There is a program on channel 4 this evening at 9.00 about the building of a new car the Celestial Phantom.
tinyurl.com/po9gc9t
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'Celestial Phantom'. You couldn't make it up, could you? 'Butt-ugly barge' has the same sort of euphony, but what's in a name?
The other day I walked past a new RR whatever it was, parked outside the football stadium in Monaco. It was matt black with giant shiny black wheels and looked more like a LR Defender than anything I've ever seen.
Chacun a son gout...
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I did rather like the colour of the Pearl Special for Abu Dhabi. I thought all fuss about the diamonds was way OTT!
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RR styling has been designed to allow rich chavs to advertise their lack of taste to the hoi polloi.
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I'd like to meet the english guy with his medically reworked trophy wife, who specced the blinged up chrome alloys on his Roller, and poke him in the eyes.
Anyone with such bad taste does not deserve the gift of sight.
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When I read that Zero, I really did laugh out loud. Thanks for that :)
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>> I'd like to meet the english guy...who specced the bling... and poke him in the eyes.
If I get sent to his gaff, I'll do it for you ;)
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The clue is the Football stadium! Footballers has such abysmal taste in terms of what they do to decent looking cars. Look at this tinyurl.com/omadg7x and this tinyurl.com/objguk4
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I found the program very interesting from a few perspectives.
Firstly, it gave proof that there are, worldwide, people with so much money that they can spend it without really thinking or having to justify it. If you are in a position like Rolls Royce, this gives you huge opportunities to really make lots of dosh. Seeing the RR get put together I couldn't help but think that it was not going to lend itself to a DIYer changing light bulbs etc. But this is where the new RR experience comes in - if you are willing to spend that money on a car, you will not be bothered about spending 4 and 5 figures on routine servicing!
From this angle, would be interesting to see how RR settle on prices - if the picnic basket for example was another £5k dearer would they get less buyers? Probably not.
Marketing - the amount of money, time and effort that went into the new product launch was immense for all the journalists. Yet, I wonder how that would compare to say, Clarkson driving it round the TG track or whatever and saying it was a brilliant car?
That Arab RR dealer guy - is there any sales job in the world with less stress??
The diamond guy - personally I would have smashed the thing over the QC guy and walk out but it must have been such a good earner for them that they could spend the amount of time on it. However considering he person who bought it hadn't seen it (I think0, the fact that diamonds were 1mm out of line I am sure would not have caused it to be rejected by the buyer.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 22 Mar 14 at 17:28
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>> The diamond guy - personally I would have smashed the thing over the QC
>> guy and walk out but it must have been such a good earner for them
>> that they could spend the amount of time on it. However considering he person who
>> bought it hadn't seen it (I think0, the fact that diamonds were 1mm out of
>> line I am sure would not have caused it to be rejected by the buyer.
>>
Whilst I have sympathy with that view, arguably it's the beginning of a slippery slope if you do accept things that are out of specification. One that the British motor industry has been down before, resulting in the Austin Allegro and Morris Marina ;-)
And though it grated to hear the CEO and other senior staff, who spoke very good but not perfect English, going on about the essential Britishness of the product,there's a reason great chunks of what was BL is now owned / run by the Germans!!
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 22 Mar 14 at 17:28
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I thought of watching this, but thought: do I really want to watch goddam shopfitters making a special howdah for a maharajah or post-Soviet kleptarch... I'll have a look at the age of the automobile instead.
That gave a satisfying gallop through the business and personal relationship of perfectionist engineer Royce and car enthusiast turned entrepreneur C. S. Rolls, and what's more showed clips of some of their early efforts, certainly far more beautiful than a diamond-encrusted brick on wheels.
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The funniest part was the fit of the German MDs suit. Looked as if it had been washed too hot.
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Inside Rolls Royce - Mike Hannon
