- Pip pip good boy, you fancy a snog in the loo?
Oi, don't be a berk.
Me's only joshin'.
You don't have to go to uni to recognize
this old automate.
They calls it the Spirit of Ecstasy, they does.
This fit bird is the Queen's knickers,
a fancy pants in dependability, it is.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on Rolls-Royce.
In 1904, engineer Henry Royce met businessman
slash car enthusiast Charles Rolls
in a quaint Manchester hotel for a spot of tea
and to pow-wow about Rolls-Royce's first car.
The Royce 10 was powered by a two-cylinder gasoline engine
with, you guessed it, 10 very British ponies under the hood.
I think they call them Shetlands.
Driving was more of a hobby for the rich
than an actual mode of transportation.
But Royce's cars were nothing like their competition.
That's because they were built
under his strict code, just like the Night's Watch.
"Strive for perfection in everything you do.
"Take the best that exists and make it better.
"When it does not exist, design it.
"Accept nothing nearly right or good enough."
Sick.
Charles Rolls was a cylinder snob,
who preferred four or six-cylinder cars.
But he couldn't believe how remarkably smooth and quiet
Royce's cars were.
Rolls set aside his borewhore ways
and told Royce, "If you build 'em, then I'll sell 'em."
And thus, Rolls-Royce was born.
In 1906, Rolls-Royce debuted their first major car design
named the 40/50
because that was the car's taxable hrsprs.
The seven liter, six-cylinder engine
was way ahead of its time,
relying on pressurized engine lubrication,
dual ignition, and advanced carburetion
to give the car both a flexible and smooth power delivery.
We're talking Kenny G smooth.
The car was released in 1907,
and to prove how reliable it was, Claude Johnson,
the commercial and managing director of Rolls-Royce,
ordered one of the cars to be built with
silver plated fittings.
It was nicknamed Silver Ghost.
The Silver Ghost was driven 15,000 miles
and never broke down.
Even the people at Mercedes Benz were like.
"Sacre bleu."
Because it was so unbelievable,
they forgot what holy crap was in German.
The 40/50 became the pinnacle of automotive reliability.
Wealthy people from all over the world
lined up to pay the whopping, unheard of $4000 for the car.
In today's money, to be fair, that's like 105 grand.
And that was just for the rolling chassis.
You then had to take the car to a coachbuilder
and drop another 50 to 100 grand on the doors,
seats, and body panels.
Well, these rich bastards, they didn't care,
and as Henry Royce used to say,
"The quality will remain long after the price is forgotten."
In 1913, the 40/50 finished
the grueling 1820-mile rally known as Alpenfahrt.
Alpenfahrt?
Alpenfiat.
And by 1914, even the British military was buying them
because they were literally built like tanks.
After being crowned the king of reliability,
Rolls-Royce set their sights on becoming
the king of power and speed.
In the late 1920s, they designed their legendary
R engine.
It was originally made for air racing purposes.
It's tough shoving a 37 liter V12 2800 hrsprs
engine under the hood of a car,
but in a plane, the R engine helped
the submarine S.6B prop plane become
the fastest machine on Earth
when it flew 407.5 miles per hour.
That's jet propulsion speed.
Also, why name a plane which is awesome
after a submarine which is less awesome?
But also equally as awesome
because the water is just like the sky for underground.
Car enthusiast, Sir Malcolm Campbell,
took notice of the airplane's achievement and was like,
"Maybe I can shove that Rolls-Royce engine in a car."
So then he did it.
And he named the car, Bluebird.
In 1935, it became the first car to go over 300 miles
per freaking hour in 1935.
- On the first gear, Bluebird's capable of
going 110 miles an hour.
And on second gear, she can do just over 205 miles an hour.
- That's faster than any modern Ferrari, McLaren
or even a Koenigsegg.
What the hell have we been doing for the last 80 years?
Colby, put up a picture of this thing.
Look at it.
It's almost a hundred years old.
It went over 300 miles per,
did it even have seat belts?
Probably not.
With Rolls-Royce powering the fastest thing on land
and in the air, all that was left was to conquer the sea.
In 1938, they completed the trifecta,
by setting the water speed record of 103.91 miles per,
in a hydroplaning powerboat named the Bluebird K3.
Because I guess they ran out of names.
After Rolls-Royce had proven it can build the most reliable
and the most powerful engines,
they set their sights on building the most luxurious cars.
The only problem with that was up until this point,
they had only made engines and chassis.
They didn't make the bodies.
So in the late 1930s, they started bringing
luxury coachwork companies like Park Ward Limited in house.
The infamous Rolls-Royce Wraith was a thing of beauty,
just like Big Bro,
but was still being produced
by several different coachbuilders.
In 1949, the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn
became the first model to be offered
with an actual Rolls-Royce bod on her.
It was a thing of elegance and beauty,
and its inline six could get up to 94 miles an hour.
The Silver Dawn was followed by the Silver Cloud in 1955
and marked the beginning of a consistent aesthetic design,
which included the giant Parthenon grille
and the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament.
With body manufacturing sorted out,
Rolls-Royce started adding opulent and luxurious components
to their cars,
things like electric razors and cigar humidors.
Rolls-Royce, which once was synonymous with reliability
and power, was now thought of primarily
as the fanciest vehicle on the road.
And anything associated with the car
was also considered fancy, be it celebrity,
a businessperson, or this yummy yummy brown mustard.
- Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?
- But of course.
- Tres chic.
From 1955 through the 70s,
Rolls-Royce made bespoked versions of their exclusive cars
with relatively few aesthetic changes.
Why?
Because Rolls-Royce is its own aesthetic.
But by the 1980s, failing global markets
and shrinking sales turned the once-great automaker
into a tragic tale.
Rolls-Royce was sold and split and re-sold and re-split
over the next two decades.
Nobody really knew what to do with the brand.
If you're only selling to a few people,
how do you stay afloat?
Finally, in 1998, BMW took over Rolls-Royce
minus the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot.
They could only borrow that which they did
for 40 million dollars.
And in 2003, Rolls-Royce opened its brand new
Goodwood plant in Sussex, England
and totally redeemed itself.
The new Rolls-Royce was like, "If you want to buy, like,
"a kind of fancy car, you can go buy a Cadillac,
"a Lexus, a Mercedes.
"But if you want to drop a deuce in the executive bathroom,
"you can buy a Rolls."
In 2003, they demonstrated a recommitment
to giving their cars more power.
More power, baby.
They launched the ultra-luxurious
Rolls-Royce Phantom VII in 2003.
The car was a marvel of modern engineering,
just like George Lucas's Phantom Menace.
That's like the best Star Wars movie.
The Phantom VII was a game changer for Rolls-Royce
with its 6.8 liter V12 engine
launching the nearly three-ton vehicle from zero to 60
in under six seconds.
But it was the highly customizable aspects of the car
that made it stand out.
It marked a merging of Rolls-Royce's
"We make the greatest luxury cars in the world"
pedigree with their "We make the most powerful
"kick-ass engines" origins.
Rolls-Royce realized that their exclusive clients
want exclusive cars because nothing's worse
than spending a half a million bucks
on a car and then seeing a dozen of the same exact car
in a parking lot.
Believe me, I should know.
So Rolls was like, "We give all of our customers
"44,000 paint hues to choose from."
For the upholstery, the standard leather
comes exclusively from Simmental bulls
raised in moist regions with rich grasses to graze on
so their hides don't dry out.
And the interior team doesn't limit the color to a measly
44,000 hues.
They will let you pick any color you want,
even made up colors like James Pumpernickel Brown.
And if you don't like bull hide,
you can choose from lots of other materials
like ostrich, alligator, even rodent pelts.
For trim pieces, there are hundreds of wood
and synthetic trims to choose from.
If you want something super omega Toblerone fancy,
you can have literal diamonds inlaid into the trim.
Sure you can choose the color of your $700 door umbrellas
and of course the Spirit of Ecstasy comes in your choice of
metals or illuminated crystal.
But while opulent, all these customizable features
don't really change the car.
In 2014, Rolls-Royce decided to show the world
it could make cars that could handle too.
And they unveiled the reimagined Wraith.
This entry level Rolls starts at just 317 grand
and squeezes 624 horsepower from its V12.
It's purposefully lighter and more nimble.
Yes, it's an enormous Rolls-Royce,
but its more compact wheel base and sportier suspension mean
you're gonna want to take it to the canyons
instead of your chauffeur.
In 2017, Rolls unveiled the most expensive new car
in the history of new cars up until this year,
the Rolls-Royce Sweptail.
They used the privately commissioned 13 million dollar car
as a conceptual launching point
for the newest bespoke option known as Coachbuild.
Their Coachbuild service offers customers
who are unrestrained by time or money
the opportunity to design and build their own custom Rolls.
The ever-present Phantom now makes 563 horsepower
from a twin turbo V12.
The Ghost II is soldiering on
and feels as classically new as it did when it came out.
The Wraith is still kicking through corners,
and it's been joined by its convertible cousin the Dawn.
Nice name, nicer looks.
They also have the all black Black Badge edition Wraith
that makes 40 more hrsprs
for you guys with (bleep) you money and tattoos.
They even have an SUV now.
The larger Cullinan SUV is everything
Rolls-Royce has ever been and more.
It's named after the largest diamond ever found,
and before you get upset that it's not named after a ghost
like the other ones, the diamond is named after
Thomas Cullinan and he's dead.
The Cullinan is unique among Rollses
because of its rear lift gate and all-wheel drive.
The new Ghost isn't out yet, but even in its camo coverings,
it looks leaner and more aggressive
than its earlier brethren and that's saying a lot.
Rolls-Royces aren't for everybody, that's clear.
But even if you're cruising in some other $500,000 car,
if one pulls up next to you, you'll feel that sting
of envy, wishing you were driving that Rolls.
Thanks for watching Donut Media.
If you guys didn't watch it, we wouldn't get to make it.
If you like this video, make sure you let us know
by hitting that Like button down below.
Hit the Subscribe button to make sure that you don't
miss any videos in the future.
Check out this episode of Wheelhouse,
where Nolan outruns the cops.
Follow me on Instagram @jamespumphrey.
Follow Donut on Instagram @donutmedia.
I love you.