Amethyst Droptail by Rolls-Royce

Serendipity manifests itself in the Coachbuild realm at Rolls-Royce. One such masterpiece is embodied as highly bespoke elegance in the stunning Rolls-Royce Droptail finished in exotic Amethyst. This breathtaking coachbuilt motorcar is a clear expression of purity, clarity, and resilience. As with all bespoke Rolls-Royce masterworks, it becomes a personal extension of the client’s cultural heritage, family legacy, and personal passions.

The Amethyst Droptail is a coachbuilt exercise in specificity representing a sense of timelessness and artistic endurance. It’s a highly conceptual expression of personal luxury only ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy’ can deliver. To quote Anders Warming, Design Director, Rolls-Royce Motorcars – “A coachbuilt Rolls-Royce derives its identity and legend from the accomplishments, sensibilities, and character of its owner.” The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail is a testament to absolute perfection.

No two Rolls-Royce motorcars will ever be alike…

Each and every new Rolls-Royce will be as distinctive as its owner’s fingerprints. The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail is limited – exclusively – it is one of four totally unique expressions of posh individuality. Rolls-Royce is among a handful of contemporary motorcars that still offer highly bespoke handcrafted opulence minted in extremely limited editions…making each example an instant collectible.

Mulliner Park Ward Corniche coachbuilt convertible

Personal commissioning has been the primary focus of Rolls-Royce dating back to the coachbuilt genre of H.J. Mulliner and Park Ward Design Studios located in London, the heart of the UK. This eminent coachbuilder designed works of automotive art exclusive to each patron reflecting all of their requisites resulting in one-of-a-kind motorcars of absolute distinction. That very same unrelenting excellence can be found at Goodwood embodied as today’s Rolls-Royce motorcars. The Amethyst Droptail is a contemporary projection of this true connoisseurship without conjecture.

The Globe Amaranth Wildflower inspiration…

The Amethyst Droptail exhibits a duotone exterior finish capturing multiple stages of the wildflower’s bloom. It radiates a soft purple hue accented by fine flecks of powdered aluminium reflecting light creating a luminous iridescence which is a nod to the Globe Amaranth Wildflower blooming in the desert near one of the patron’s homes. The car was ceremoniously presented to the patron at a private event in Gstaad, Switzerland – a region of significance to the patron.

The architecture is augmented by bodywork reflecting a deep purple Amethyst applied to the upper coachwork containing a harmonious blend of red, blue, and violet mica flakes – coming together creating a mauve color contrast with a subtle metallic glow. This elegant palette is inspired by the amethyst gemstone that is the birthstone of the patron’s son. The client is an established patron of the arts and a collector of precious jewels, extraordinary motorcars, and contemporary works of art – all housed in a specially commissioned private museum. Their family business thrived from a gemstone boutique flourishing to multinational diversified interests…

Even the elegant 22-inch mirror-polished aluminium wheels are exclusive to this special color palette. In the sunlight, the wheels reveal a gentle hint of mauve paint inside the pockets. This touch of class was inspired by the colorful lining of the patron’s favorite bespoke jacket.

Understatement & subtlety define the Amethyst Droptail

The exterior is further enhanced by a subtle yet highly complex carbon fibre treatment applied to the lower sections of the bodyshell. It took two years to create and perfect the art consisting of a chevron pattern book matched along two axes adding a geometric design to Amethyst Droptail’s technical exterior surfaces. The carbon fibre is finished with a fine layer of lacquer tinted with Amethyst pigment coordinating with the body color. This feature is hidden until it’s closely scrutinized adhering to the client’s passion, maintaining a lower profile.

A Rolls-Royce…IS a Rolls-Royce

The familiar focal point of every Rolls-Royce motorcar is the radiator grille shell adorned with ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy.’ This elite combination has morphed into a dramatic new look. The perfect uniformity and contrast between the finish types in Droptail’s contemporary rendition took 50+ hours to achieve.

The grille surround and kinked vane pieces are partially hand-brushed and hand-polished. This type of surface treatment has never been expedited on such a magnificent scale as this. The intricate grille treatment was conceptually suggested by the patron’s son who collects haute horlogerie and was inspired by the brushed hands of an historically significant piece in his archive.

The front-end design ensemble is highlighted with ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy’ figurine surrounded by amethyst cabochons. A cabochon treatment is the art of shaping and polishing a gemstone into a rounded form rather than faceted. This feature was a client requisite to avoid a conspicuous sparkle. The subtle detail reflects the client’s early enterprise in the precious gemstone business.

Beneath this extraordinary contemporary craftsmanship of the grille design is an intricate lower front intake. This highly detailed piece was digitally designed and ‘printed’ in a lightweight composite material incorporating 202 hand-polished stainless-steel ingots each of which has been painstakingly painted by hand in the Globe Amaranth palette.

The perfect marriage of luxury & logic

The interior surrounds its passengers with technology, luxury,  and convenience  in the grand Rolls-Royce manner. Everything is precise…nothing in a new Rolls-Royce ever springs forth from a blinding flash of inspiration. Rolls-Royce – no matter which model one chooses – excels in the exclusivity and that poised dignity which is the hallmark of every Rolls-Royce motorcar. Amethyst Droptail harmoniously blends the exterior with the interior reflecting the client’s personality.

Amethyst Droptail has an interior inspired by a single wood sample offered by the client. Rare and exotic Calamander Light open-pore wood is a hardwood with a complex texture with long bands of color. Calamander has been logged to extinction for the last two-three hundred years.

The car’s leather called ‘Sand Dune’ gently contrasts with caramel-colored strands in the Calamander Light open-pore wood. It required more then six months to accomplish looking over 100 logs before the perfect specimen was found. The primary leather hue called Amethyst compliments the exterior and is finished in a subtle pearlescent lacquer which is a nod to the precious gemstone the car is named after.

The most extensive wooden surface area in the history of the brand is used for Amethyst Droptail. The elegant open-pore wood surrounds passengers from the front fascia, doors, shawl panel, cantilevered armrest, spanning out to the rear deck.

Form & Function results in an extraordinarily artistic design and the world’s first and only ‘raw’ wooden surface augmenting downforce on a new roadgoing motorcar. To achieve this aerodynamically functional aft deck; wood specialists and aerodynamicists coordinated different wood-grain textures and the precise angle of the veneer placement.

Rolls-Royce developed a new veneering process specifically designed for Amethyst Droptail. Each veneer sheet is placed upside down exposing the raw wood texture. Two techniques are required combining the art of ‘book matching’ at 55-degrees with the veneer mirroring each other; and ‘slip matching’ involving the alignment side-by-side creating a repeating pattern for an organic, natural effect giving the illusion of a single piece of wood.

The wood for the interior was tested to meet the same endurance standards as the exterior pieces. These tests were expedited in a variety of climates around the world to ensure quality standing up to nature’s elements. Before construction, over 150 samples underwent over 8,000 hours of testing which included full sunlight exposure simulation and rain fastness assessment. Tests were also done for durability in temperatures from +80°C to -30°C. The deck’s protective coating was developed exclusively for Amethyst Droptail and have been granted their own patent.

Completing the color palette for the interior; an elegant adornment of the rotary dials is surrounded by amethyst gemstones that are shaped and polished in a convex cabochon style rather than faceted. Each stone was scrutinized by the client’s organization before being personally and individually approved by the client himself. The excellent depth and clarity of each stone rivals that of fine jewellery. Woven leather floormats are a nod to the centuries old weaving craft of the souks of the client’s original home region.

Amethyst Droptail can be either an exotic open tourer or install the hardtop and it becomes an elegant closed coupé. The roof has electrochromic glass that not only changes color but also transparency instantly. Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective designed the glass to be completely opaque with a subtle purple tint mirroring the car’s Amethyst color bodyshell when deactivated. At the touch of a button, it becomes translucent – with a hue that matches the ‘Sand Dunes’ leather color of the interior. It required specialists to experiment with 60 iterations of glass coloring before the perfect match was found.

Another Rolls-Royce personal touch is a unique-to-the-car timepiece by renowned Swiss haute horlogerie maison, Vacheron Constantin. This exclusive timepiece is hand-crafted called ‘Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon,’ has an intricate hand-wound movement and is housed in a specially designed holder enabling it to be mobile and stored separately from the car. The timepiece features a bi-retrograde display with instantaneous return of the hours and minutes as well as a bi-axial tourbillon.

Vacheron Constantin and Rolls-Royce coordinated their efforts closely together ensuring forms, materials, and colors of the timepiece were spot-on working seamlessly into Amethyst Droptail and its dedicated color palette. The instrument dials combine amethyst-colored inserts with a partially brushed and polished finish of the timepiece’s hands. It’s affixed to a white-gold baseplate with a hand-crafted sunburst Guilloché pattern.

A PERSONAL PLACE IN ROLLS-ROYCE HISTORY

This extraordinary expression of Rolls-Royce Droptail is a testament to the commissioning client’s passion for quiet detail, playfully but meticulously incorporated into one of the most historically significant Rolls-Royces ever built. It also represents the marque’s capabilities, not just in realizing such a clear vision, but in artfully harmonizing heritage, modernity and soul.

Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail IS NotoriousLuxury © 2025