Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow: Rolls-Royce Unveils Its Last V12 Coupé

The fastest V12-powered motor car ever built, according to Rolls-Royce, is called the Thunderbolt. It set a land speed record of 357.497 miles per hour in 1938, driven by George Eyston, and was powered by two Rolls-Royce V12s. Such is the inspiration for Rolls-Royce’s send-off to Rolls V12 coupés, unveiled Monday as the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection.

There will only be 12 made, according to Rolls, and you won’t be getting any of them, as Rolls says all 12 “have been allocated to clients around the world,” presumably in exchange for money. You’ll be missing out on an exclusive plaque on the engine, which says something to the effect of “this is one of the last V12 coupés.” There is a special clock too, also inspired by the Thunderbolt and the word “Bonneville” on it somewhere, since that is where the Thunderbolt set the record.

Inside, there is a ambient sky, with 2,117 lights that is meant to be the same sky as the day when the Thunderbolt set its land speed record, because obviously Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection will not be setting any land speed records.

Photo: Rolls-Royce

Rolls claims to have made a new type of leather:

The armrests, seat gussets, transmission tunnel, door detail, door panniers and lower dashboard panel are all finished in ‘Club Leather’ – its intentional greater sheen and even deeper black colouration provide a subtle contrast to the matte Rolls-Royce natural-grain black leather. The leather’s natural markings are intentionally emphasised to give the interior more visible ‘life lines’, and a closer resemblance to what was described at the time as “the club-armchair type of driving seat which George [Eyston] prefers above all others”.

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Rolls also makes a big deal about the paint:

Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow’s exclusive Bespoke finish features a full colour graduation between two tones – Celebration Silver and Black Diamond. A glass-infused ‘Crystal’ paint over layer has been applied to the Black Diamond paint to enhance the transition between the two colours, achieving a striking motion blur effect from front to rear. This exclusive Bespoke technique also gives the coachwork a subtle texture inspired by the crusted surface of the Bonneville Salt Flats, set beneath a high gloss lacquer, which is polished for more than 12 hours to achieve a glass-like finish.

The realisation of this extraordinary finish required the marque to undertake 18 months of surface testing and development before the marque’s Bespoke Collective of engineers, craftspeople and designers achieved a result befitting to Rolls-Royce standards. The total investment in time developing the material chemistry, application technique and surface finishing makes Gradient Paint one of the most technically complex paints that Rolls-Royce has ever created.

This car is also the end of the line for not just V12 Rolls coupes but Wraiths, specifically, having already been killed off in the U.S. in 2019. I’m sure these dozen cars will absolutely live at the track, their owners taking them to the limit every day in a quest for V12 glory. Just kidding, you’ll never see any of these cars ever again.