A custom-designed Rolls-Royce is the car dreams are made of.

While that dream, for many of us, will never be attainable, at least we can have a good look at someone else’s.

The latest Rolls-Royce – dubbed the “Sweptail” – came about when “a very rich man who considers himself a “connoisseur and collector of distinctive, one-off items including super-yachts and private aircraft” went to Rolls-Royce in 2013 with a request: would the automaker be so kind as to create a bespoke car for me?” reports Verge.

Now, four years and a reported $13 million later, the car was showed off the annual Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este event in Italy last week.

And it’s beautiful:

Officially it’s the most expensive car ever purchased and, other than a shelf for the buyer’s hat, here’s what it has:

The Sweptail is named after the tapered “swept tail” rear ends that helped make the company’s Phantoms famous in the early 20th century.

Of course, this car’s got plenty of 21st century touches, too. The panoramic glass roof makes the one on the Tesla Model X look like a sunroof — there’s practically nothing blocking this mystery buyer’s skyward view while he drives (or gets chauffeured) around town.

The interior is lined with “generous quantities” of polished Macassar Ebony and open-pore Paldao wood, because modest amounts of those materials are obviously out of the question. The analog clock in the dash uses machined titanium. The center [sic] console hides a champagne chiller and two crystal flutes. Instead of a hidden umbrella, like in the Dawn, the car’s side walls conceal a pair of carbon fiber attaché cases that have been specifically designed to fit the buyer’s laptop, and they match a set of custom luggage found in the trunk.

Oh, those lines!

While owning such a car may indeed be a fleeting dream,we have a more achievable option: owning an old-school MINI.

Thanks to David Brown Automotive (DBA), the owner, David, has given life to the MINI Remastered – but while the cars (650 have been ordered already) nod to what once was by being “the same size as [Alec] Issigonis’ car” they are built to a far higher standard than anything that ever came off the original production line, reports the Independent:

Technically speaking – or legally speaking – this is a refurbishment business, which neatly avoids copyright issues. Even though the cars start with new shells from British Motor Heritage. These are joined to as much of an original car as possible, but there are hours of work de-seaming and rebuilding to top spec.

We mean hours – there are around 1400 hours of work going into each car, with 400 taken up just by painting. Inside there’s a Mini cabin but somehow there’s also air con, sat nav, electric windows, Bluetooth and much more. It all fits in so neatly it looks like it was original.

It’s what the MINI would have been if Porsche had built it, and each one is on the market for about £85k (R1,4 million)- but if that, too, is out of your budget, you might as well settle for the MINI Countryman.

At least you can put a roof tent on it.

Email Seth at editor@2oceansvibe.com, subject, “I’m still in love with MINI”, and you’ll be sure to receive a decent discount.

[source:theverge&independent]