what extras do you want in your Rolls Royce?

[karyn]

from telegraph uk

Super-rich make marque on Rolls Royce

By Bojan Pancevski in Vienna
Last Updated: 12:46am GMT 31/12/2007

The Rolls-Royce may have been the epitome of luxurious motoring for more than 100 years, but for a new breed of super-rich oligarchs and Middle-Eastern royalty, it seems a standard version of the world's most famous car is no longer enough.
# In pictures: The customised Rolls Royce



Crown Prince of Brunei's wedding car - Super-rich make marque on Rolls Royce
Nice wheels: the Crown Prince of Brunei's wedding car

Having snapped up country estates and football clubs, the nouveau riche now want what is set to become the must-have status symbol of 2008, a customised Rolls-Royce.

Demanding extra-high roofs to accommodate tall hats and elongated floors to make room for prostrate servants, those with more money than taste have beaten a path to the door of Mutec near Stuttgart in Germany, the only company formally licensed by the British manufacturer to tinker with its classic designs.

"Our clients are mostly royal households, governments, successful businessmen and, frankly, people who have acquired a lot of money very quickly," said Ian Grayson, the sales manager of Mutec.

Hip-hop stars and rappers have also been getting in on the act, although Mutec declined a request to create a solid gold model on grounds of poor taste. A demand from a Russian banker for a shocking pink paint job met similar disapproval.

Clients are willing to pay up to €1 million - about £735,000 - for such modifications as an extra 3½ft of plush-carpeted floorspace and rear-facing seats in a Phantom model, to make space for their staff. "A royal customer from the Middle East came to us as their tradition did not allow for their servants to sit at the same height as them, so they have to lie on the floor while tending to their masters," said Mr Grayson.

"They were concerned about the comfort of the servants, so wanted us to create extra floorspace in the back."

Rolls-Royce gave its seal of approval only last year to Mutec, which has a strict non-disclosure contract forbidding client identification. In years gone by, however, there have been a number of eye-catching modifications to "Rollers" by others.

The Beatle John Lennon famously had a sound system, television, refrigerator and phone fitted in his Phantom, and the rear seat could be converted into a double bed.

He also had the car painted with psychedelic patterns, causing such outrage in conservative 1960s London that one elderly woman reportedly attacked it with her umbrella, shouting: "You swine! How dare you do this to a Rolls-Royce?"

The model used at the 2004 wedding of the Crown Prince of Brunei, Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah, was modified to resemble a horse?drawn carriage with solid gold decorations.

His family is reputed to own 500 Rolls-Royces - the world's biggest private collection. Meanwhile Nelly, the *American rapper, had the interior of his Rolls-Royce redesigned in mink fur.

Mutec has accepted about 100 orders since being given the Rolls-Royce seal of approval, mostly from Russia, the Middle East and the Far East.

It plans to open an invitation-only showroom in Germany for prospective clients, showing work it has completed and projects in progress.

Commissions have included fitting a footbath so that an owner could prepare for prayer in the mosque, while a Russian billionaire wanted a longer footwell to accommodate his girlfriend's 44in legs.

The company is also licensed to fit armour plating, bulletproof glass and oxygen supplies in case of poison gas attacks.

The disappointed Russian banker who wanted the shocking pink version was seeking a birthday gift for his wife, while the rapper who wanted his Rolls covered in solid gold was American. "We had to decline. He can well do that, but with Lincoln or Bentley," Mr Grayson said.

"It is frustrating to decline lucrative orders like that, but we have to take into consideration that the roots of Rolls-Royce as the flagship brand for luxury motor cars go back a long way."

[Wickedanima]

O.o

[evilstonermonkey]

some people have a lot of dollars and no sense.

[keiko]

some people have a lot of dollars and no sense.

~K

[Black Spiral Dancer]

That thing looks like Nemo's car in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Some people do have more money than sense.

[theUnclean]

what a fukn ridiculous waste of money and vehicle.
The cash would have been better spent on poll from the ass extraction for the buyer. The RR would have been better used by running him over!

[Bikerpunk]

The rapper dude should have bought the Roller, then taken it to the "Pimp my ride" dudes and then simply written off the gilding expense against his taxes as an employment related expense.

And after all, if he was going for vulgarity, they've got it in spades.

(edit) Ouch. Please disregard any potential racist interpretations of the above sentence. I'd remove it but I can't think of another expression that means the same thing.

[Mr Karl]

I wonder if they can make one to look like a pacer?

[OliX]

I want a build in well so I can grab fresh water whenever I want
and a open fire place for romance


now do that if you can!

[dead_but_twitching]

the only things that should ever be included in a limo is:
a tv, a xbox360, a cockload of games to the latter and dvds as well
and a well stocked bar to make you forget what an arrogant douchebag you really have to be to have one in the first place
when you could simply buy something cheaper with the same comfort and luxery for maybe a tenth of the RR's price

[Amelia G]

I want a stripper pole.

[keiko]

i'm thinking something along the lines of easy clean upholstery and an open bar...

~K

[Black Spiral Dancer]

As long As I had a redhead in the backseat with me, I wouldn't need anything else!

[Mr Karl]

rather have a bentley

[BookOfFaeye]

I'd like a jaguar in it.


a hunter green one.

Oh and some rich person to buy it for me and pay to maintain it.

I'm really happy with my mini van though. :P

[judytv]

Bondage play room