$8 Million Gold-Plated Rolls Redefines Excess
What do you get for the robber baron who has everything? As if a run-of-the-mill Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB ($450,000) weren't a flashy enough statement of personal wealth, consider the Rolls-Royce Phantom Solid Gold, a rolling monument to excess that would make even Jay Gatsby blush. MORE AT autos.yahoo.COM
The Solid Gold Phantom's shiny accouterments are the handiwork of the United Kingdom's Stuart Hughes (a company that covers iPads and other electronic devices in the precious metal of your choice). With gold trading at $1,661 per ounce, perhaps this car's ostentation was intended as an investment in solid assets (the gold alone is worth nearly $7 million).
But it's equally an investment in the owner's safety, thanks to Eurocash AG, a Swiss coach-builder that specializes in armoring vehicles. Eurocash claims that this particular Rolls (which took 18 months to build) can withstand assaults from AK-47s, Dragunov sniper rifles, and even hand grenades. Because let's face it, protection from attack is a basic necessity when you're driving a moving metaphor for greed. An interior plaque proclaims the car as "One of the first two Armoured EWB Phantom of Production [sic] in the World," so apparently the only expense spared was the cost of a translator.
This limousine may be the most luxurious, but it's certainly the most conspicuous utility vehicle money can buy. With recent news of Ferrari sales surging, followed by this latest travesty of good taste, the phrase "embarrassment of riches" has officially lost all meaning.
Click here for more images of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Solid Gold
G.E. Anderson is the managing editor for Yahoo! Autos. Follow him on Twitter or "Like" him on Facebook.