Well, missed
Actually, I’m a little annoyed. Or very. But then again not. Not really. At the end of December, Bonhams held the ‘Christmas Swiss Motor Car Online Sale’ with a good two dozen luxury vehicles, Mercedes, Bentley, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, vintages 1969 to 2006. My eye was caught by a 69 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, 32k kilometres, last tested in Switzerland at the end of October, so at least in reasonably decent condition, probably no rust. Well, the bonnet wouldn’t open, but that could probably be fixed.
Well, actually I don’t want a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. It suits me like a Mercedes-OMG GLS 43. But the idea of cruising along French country roads at 82 km/h towards the channel ferry, Led Zeppelin blaring out of the rattling speakers, steering it in front of fine country inns over the gravel driveway, dining well and in detail, that idea is quite appealing. And then maybe a dignified trip up to Scotland, a haggis and six litres of whisky, please, yes, I could like that. Just the leather you sit on; you could also put the back seat in the parlour. And the real wood in front of you. The scent, you can imagine it, a bit of Old Spice, dust, stale air. The huge steering wheel, more for giving approximate directions; I love right-hand drive vehicles, you just have direct contact with the pedestrians when you need to ask for directions. The GM automatic transmission, into which three quarters of the power from the 6.2-litre V8 disappears. Somehow wonderful, isn’t it? The true deceleration, the rediscovery of slowness.
The Rolli didn’t cost 8000 francs at this auction, including premium. A 1993 Daimler Double Six 6.0 was also up for bid for the same amount, also pretty. But perhaps almost a bit too modern, see above. A Rolls-Royce Camargue, this very peculiar vehicle, designed by Pininfarina, once the most expensive car in the world, was sold for just under 36,000 francs. It was the first with two temperature zones, the Rolls-Royce engineers are said to have spent eight years researching before they had it more or less under control. Nobody is interested in that anymore, but hey, a Camargue, only 534 were built in eleven years. You should actually have something like that in your garage. Especially since an Audi Q2 in its naked basic version already costs more. But who wants that?
And what do I want to say, write with this? No idea, it’s not that important.
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