazy. Kim Stapleton, the chief judge of a line of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motors worth millions, parked in formation at the Newcastle Museum on Saturday, thought the owners' club he joined in 1988 would be full of a "snooty bunch of bastards". What he found instead were loveable madmen, lifers; a congregation of true believers in pursuit of that most unattainable character in a car - perfection - and nevertheless willing to follow the winged woman on the bonnet (the Spirit of Ecstacy) in the wild chase until they found it. "They're nuts," he declared at the weekend. "These bastards are crazy; they are the greatest bunch of people I have ever met." Mr Stapleton had only recently joined the club, then, having picked up his 1977 Silver Shadow from a yard on Parramatta Road in Sydney in 1987. He had never stood in a yard of Rolls and Bentleys before, but he reasoned no one had ever died from just looking. "It was the worst thing I had ever done," he said mischievously. "I fell in love with it immediately." The first truth of a Rolls-Royce is that it is a vehicle built in pursuit of excellence. Every car is a singularity. Before 1940, a Rolls-Royce never sold as a complete vehicle. It was a chassis, a seat, and a steering wheel, which was then handed over to the owner's chosen coachbuilder to form the body like a drop of molten metal swept into an elegant, streamlined curve, and to add any modifications the owner desired. "It's romantic," Brian Crump, the chair of the Sir Henry Royce Foundation, said as families and visitors pawed over a vehicle that once carried Queen Elizabeth in the back seat next to the sherry canteen with crystal glasses. At the edges of the crowd, Roger Fry - a softly spoken man with a builder's hands - stood quietly in the shade, watching the procession with a bundle of display books under his arm. Mr Fry, now in his 80s, is one of a small faculty of Australian coachbuilders. He had built 58 custom bodies for owners over the past 50 years and knows the anatomy of a Bentley or a Rolls almost as well as he knows himself. There are 300 rivets in the bonnet of a Silver Ghost, he said. Each one costs $3. "I have to drill all the holes and it has to be exactly right," he said. "If you stuff up, start again. I've been doing it for a long time now." The merry band of owners and judges had come to the Museum for the club's annual rally to show off their motors and have them judged. Points were deducted for the smallest imperfections as the drivers lined up to admire the craftsmanship of a century. "The first thing I wanted was a driver's license," Victor Nash said. "You were out of the clutches of your parents. The world was your oyster. For me, it meant freedom." Mr Nash had two vehicles at the show: a Bentley Mark VI drophead coupe with a curving, dreamlike body, and an S3 Continental designed by a Norwegian with a clean mid-century aesthetic. When he describes it, he knows the designers by name. He knows their history, where they were built - even the chassis numbers, by rote. Mr Stapleton, as he reminisces, recalls a former member now passed, Malcolm Johns, who loved to show off how he kept his engine so immaculate he could slow it to a hum - low enough you could count the revolutions. The Rolls and the Bentley represent a different time for motoring; it was never about getting somewhere fast (though no vehicles in the line Saturday would struggle to keep freeway pace) or efficiently. It was about travelling in comfort and arriving in style. The leather is overstuffed and absorbing - the interior smells of polish and care. But, like any icon, they can be temperamental. The second truth of a Rolls is that it never breaks down. It only ever "fails to proceed". During an overland rally - the name the owners give to the long and often meandering journeys between their meets - in Western Australia, a Silver Cloud pulled into a one-horse town between Perth and Broome, where everything the place needed was under one roof; the pub, the petrol and the post. Having refilled, the Cloud failed to proceed and the convoy's mechanic was called in to assist. "The mechanic turns up, sticks his head under the bonnet and contemplates," Mr Stapleton said. A stuck solenoid was diagnosed as the issue. "He looked around, found himself a good stick, and told the owner to turn it over when he told him," Mr Stapleton said, spinning the yarn. "He turns it over. The mechanic gives the solenoid a whack with the stick - and it works." "Then he gives the driver the stick and tells him to hang on to it because he was going to need it again." In the window, a bewildered lad with a pint in his hand turned to the patrons and declared, "Isn't that amazing - here in the middle of the outback, and there's a Rolls-Royce mechanic available." "We all have these little stories," Mr Stapleton said. Those bastards were crazy. Kim Stapleton, the chief judge of a line of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motors worth millions, parked in formation at the Newcastle Museum on Saturday, thought the owners' club he joined in 1988 would be full of a "snooty bunch of bastards". What he found instead were loveable madmen, lifers; a congregation of true believers in pursuit of that most unattainable character in a car - perfection - and nevertheless willing to follow the winged woman on the bonnet (the Spirit of Ecstacy) in the wild chase until they found it. "They're nuts," he declared at the weekend. "These bastards are crazy; they are the greatest bunch of people I have ever met." Mr Stapleton had only recently joined the club, then, having picked up his 1977 Silver Shadow from a yard on Parramatta Road in Sydney in 1987. He had never stood in a yard of Rolls and Bentleys before, but he reasoned no one had ever died from just looking. "It was the worst thing I had ever done," he said mischievously. "I fell in love with it immediately." The first truth of a Rolls-Royce is that it is a vehicle built in pursuit of excellence. Every car is a singularity. Before 1940, a Rolls-Royce never sold as a complete vehicle. It was a chassis, a seat, and a steering wheel, which was then handed over to the owner's chosen coachbuilder to form the body like a drop of molten metal swept into an elegant, streamlined curve, and to add any modifications the owner desired. "It's romantic," Brian Crump, the chair of the Sir Henry Royce Foundation, said as families and visitors pawed over a vehicle that once carried Queen Elizabeth in the back seat next to the sherry canteen with crystal glasses. At the edges of the crowd, Roger Fry - a softly spoken man with a builder's hands - stood quietly in the shade, watching the procession with a bundle of display books under his arm. Mr Fry, now in his 80s, is one of a small faculty of Australian coachbuilders. He had built 58 custom bodies for owners over the past 50 years and knows the anatomy of a Bentley or a Rolls almost as well as he knows himself. There are 300 rivets in the bonnet of a Silver Ghost, he said. Each one costs $3. "I have to drill all the holes and it has to be exactly right," he said. "If you stuff up, start again. I've been doing it for a long time now." The merry band of owners and judges had come to the Museum for the club's annual rally to show off their motors and have them judged. Points were deducted for the smallest imperfections as the drivers lined up to admire the craftsmanship of a century. "The first thing I wanted was a driver's license," Victor Nash said. "You were out of the clutches of your parents. The world was your oyster. For me, it meant freedom." Mr Nash had two vehicles at the show: a Bentley Mark VI drophead coupe with a curving, dreamlike body, and an S3 Continental designed by a Norwegian with a clean mid-century aesthetic. When he describes it, he knows the designers by name. He knows their history, where they were built - even the chassis numbers, by rote. Mr Stapleton, as he reminisces, recalls a former member now passed, Malcolm Johns, who loved to show off how he kept his engine so immaculate he could slow it to a hum - low enough you could count the revolutions. The Rolls and the Bentley represent a different time for motoring; it was never about getting somewhere fast (though no vehicles in the line Saturday would struggle to keep freeway pace) or efficiently. It was about travelling in comfort and arriving in style. The leather is overstuffed and absorbing - the interior smells of polish and care. But, like any icon, they can be temperamental. The second truth of a Rolls is that it never breaks down. It only ever "fails to proceed". During an overland rally - the name the owners give to the long and often meandering journeys between their meets - in Western Australia, a Silver Cloud pulled into a one-horse town between Perth and Broome, where everything the place needed was under one roof; the pub, the petrol and the post. Having refilled, the Cloud failed to proceed and the convoy's mechanic was called in to assist. "The mechanic turns up, sticks his head under the bonnet and contemplates," Mr Stapleton said. A stuck solenoid was diagnosed as the issue. "He looked around, found himself a good stick, and told the owner to turn it over when he told him," Mr Stapleton said, spinning the yarn. "He turns it over. The mechanic gives the solenoid a whack with the stick - and it works." "Then he gives the driver the stick and tells him to hang on to it because he was going to need it again." In the window, a bewildered lad with a pint in his hand turned to the patrons and declared, "Isn't that amazing - here in the middle of the outback, and there's a Rolls-Royce mechanic available." "We all have these little stories," Mr Stapleton said. Those bastards were crazy. Kim Stapleton, the chief judge of a line of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motors worth millions, parked in formation at the Newcastle Museum on Saturday, thought the owners' club he joined in 1988 would be full of a "snooty bunch of bastards". What he found instead were loveable madmen, lifers; a congregation of true believers in pursuit of that most unattainable character in a car - perfection - and nevertheless willing to follow the winged woman on the bonnet (the Spirit of Ecstacy) in the wild chase until they found it. "They're nuts," he declared at the weekend. "These bastards are crazy; they are the greatest bunch of people I have ever met." Mr Stapleton had only recently joined the club, then, having picked up his 1977 Silver Shadow from a yard on Parramatta Road in Sydney in 1987. He had never stood in a yard of Rolls and Bentleys before, but he reasoned no one had ever died from just looking. "It was the worst thing I had ever done," he said mischievously. "I fell in love with it immediately." The first truth of a Rolls-Royce is that it is a vehicle built in pursuit of excellence. Every car is a singularity. Before 1940, a Rolls-Royce never sold as a complete vehicle. It was a chassis, a seat, and a steering wheel, which was then handed over to the owner's chosen coachbuilder to form the body like a drop of molten metal swept into an elegant, streamlined curve, and to add any modifications the owner desired. "It's romantic," Brian Crump, the chair of the Sir Henry Royce Foundation, said as families and visitors pawed over a vehicle that once carried Queen Elizabeth in the back seat next to the sherry canteen with crystal glasses. At the edges of the crowd, Roger Fry - a softly spoken man with a builder's hands - stood quietly in the shade, watching the procession with a bundle of display books under his arm. Mr Fry, now in his 80s, is one of a small faculty of Australian coachbuilders. He had built 58 custom bodies for owners over the past 50 years and knows the anatomy of a Bentley or a Rolls almost as well as he knows himself. There are 300 rivets in the bonnet of a Silver Ghost, he said. Each one costs $3. "I have to drill all the holes and it has to be exactly right," he said. "If you stuff up, start again. I've been doing it for a long time now." The merry band of owners and judges had come to the Museum for the club's annual rally to show off their motors and have them judged. Points were deducted for the smallest imperfections as the drivers lined up to admire the craftsmanship of a century. "The first thing I wanted was a driver's license," Victor Nash said. "You were out of the clutches of your parents. The world was your oyster. For me, it meant freedom." Mr Nash had two vehicles at the show: a Bentley Mark VI drophead coupe with a curving, dreamlike body, and an S3 Continental designed by a Norwegian with a clean mid-century aesthetic. When he describes it, he knows the designers by name. He knows their history, where they were built - even the chassis numbers, by rote. Mr Stapleton, as he reminisces, recalls a former member now passed, Malcolm Johns, who loved to show off how he kept his engine so immaculate he could slow it to a hum - low enough you could count the revolutions. The Rolls and the Bentley represent a different time for motoring; it was never about getting somewhere fast (though no vehicles in the line Saturday would struggle to keep freeway pace) or efficiently. It was about travelling in comfort and arriving in style. The leather is overstuffed and absorbing - the interior smells of polish and care. But, like any icon, they can be temperamental. The second truth of a Rolls is that it never breaks down. It only ever "fails to proceed". During an overland rally - the name the owners give to the long and often meandering journeys between their meets - in Western Australia, a Silver Cloud pulled into a one-horse town between Perth and Broome, where everything the place needed was under one roof; the pub, the petrol and the post. Having refilled, the Cloud failed to proceed and the convoy's mechanic was called in to assist. "The mechanic turns up, sticks his head under the bonnet and contemplates," Mr Stapleton said. A stuck solenoid was diagnosed as the issue. "He looked around, found himself a good stick, and told the owner to turn it over when he told him," Mr Stapleton said, spinning the yarn. "He turns it over. The mechanic gives the solenoid a whack with the stick - and it works." "Then he gives the driver the stick and tells him to hang on to it because he was going to need it again." In the window, a bewildered lad with a pint in his hand turned to the patrons and declared, "Isn't that amazing - here in the middle of the outback, and there's a Rolls-Royce mechanic available." "We all have these little stories," Mr Stapleton said.
