Signature Luxury Travel & Style
Soaring to new heights
Jocelyn Pride sits behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce made for, and named after, travel legends.
When British aviators Captain Sir John Alcock and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in June 1919, little did they know their daring journey would be immortalised in a car – a Rolls-Royce at that.
Unveiled in 2019 to commemorate the centenary of the 1,880-mile (3,040kilometre) flight, the Wraith Eagle VIII is the epitome of motoring grandeur. Enthusiasts will be familiar with the Wraith – a fastback coupe, launched in 2013 as the most powerful vehicle in the Rolls-Royce stable. The Eagle VIII soars to even greater heights.
Encapsulating the 100-year-old travel story, each aspect of this vehicle is like turning the page of a history book. Wrapped in gunmetal and selby grey, the body evokes the hues of the Vickers Vimy (that bomber that Alcock and Whitten Brown commanded), with a thin brass line along the body and around the wheel hubs hinting at what lies inside.
With their flight instrumentation freezing shortly after take off and having to battle through snowstorms and dense fog, Alcock and Brown relied on two things for navigation: a sextant and the stars in the night sky.
There are sophisticated reminders of their feat throughout the car: a brass plaque inscribed with Sir Winston Churchill’s congratulatory quote is moulded into the driver’s door, brass speaker covers subtly engraved with ‘1,880 miles’ depict the flight distance, and the RR monograms on the headrests are embroidered in brass-coloured thread. However, it’s the starlight headliner that’s the showstopper.
Covered with 1,183 twinkling starlight fibres, the entire ceiling shows the exact celestial arrangement at the time of the flight in 1919, with the constellations and flight path embroidered in brass thread.
Only 50 of these cars exist. One in Australia – snapped up at first sight by a Melburnian-entrepreneur. With a price tag just under $1 million, all Antipodean vehicles are now sold. rolls-roycemotorcars.com