Rolls-Royce Project Nightingale – a 100-off coachbuilt special you can’t buy
The first in Rolls-Royce’s Coachbuild Collection series is electric and takes design inspiration from torpedoes and grand pianos
Rolls-Royce has unveiled a new limited-run project, the first of its new Coachbuild Collection series that’s designed to offer customers an elevated behind-the-scenes and purchasing experience. Called Project Nightingale, it’s a two-seat, 5.76-metre-long convertible inspired by the brand’s EX prototypes of 1928.
The car is technically a concept at the moment, this model showing what the production version will look like when it’s ready. One will be made for each of the 100 years that will have passed since those original prototypes of 1928 by the time production begins in 2028. Each buyer will be selected for the privilege by Rolls-Royce from its black book of its most loyal customers and will be brought along for the development ride of the Nightingale over the coming two years.
All we know of the Nightingale’s technical spec is that it will be fully electric and that it uses Rolls-Royce’s luxury aluminium spaceframe. If the production model were being revealed now, we’d be fairly confident in speculating that it shares the 650bhp twin-motor set-up and 102kW usable battery in the current Spectre Black Badge electric coupe. Rolls-Royce has, however, confirmed that the Nightingale will use ‘newer technology than that of the Spectre when it’s ready in two year’s time.
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn with the equally monolithic, nautical Rolls-Royce Boat Tail, of which just three were made at a cost of over £20million each. Economies of scale mean that the 30x more numerous Nightingale should at least be a bit more affordable than that, though with the extensive customisation available, each car will surely surpass the £1million mark.
There are visual distinctions too. Both may have tapering tails but the lighting at the front and the rear of the Nightingale is upright, rather than horizontal – its nose is more upright altogether, in fact. The Nightingale is also a two-seater, like the four-off Droptail, whereas the Boat Tail is a four-seater – the Nightingale is all about the driver (and passenger).
The ‘Pantheon Grille’ is almost a metre wide and is designed to appear as hewn from solid, with 24 vanes set within. The dark lower area of the nose is carbonfibre, with a chrome ‘belt’. Single hull lines run the Nightingale’s sprawling length, from ‘Pinnacles’ at the nose, to the tip of the tail, the car’s overall silhouette inspired by the torpedo shape of the 1928 16EX and 17EX. The 24-inch wheels are the largest ever to be fitted to a Rolls-Royce and are inspired by spinning yacht propellers.
The boot is side-hinged, with the motion designed to remind you of how grand pianos open at the top, making every use an ‘act of arrival’ – more of an event than your traditional boot opening action. The tail itself features a large lower section rendered in carbonfibre, with the lower diffuser referred to by Rolls-Royce as the Aero Afterdeck. It’s functional, allowing the svelte form of the rest of the car to be unsullied by aero addenda for stability at speed.
Inside it’s familiar Rolls-Royce Spectre with driver and infotainment displays, organ-stop climate controls and the same steering wheel. The car will however be available with 11 exclusive interior leather options (along with exclusive exterior paint colours), unavailable on other Rolls-Royces and feature aluminium cupholders hewn from billet. The space behind the driver and passenger will be available with, for buyers who option it, bespoke fitted luggage.
And the name? No, it’s not named after the mother of modern nursing. Rather, the designer and engineer’s Côte d’Azur home, situated close to Henry Royce’s winter holiday home. The actual physical development of the Nightingale will begin shortly, with deliveries set for 2028.
