Tony Crook in Octane Magazine

[jimfoz]

Lets look at the luxury car market these days. Marques such as Bentley and Rolls Royce have succumbed to the money no object attitude. Wayne the professional footballer gets to buy a white Range Rover with gold spinners; Mr Oleg from Moscow gets to buy a bomb proof Rolls Royce with diamond encrusted radiator and snakeskin roof covering; Barbie the reality TV star buys a pink Bentley with corresponding fur lined interior; Mr Chan from Beijing buys his Rolls Royce with satin black paint and gold leaf lined door cappings. The new age wealth who run this world want bling for their cash, not 'dignified travel for four adults and their luggage'. TC would have kicked these people out of the showroom rightly or wrongly - Silverton may have been open to suggestions, but by this time the cars were too wrapped up in their own anonimity, and, in the case of the Blenheim, awkwardness, to ever regain profitability. This may have worked well in the 50's and 60's when Mr 'Old Money', finding the Rolls Royce rubbed it in a bit during these austere times, and the Cadillac Fleetwood much too vulgar and 'nouveau', would have gladly gone for the elegant simplicity and aeronautical inspired Bristol. Unfortunately not now where bad taste reigns supreme.