2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe: First Look

Ask why the new Phantom Drophead Coupe uses a cloth rather than retractable metal roof, as is the modern custom, and design director Ian Cameron will give a typically Rolls-Royce answer. "There's something romantic about raindrops falling on a fabric roof."

Ah, the r word-romance. How often do you hear that in motoring these days? You hear plenty of the other r word-rational. But romance? Never.

Yet there's something intrinsically romantic about this big, graceful, bluff-nosed, long-hooded, majestic statue of a car, more of a 1920s or 1930s luxury roadster than a machine from this century.

And although the people at Rolls-Royce hate the other r word-retro (how can it be retro when it's peppered with such high tech?)-they'll happily concede that the inspiration for this car came from the last century not from this one.

"It's like a car from the 1920s-long and graceful, big powerful engine, perfect for easily effortless drives in the sun in beautiful locations," says Cameron. "It's an indulgent car. It's all about enjoyment, of giving yourself a treat."

And what a treat: When it hits the showrooms this summer, after it made its debut at the Detroit auto show, it'll cost near enough to $400,000, the world's most expensive convertible. It's also the world's longest.

The first rear-hinged front doors in living history and another throwback to the 1920s and 1930s, they provide superb entry and exit to the front seats.

It's rejuvenated BMW-owned Rolls-Royce's second model, following the Phantom sedan-now the world's best-selling super-luxury car (though annual volumes of under 800 hardly constitute volume production). While every panel is new, the Drophead Coupe has similarities with the sedan. The handmade aluminum spaceframe chassis is based closely on the Phantom's. It has beefier sills, and on the Drophead they're proper sills rather than the flat-floor of the Phantom. The Drophead's chassis also is just under 10 inches shorter, reflecting the reduced wheelbase.

Apart from that, they have much in common, not least that they're handbuilt on the same "production line" in Rolls's new home in Goodwood, England. Though Rolls would never refer to it as such, you can sense the beginning of a common platform strategy here, especially if the fixed-head-coupe model follows, as expected, in a couple years.

The engine, that big and silent-smooth direct-injection 6.7-liter, 453-horsepower V-12, is identical to the Phantom's and so is the six-speed ZF autobox. Of paddle shifts and sports modes, there's no sign. Instead, as in the Phantom, you get a delicate column-mounted wand, offering the refreshingly simple choice of forward, backward, or neutral. Just about the only manual adjustment to confuse the driver is the provision to raise the car's ride height, the better to clamber up uneven grassy mounds at a horse race or picnic.

The hydropneumatic suspension also is Phantom-based, though there are geometry and tuning changes.