Rolls’ Last Wraith Gets a Special Finish
Back in 2013, Rolls-Royce introduced the Wraith coupe, which was designed to appeal to a younger clientele. It worked. The car is leaving production, so the builder has developed a very special model with a very special finish for its final chapter.
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While it might appear that there are shadows causing color transitions on the surface of the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow, it is actually a gradient paint surface that Rolls personnel spent 18 months developing. Photo Credit: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is closing the books on the Wraith, a model it introduced in 2013, with a special edition — “special” as in a production run of 12 vehicles, all of which have been sold before they were publicly known about — with an exterior finish of the aluminum body that was as complicated to develop as it is unique. (Of course, when you are producing 12 cars...)
The Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow, as the coupe is known, features what is known as “Gradient Paint,” which is described by the firm as “one of the most technically complex paints that Rolls-Royce has ever created.”
Two main colors
The vehicle is painted with two main colors: Celebration Silver and Black Diamond. A glass-infused coating is applied over the Black Diamond so as to create a “blur effect” from the front of the car to the rear.
Additionally, there is a visible texture provided by the “Crystal” paint, with the texture a tribute to Captain George Eyston’s world land speed record set at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1938: 357.497 mph in a vehicle that had two Rolls-Royce V12 R Series aircraft engines and eight wheels. The vehicle, named “Thunderbolt,” weighed 7.7 tons.
After that coating is applied, an additional high-gloss lacquer is applied tothe exterior. That is polished for more than 12 hours.
Extensive development
To achieve the finish for the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective, designers, engineers and craftspeople spent 18 months developing and testing the chemistry, application techniques and surface finish.
This is the last-ever V12 coupe that Rolls will produce as it makes the transition to electrification.
While it could have been the case that the exterior would appear somewhat funereal, the designers added Bright Yellow pinstripes, bumper inserts, V-struts visible through the radiator grille, and the base of the carbon fiber Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament.
