That Time I Saw (and Drove) a (Rolls-Royce) Ghost
Think about the last fantasy you had. I’m confident it didn’t begin in pouring rain or involve you worrying. None of my fantasies have, either, but there’s often a difference between how we want things to go and how they turn out.
The lead-up to me living out one of my dreams – driving an ultra-high-end automobile – began more like a nightmare. The sky was an ugly, gray stain that was gushing chilling, wet misery and I was beginning to doubt that Rolls-Royce would let me take one of its new Ghost Series II sedans out in such awful conditions.
Following a light brunch and a presentation by Gerry Spahn, the manager of Rolls-Royce’s North American corporate communications team, at the Eilan Hotel & Spa in San Antonio, Texas, they did just that.
A fleet of Ghosts, each one adorned with newly designed headlights, a “wake channel” behind the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, and re-sculpted bumpers, awaited my fellow writers and me.
Mercifully, the earlier deluge from above had slowed to a relative trickle. I chose a “regular” Ghost for what was supposed to be a 10- to 12-minute drive down city streets and side roads. The man guiding me around didn’t quite have his bearings, so my wheel time grew considerably longer.
My hands became greedy for whatever sensations they could soak up between red lights. Everything I touched was soft leather, polished wood, or metal. The steering wheel and the stalks for the wipers and turn signals were slender, as if from a car from the 1950s or ’60s.
They surprised and delighted me. The 6.6-liter V12’s 563 horsepower flooded out of the gates of the eight-speed ZF automatic and carried my navigator and me forward on a thick, creamy wave of acceleration. A bit more road noise than I expected came through the floor.
Otherwise, the cabin was a tranquil place. I likened braking in the Rolls to towing a loaded trailer with a truck because I had to think yards ahead of where I was so I could eventually bring the 5,490-pound car to a composed halt in time. It’s not that the brakes lacked stopping power – it’s that no amount of fine materials could’ve obscured the fact that the Ghost was a heavy vehicle.
Once I returned to the hotel, I hopped into the back seat of another Ghost and pressed a convenient button that closed the lead-like rear coach door for me. A fleet service driver became my temporary chauffeur.
Freed from the responsibilities of obeying stop signs and speed limits, I turned my seat heater on full-blast, sank back into glove-soft white leather, and closed my eyes. I didn’t fall asleep, but I was certainly in the middle of a dream. I floated down the road as if I were being gently held up and passed along a line formed by the 60 pairs of artisan hands that spent more than 450 hours designing, constructing, and crafting my fantasy four-door.
Earlier that Saturday morning, Spahn had said, “We [at Rolls-Royce] don’t chase volume.” I don’t think the automaker has to. Its typical customers these days, self-made entrepreneurs, are used to chasing their dreams – and I know I’m not the only person who’s had a car like the Ghost Series II driving through their head.
via [Rolls-Royce 1], [2], and [3]
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