“Every Bespoke Rolls-Royce represents a unique expression of the clients’ personal passions and character. We have had the privilege of working with Mr. and Mrs. Sloss on several previous commissions and were delighted to create a Cullinan Black Badge to augment an already impressive collection. This magnificent interpretation of our all-conquering SUV is a true work of art that captures their passion for racing, luxury, and automotive excellence. Mr. and Mrs. Sloss are highly discerning patrons with a clear vision and exacting standards. In their new Cullinan, as with all their Rolls-Royce motor cars, there is no compromise between style, luxury, and performance. We are delighted they have chosen to share their creation with the wider world.”
-Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Ben & Christine Sloss, car enthusiasts by day and endurance racers on the weekends, took delivery today of their latest Bespoke Rolls-Royce commission from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Los Gatos.
The Sloss’s new Cullinan Black Badge is finished in a unique Bespoke colorway, Pikes Peak Blue, created to their personal specification by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective. The name is an homage to the legendary Colorado hill-climb, which is one of their favorite races. Combined with the vivid flashes of Forge Yellow on the hand-painted coachline, wheel-centre pinstripes and brake callipers, it carries the colors of the flag of Modena, the northern Italian province, and the livery carried by all the couple’s racing cars.
The Black Badge variant brings out the darker, edgier, more assertive side of Cullinan’s character. Mr. and Mrs. Sloss’s car includes the signature silver-on-black ‘RR’ monogram, dark window surrounds and custom two-tone Black Badge wheels. To underline the car’s performance credentials, the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy atop the dark Pantheon grille is milled from a solid billet of carbon fibre. Greeting the driver upon opening the front doors are personalized Black Badge tread plates designed to match the Black Badge logo. Each plate underwent a precise Physical Vapor Deposition coating process in Black, and then was engraved to reveal the silver metal of the client’s name – Benjamin on the Driver’s side, Christine on the Passenger’s side.
Inside, the seats are hand-crafted in navy-blue leather with accent stitching and monograms in Forge Yellow; similar contrast highlights appear on the fascia, door pockets and even the face of the brushed metal Bespoke clock. The Bespoke Technical Clock was created with Navy Blue Anodized brushed stainless steel surround and accented with Forge Yellow. The subtle accents with Forge Yellow highlights were developed especially for Mr. Sloss’s project to harmonize with the dark blue interior scheme. Each door panel is adorned with Mrs. Sloss’s personal racing logo – a stylized stiletto in embroidered leather – created by Mrs. Sloss and interpreted by a Bespoke specialist who previously worked as a shoe designer.
The Cullinan Black Badge perfectly complements the Bespoke Dawn Black Badge the Collective created for Mr. Sloss in 2018. In this spectacular example of the world’s most sociable drophead coupé, the color scheme is reversed, with the principal bodywork finished in bright yellow, and the bonnet and coachline in Pikes Peak Blue. The couple’s love of the open sky and Rolls-Royce elegance also carries over to Mrs. Sloss’s own two-tone Dawn.
BACKGROUND: BEN & CHRISTINE SLOSS
Black Badge Cullinan, Black Badge Dawn, Dawn, Wraith
“Our Rolls-Royce story began here at Pebble Beach in 2014 when we were looking for a two-door coupe with four useable seats for adults,” comments Ben Sloss. “Brands such as Aston Martin or Bentley do not offer anything suitable. When we saw the Rolls-Royce Wraith, we loved the style and elegance of the coupe, and when we took it for test drive we were impressed (really, startled) by how well it accelerated and handled, in addition to the sublime ride quality and materials we already associated with the Rolls-Royce brand. The Wraith offered a unique combination of luxury car experience and sports car performance, and we fell in love with it on the spot.”
Ben’s wife Christine subsequently commissioned a Rolls-Royce Dawn, a motorcar that quickly became her daily driver. “You can tell which are the favorite cars in our family by the mileage they have on them,” comments Mrs. Christine Sloss. “My Dawn has over 13,000 miles on the clock, because both Ben and I drive it regularly, and we enjoy its open-air experience so much that Ben decided he wanted one too.”
“Christine and I are both gentleman… err, gentleperson racing drivers, competing in endurance races in GT racing cars, and many of our street cars are two-seater supercars with a very distinctive and personal livery,” continues Ben Sloss. “Michael Fux showed me that Rolls-Royce’s craftspeople could create completely personal, outrageous but beautiful colour schemes, and when I heard about the sportier Dawn Black Badge, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to commission a very personal Rolls-Royce.”
Ben Sloss Dawn Black Badge
Through the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Los Gatos dealership, Ben Sloss worked closely with the Bespoke Collective at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood to realize his vision for his perfect personal Rolls-Royce. His motor-racing pursuits led him to the more driver-focused Dawn Black Badge as the canvas for his vision, a reinterpretation of the livery on the couple’s racing cars.
“Our racing cars carry the colors of the flag of Modena in Northern Italy. I wanted to see what Rolls-Royce could do with those same colors,” comments Mr. Sloss. “The first time I saw the livery the Rolls-Royce team had created for the Dawn, I burst out with “O my God, that’s unreal– I love it!!’ It’s outrageous, it’s over the top… it’s perfect. I still grin every time I see it.”
The Bespoke Collective set to work reinterpreting the color scheme into Rolls-Royce design language, creating two new bespoke paint colors for the exterior of his Dawn Black Badge. The intense deep yellow that adorns the main bodywork has been named ‘Superflare’ due to its radiance under the California sun, whilst it is contrasted with the darkest of navy blues named Pikes Peak Blue, due to Mr. Sloss’ interest in the king of timed hill climbs. A further flash of Superflare yellow offsets the black of the 21” carbon fibre and aluminium wheel.
The same color scheme is continued throughout the interior of Mr. Sloss’ Dawn Black Badge, with the seats, dashboard, tonneau cover and rear seat waterfall clad in Navy Blue leathers, highlighted with Bright Yellow seat piping, stitched RR headrest logos and unique to Black Badge model infinity logo between the rear seats. The yellow theme continues in the cabin with a yellow flash along the door interiors, two-tone Navy Blue and Bright Yellow steering wheel and an exclusively developed Bright Yellow pinstripe applied to the Piano Milori Blue wood dashboard, the first use of Milori Blue outside the one-off customer Phantom, ‘Whispered Muse’, shown at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. Mr Sloss’ Dawn Black Badge is finished with a Navy Blue, leather-clad Aero Cowling enclosing the rear seats.
