What are we looking at?
This is said to be the 'pinnacle' of Rolls-Royce's even-more-special Bespoke department; the latest Collection car from Goodwood, this time called the Phantom Metropolitan Collection. Only 20 of these ultimate Rollers will be 'available to commission'. Which we think means 'for sale' in Poshspeak.
What's the best thing about it?
Marquetry - which is the art of making pictures out of wood, by inlaying small pieces of differently stained wood veneer to form decorative motifs. As the car is designed to celebrate some of the world's finest cities, there's a metropolitan (geddit?) motif carried throughout the car. Nowhere is this marquetry more exquisite than in the Phantom's picnic tables, where 500 pieces of painstakingly placed veneer depict two different views of a city, according to whether the table is stowed or deployed. The city theme continues beyond the Phantom's wood surfaces, as both the Aetherius Greyleather (which sounds like a wizard from The Lord of the Rings) interior hue and the Darkest Tungsten body of the show car are said to evoke urban landscapes. There are abstract silhouette skyscraper motifs all over the place and even the Bespoke clock shows the time zones of 24 cities across the globe.
Show stopper or filler?
Show stopper. Any Rolls should be able to command a crowd, so a very limited edition one filled with the finest woodwork known to man should really grab people's attention.