Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail: hundreds of hours of work to create a dream car

Rolls-Royce announced that its Coachbuild designers would embark on a project that would present us with four exclusive units or one-offs as they are commonly called, two of which were already unveiled at the end of last year. Let us recall that these were the Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail, followed by the Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail. Now the third joins them, the equally spectacular Arcadia Droptail.

The client’s main requirement was that the final vehicle be as faithful as possible to the sketch presented to them in 2019, which showed a roadster-type body with fluid lines and a low stance that also drew on the design influence of yachts. This sketch is what gave life to the one-off you can see on these lines, which was finally named Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail.

The Arcadia Droptail features a two-tone body, for which the client requested a white that appeared solid but created a sense of confusion up close. This meant the Coachbuild designers had to work hard, first with a main colour, a solid white to which they added aluminium and glass particles, which not only creates an effervescent sparkle when light hits it but also an infinite sense of depth. This is complemented by Bespoke silver used as the second colour, which creates a strong contrast with the white, as the client wanted, and also intensifies it.

Unlike the two other Droptails presented previously, for the Arcadia Droptail the designers at Rolls-Royce painted the carbon fibre elements that form the lower sections in Bespoke silver, thereby creating a sense of continuity, dynamism and agility. All of this is further complemented by a series of details finished in mirror polish, a homage to the historic “Rolls”, present on elements such as the grille surround, the lower part of the bumper and the wheels, which, incidentally, are 22 inches in size.

If we open its “suicide” doors, we find an interior in which the client has put a great deal of his taste and preferences, as the brand confirms, with wood as the main feature. The wood chosen was Santos Straight Grain, which has a very fine and pronounced grain pattern and also presents a challenge for the designers, since if it is not handled correctly it can easily break or even scratch during machining. To create this interior, the craftsmen at Rolls-Royce used a total of 233 pieces of wood, of which only 76 were used in the rear, where the open-pore veneer grain is positioned at a perfect 55° angle.

But the work with wood does not end here, since the Arcadia Droptail will not be a model destined to sit on a pedestal; it will be used and will travel to places with very different climates, something that worried the craftsmen at Rolls-Royce regarding its effect on the wood. To address this, they created a bespoke lacquer that in theory will last the vehicle’s entire service life, and it was sprayed over 18 different samples for 1,000 hours until the team was satisfied. As a result, the work on the wood and the protective coating required more than 8,000 hours of development.

Although it was not the only element that took so long, others that may seem insignificant also required extra effort, such as the clock on the dashboard, for which more than two years of development and a precise installation lasting five months were necessary. Finally, all this exclusivity is wrapped in leather upholstery in two Bespoke tones reserved exclusively for this client, with a main Bespoke White colour that carries the exterior white into the interior and is complemented by a tan shade.