Details that Matter

February 13, 2023

Recently, while in London, I was exposed to a level of everyday car that remains completely unheard of in my hometown of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. On the first day, walking the streets of Mayfair I saw cars that simply do not exist on the streets of most towns. One of the most popular of these oddities was the Rolls Royce Cullinan, a car that previously I had seen maybe once or twice before in person, and a car that I always found impressive, but also slightly disgusting. 

The reason being, I think, is that most examples you see (whether it be in person or on social media) are disgusting – but they don’t have to be. 

For example, this one, as seen in its natural habitat on New Bond Street. My first reaction to it was confusion. There is such a hodgepodge of different stylings going on that it almost looks like another car is trying to look like a Cullinan. Like a Chrysler 300 trying to sneak its way into the Bentley owners club area at a concours show. 

The secondary hood color (or bonnet I guess since it’s in England) is a common styling option on a Rolls and can give the car just that little extra bit of flavor with a complimentary color. 

However, in this case, it just feels wrong: the black hood, the black mirrors, the black trim, black wheels, yet paired with chrome grille, white skirts, white pillars, and white roof. 

It’s disjointed and chaotic, on an otherwise composed and intentional design. 

With the black on top, white on the bottom, it makes the front of the car look too wide, like some gluttonous squirrel that’s just stuffed its cheeks full of produce from your garden. It’s a fat, self-satisfied grin. 

On the other hand, later that night I came across the same car in a different form just down the street in Mayfair. 

This time in a uniform standard black with chrome fittings. It’s still not exactly an elegant looking vehicle as it’s a giant imposing tank of a thing, but its lines flow unobstructed, and the original design is able to work as Rolls Royce intended. Some people may say that now it just looks like a chauffers’ car, or some corporate ferry. And it does. But it’s still better than the fat squirrel. 

When you spec a car like the Cullinan it really is important to make it something that you truly love, and something that is reflective of your own personal stylings and aesthetics. However, it’s also important to acknowledge that it will have to take up real estate in full view of the public gaze. It is in a way a piece of art that you will be putting out into the world, so it is your responsibility to not make it a garish mess. 

I think this next example from back in lovely old Pittsburgh toes that line well. It is an unusual, nonstandard color, an almost Audi like nardo grey. But the blacked out trim and orange highlights still make it unique, even in a city where is doesn’t have to be, because it’s likely the only one. 

Everything about this car is customized, down to the badging being detailed in a jack-o-lantern-esc orange. Even with the massive wild multi-spoke wheels, it still maintains its composure and doesn’t go fully over the top. 

It still isn’t, as Rolls Royce describes the Black Badge model, “unapologetic in elegance” – it has all the elegance of an M777 howitzer – but it is at least unapologetic and true to its nature. 

Now comes a tricky issue. Note the differences in parking location: Cartier in London, Banana Republic in Pittsburgh. It may be down to my own economic ignorance, but I cannot think of a single place in Pittsburgh where I could go in a Rolls Royce Cullinan where the destination would possibly come close to matching the grandiosity of the car I left outside. With a vehicle like the Cullinan, perhaps that’s the entire point of owning a car like this in a city like Pittsburgh. Wherever you go, you’ll be bringing the grandiosity with you, even if it’s just to get a new pair of socks at Banana Republic. Seems a bit exhausting to me. 

Written by Weston Caloyer