Ever wanted the luxurious accommodation of a Rolls-Royce, without the stodgy roofline and pesky cargo limitations of a coupe? Well Carat Duchatelet has just the car for you.
Presenting the Rolls-Royce Wraith Silver Spectre, your personal shooting brake.
The Wraith took over coupe duty in the Rolls-Royce lineup for the 2014 model year, as a replacement for the more expensive Phantom Coupe. While the flagship Phantom is on its own bespoke platform, the Wraith is a bit more common in pedigree and resides on BMW’s F01 chassis with the 7-Series. Rolls also sells a convertible version of the Wraith called the Dawn, and a sedan known as Ghost.
Power for the Wraith also comes from BMW, in the form of a twin-turbo V12 shared with the most expensive 7-Series. 6.6 liters of engine churn out 623 horses, controlled by an eight-speed ZF auto. The Wraith is fully customizable inside and out, but all examples leaving the Goodwood, England plant are two-door coupes.
That limitation didn’t sit right with designer Niels Van Roij, who dreamed up a shooting brake version of the Wraith. He worked with Belgian firm Carat Duchatelet and reworked much of the Wraith’s exterior. The roofline was changed substantially, as it sloped to a rear hatch instead of a trunk. Of significance, said roof is made of a single piece of carbon fiber. The roof changes also meant a significantly revised (and enlarged) C-pillar. Dogleg hinges hold up the large rear aperture, which opens to a flat if narrow cargo area. Cargo capacity is only slightly better than the Wraith coupe, as large, leather-covered panels were installed at the rear to hold things like wires and ductwork, and much sound insulation.
Carat also included a full-length starlight headliner in the Silver Spectre and turned up the power on the V12 to an even 700 horses. Van Roij says the project is meant to recall the luxurious and stately British shooting brakes of yore while bringing the idea into a most modern interpretation.
This particular modern interpretation was limited to seven total units from Carat’s Belgian coachworks. Today’s brown example for sale in the Netherlands seems to be the very one used in its manufacturer’s press photos seen here. It’s priced upon request, probably in the seven-figure area.
Ed. note — you’re not experiencing déjà vu, we did write about this car last fall. But that was a newsy post, and this car definitely fits our Rare Rides series, so Corey was able to go a bit more in-depth here.
[Images: Carat Duchatelet]
So ridiculous I want it.
Yes! Without the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon paving the way would there be this ridiculous Rolls Royce?
How is that pronounced – “Douche-a-Latte”?
Sorry, that one wrote itself. Gorgeous car. It makes a lot of sense to open the doors that way. Can we customize the transmission to a 6-speed manual?
Looks amazing… but I blew all my money on GameStop (NOT!)
There are some folks who made a killing.
There are some hedge fund guys who would like a word with you :(
Doge :^)
Finally, a Rolls for third-tier royalty.
How else would a Kardashian haul all them kids around?
Updated Dodge Magnum.
Hmm…I’ve seen this before. Wait, I know. This is a two door Dodge Magnum but updated with Chrysler 300 headlights since Chrysler will have lots of headlights hanging around when 300 production ends.
Yep, that’s it.
Rare Rides is on an awesome “more money than taste” roll – first that Ferrari with the screaming yellow interior, now this.
Never liked the Wraith, and this doesn’t give me much reason to change my mind, though it appears to be beautifully crafted.
I was thinking those two rear compartments over the wheel wells could hold some truly awesome subwoofers, which could be used to . . . um . . . enhance the exhaust sound of the V-12 up to F-22 levels. Perhaps that’s the function of the red grilles.
Front of this car looks similar to Lincolns from 1970s. In alternative reality that’s how Lincolns would look like today, not like pregnant Taurus or Fusion.
It seems likes its been multiple decades since Rolls built a truly attractive car. Perhaps interior photos might help the experience.
Reminds me of a Dodge Magnum.
It’s silly and I want one. Didn’t realize Rolls was using BMW engines, makes me kinda sad.
Shooting brakes are grossly underrepresented for their utility, hence ought to be cheered whenever they do appear.
BUT, they need to be more than poor, look at me I’m different, styling exercises. As in, they need lots of useful cargo space. And can’t have c-pillars leaving them with worse sight lines than a singlecab truck with a solid, windowless, cap on it.
This thing is just a waste. Which is a shame, since a Shooting brake Ghost would be a very relevant car. Or, strike that, perhaps not very relevant in any absolute sense. But still very relevant, as far as an oversized Rolls is concerned.
I sometimes think a shooting brake option would make the Mustang/Camaro/Challenger trio much more useful and attractive to potential buyers.
A Camaro shooting brake would have enough height for at least, well, maybe three surfboards inside as it tapers off to bumper height…
Ditto. Lots of people don’t primarily haul rear seat passengers around. Yet still benefit from the practicality of a nice sized configurable luggage compartment. Which still works perfectly well for occasional passenger ferrying duty.
In general, aside from chauffeurs (whether of paying-, or own kin-, passengers): Two properly sized door, and b pillars well behind your field of vision, trumps four too small ones.
The BMW 4 series, is another car which would work well as a ‘brake. It’s soo much nicer to drive, and live with as a non chauffeur, than the sedan and wagon. Wagon like configurability of the passenger/luggage area, would turn it into a really sweet deal for non-chauffeurs.
I like it . The Gen Xer in me wants to put two 18inch Kicker subs in the hatch.Maybe a Rockford Fosgate window sticker too.
I want this car soooooo bad. My wife thinks I’m crazy, and she’s not wrong, but just look at it! The decimal point is going to have to move a few figures to the left though…