Rolls Royce unveils one off Manchester Ghost
Tue, 18 Apr 2023
Rolls-Royce has unveiled a bespoke one-off Rolls-Royce Ghost model to celebrate the historical link between the company and the city of Manchester.
This is the first time the city has been chosen as the inspiration for a Rolls-Royce commission, and the project was a collaboration between designers, craftspeople and artisans from the bespoke collective at the Home of Rolls-Royce.
The northern metropolis has long been an important place for Rolls-Royce: on 4th May 1904, Charles Rolls and Henry Royce first met in the Midland Hotel, in central Manchester and it was from this meeting that the marque’s two founding fathers agreed together to create ‘the best motor car in the world’.
The team behind the project, headed by designer Ieuan Hatherall, aimed to create a highly contemporary yet elegant version of the Rolls Royce Ghost model while honouring the significance of the city for the marque and celebrating the accomplishments of the people of Manchester.
The exterior of the car features a bespoke motif inspired by the Manchester Bee, one of the best-known symbols of the city and emblem for over 150 years.
This symbolizes Mancunians’ strong work ethic and the city being a hive of activity. The Manchester Bee theme continues inside the car, with the iconic symbol embroidered on the front and rear seat inserts.
The Manchester Ghost also features a coachline in Turchese, creating a contemporary accent to the car, and brake callipers in the same hue elegantly complete the exterior.
The car's interior boasts a truly special Illuminated Fascia, with 10,000 laser-etched dots, depicting an ethereal view of Manchester from above. The largest etched dot on the Illuminated Fascia represents the location of the Midland Hotel, the very place where the marque’s two founding fathers first met at the start of the twentieth century.
The illuminated fascia references the title of the poem ‘This is the Place’ by Tony Walsh, a sentimental tribute to the city of Manchester.
Landmark locations in Manchester are embroidered in tone-on-tone thread to the rear seat centre, while the graphene headliner features a Graphene lattice inspired pattern.
Graphene was first isolated in 2004 by two professors at the University of Manchester and is known for its unique properties that helped to reaffirm Manchester as a city renowned for revolutionary inventions, academic expertise, and research.
The illuminated treadplates celebrate Manchester’s reputation as a pioneer in the field of technology. Inside the cabin doors, the abbreviated name for the city, ‘MCR’, is inscribed in Binary, a tribute to ‘The Manchester Baby’, the world’s first stored programmed electronic digital computer which was successfully run at the University of Manchester on 21st June 1948 – a landmark moment in the history of computing.
The Manchester Ghost was designed as a tribute to Manchester's rich history, and Jon Crossley, the Brand Director at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Manchester, said it was "truly special and will always be highly memorable."
The car took two years to design and create. It showcases the unrivalled capabilities of the bespoke department. This bespoke model is a celebration of Manchester's past, present and future, and it is a testament to the expertise and craftsmanship of the Bespoke Collective at the Home of Rolls-Royce.
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