What's all this about?
We've got a couple of new, extremely limited special editions of two of Rolls-Royce's most desirable models, the Dawn and Wraith. They're called the Black Badge Adamas.
Adamas? Didn't he get to No.1 in 1990 with Killer?
We suspect you think you're funny, but you're not.
Sorry. So what the blazes does Adamas mean?
It's an old Greek word that relates to unbreakable strength. Or, more accurately, diamonds. Thus, these are likely to be very expensive cars, even by the standards of Rollers. That's not such a problem, though, because just 40 examples of the Wraith Black Badge Adamas will be built, along with a further 30 Dawn Black Badge Adamas cars.
Crikey! And have they actually got diamonds in/on them?
Yes, thanks to the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective, 88 laboratory-grown diamonds are encrusted on the face of the clock in the shape of the Black Badge infinity symbol. Other than that, what you're looking at is some strategic use of carbon fibre. It forms the back-plate of said clock in the cabin, while - for the first time ever - the Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet figurehead is rendered in the stuff; 294 layers of it, to be precise, which are of aerospace-grade quality. It takes 68 hours to produce it and has a weave angle of precisely 25 degrees.
Double crikey! Is that it for the Adamas models?
No, not at all. The dark aesthetic is continued outside and in, as the radiator grille is darkened (as on all Black Badge variants) but it also has black vanes. The Adamas Rollers are the first two-tone Black Badge cars yet, the Dawn finished in Aphrodite Red over Black with the Wraith in Morpheus Blue over Black. Those colours are said to be darker shades of the original Black Badge interior colours for the Dawn and Wraith, which were Mandarin Orange and Cobalto Blue, so there's a nice link there. Oh, and this is Rolls-Royce, at the end of the day - so you can switch these two-tone exterior paint schemes if you so wish, meaning you can have an Aphrodite-coloured Wraith and vice versa.
OK, what about the cabin?
Aside from the clock, there's pearlescent-effect leather in a shade that echoes whatever exterior colour you've gone for, a two-tone steering wheel, woven black leather on the door cards and transmission tunnel, and dark brushed metal for all the fascia trims. On each car, the illuminated sill plates read either 'Black Badge Wraith Adamas - One of Forty' or 'Black Badge Dawn Adamas - One of Thirty'. And the fixed-top Wraith has another show-stopping trick up its sleeve.
Which is...?
No fewer than 1,340 individual fibre-optic lights studded into its headliner in the shape of carbon's molecular structure as it becomes a diamond. How about that for glitziness?
It's pretty glitzy, I grant you that. Have we got prices?
If you have to ask, you can't afford.
I walked into that one, didn't I?
Yes. Yes, you did.
Fair enough. OK, in the absence of a crushing list price, any thoughts from Rolls-Royce chiefs?
How about we hear from Torsten Muller-Otvos, the CEO of Rolls-Royce, who said: "Adamas is a collection that fuses the extraordinary competence of our Bespoke craftspeople from the home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, West Sussex, with the rebellious spirit of Black Badge. The result is a motor car for those who seek more than the definitive of engineered luxury conveyance. This is a motor car for the risk-taker who is not afraid to embrace a bold and progressive statement of true and modern luxury, in its darkest form."
Matt Robinson - 24 Apr 2018