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By
EWAN KENNEDY
8 January 2007
Topless cars have become all the rage at the start of the 2007
auto show season, with various marques using the Detroit motor show to
display major new releases.
For those with in excess of a million dollars to spare,
Rolls-Royce has revealed a Drophead Coupe variant of its Phantom
saloon. Don’t you just love that word drophead? It really does
conjure up visions of an era gone by, when the rich and famous
strutted their stuff in the south of France in machines a lot like
this one. And even back then in the 1920s the Rolls-Royce was one
to which many did aspire.
The Phantom Drophead Coupe will carry into production several
of the features we admired on the 100EX experimental convertible
when we first sighted it as a concept car in Europe a couple of
years back. These include the shining brushed-steel windscreen
pillar and the gorgeous oiled-teak rear decking.
Rolls-Royce's Drophead isn’t in production at this time, the
craftsmen in England anticipate starting work on it in about six
months time. Expect the first imports to Australia to get here in
time for Christmas 2007.
The mystery of the newest version of the new MINI is that it
looks so much like the old one, and the Cabrio takes that
confusion one step further – because it is the old one, not the
new model. A special edition called MINI Sidewalk has been
introduced to keep the old Cabrio visible in the front of buyers
as it enters the twilight of its model life.
The MINI Cabrio reeks of cheeky design allied with the sort of
practicality you just don’t expect in a car like this. Sidewalk
sees the Cabrio get leather trim in a lovely old-style design, a
special design of alloy wheels and a chromed interior package.
MINI Sidewalk won’t reach Australia until early in the second
half of the new year.
There has been considerably speculation about the roof of the
new BMW 3 Series convertible. Namely, would it or would it not
follow the latest trend and go the folding hardtop route? The
question has been answered in the affirmative, with a
fast-retracting metal roof being added to the lineup.
BMW is to launch the new convertible to Australia at the
Brisbane Motor Show early in February, that being the first major
show of the year downunder. We look forward to driving it shortly
thereafter.
Possibly a fair way from reality, though you can never quite
tell with Mercedes-Benz, is the magnificently named Concept Ocean
Drive. Interesting because it has four doors in an era where such
a layout has been missing for decades, the COD (crook acronym and
one that may need revising if the convertible ever does go into
production!) looks deliciously spectacular.
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Marque Publishing Company
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