Not only is the pleasure highly unexpected, but if you by Concept Coach Builders’ RR limo, you get one free! Details after the jump:
Vintage Ad: The Unexpected Pleasure of the Concept SL – Get One Free When You Buy a RR Limo!
– Posted on March 21, 2021
I would’ve bought one, but it wouldn’t fit in my garage.
YUK!
I remember seeing one of these when only about 2-3 years old and being baffled. They come up online occasionally to remind me I didn’t imagine it.
Really! How many blind people do they think would fall for that?
“Aggressive and unique styling.” They’re certainly not wrong on that one.
The all black model looks better, because It downplays the awkward triangular panel where the 2/3 of a 2 door meet the front half of the four door. Would it have been that much more difficult to just make that 2 door front door rectangular on the front? With the 3.8, and full of GM parts bin stuff, operating costs must have been low, especially compared to a Rolls. Assuming the 80s GM quality wasn’t too bad, I suppose.
No kidding. They make a point to mention the “uncustomized 53″ rear doors” but perhaps a bit of customization would’ve helped?
An Olds sedan gets rear ended by an Olds coupe and both are totaled. What do with the wreckage? Should have crushed em both. Uglier than a bucket of assholes.
Well, I guess they needed to do something extra to move the Rolls with the dented and scratched hood.
Spud,
As the former owner of quite a few post war Rolls-Royce vehicles, I can tell you I’ve had more than a few very lovely ladies actually make offers to pose on the hood of my cars, and in every instance I’ve taken them up on the offer.
I may be a bit crazy, but I’m not stupid, so I made sure the car hood on each vehicle was well protected, and I also made sure we did the photo shoot in complete privacy, usually on my farm or on a friend’s private estate.
The key to making sure the car was safe was to use a very large sheepskin rug with a heavy felt backing, to help ensure the paint wasn’t scratched, and make the model feel comfortable, instead of the harsh feel of the bare car. It may be a Rolls-Royce, but that hood is not comfortable for lounging about!
I was amazed at how many of these lovely ladies decided to “get comfortable” as I continued to shoot, and soon left nothing to the imagination. I would post some pics, or even an article on how to safely pose a naked lady on a car’s hood, but I don’t think Paul or Word Press would approve!
:-))
I’m not seeing Paul voicing any objections.
I did that on my own Cadillac Fleetwood.
Pictures were published on magazines and they are somewhere in this world
If you think that the overall effect is awful, zoom in and look at the join!
Considering the reliability, it makes sense since the owner would need the Olds to drive while the RR was in the shop…
Explain please the “uncustomised 53″ rear doors.” Since they aren’t factory, and are custom built, how are they uncustomised?
I’m assuming they’re the stock doors from the Delta 88 two-door.
Good question; I wondered the same thing. Their 53” doors are also longer than everyone else’s 53” doors, apparently. Just one of the unexpected pleasures, I guess.
A little awkward, but no worse than the stretched K-Car limos of the time.
Reminds me of the 2CV van or a hermit crab.
Somewhere, around Milwaukee, somebody, was “grafting” something, out of surplus Olds fronts and rear cuts.LoL
Maybe “shorty” 2-doors? LoL
Could that be considered false advertising? It says buy a Rolls get an Olds. Except if I’m not mistaken that’s a Buick in the background. Possibility a T-Type Lesabre from the look of it.
even with my vis98ion problenmsd, one word. AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Nnnnnnno. No. Final answer. No.
This strikes me as the kind of thing a low-budget sci fi film of the time would rent to show that their production was set in The Future. The President of the Federated World Government would pull up in one of these before a meeting to discuss the looming Alien Clone Vampire threat of 2102, or something.
That’s ghastly. It fairly explodes in my mind. Were I a giant, I would strike it midships with a great hammer and break it.
If I remember correctly, these ads actually came out of an issue of the National Limousine Association’s magazine, and were targeted to commercial limousine companies rather than private or corporate limo buyers. Hence the idea of buying 2 limousines for one cheaper price.
I remember seeing ads for fully equipped 60 inch Lincoln stretches as cheap as $25,000, around 1989 when the beginning of the limousine industry collapse meant coachbuilders had a glut of cars sitting unsold. By 1991 most of the big coachbuilders were gone or had cut back drastically.
It was so drastic that I remember the Washington DC Yellow Pages section for limousines, going from over 30 pages in 1989, to less than 4 pages, just 2 years later. I was so glad to only have vintage Rolls-Royce type limousines, all paid for, as I saw competitors going belly up because they had little work, and high monthly limo payments.
I think that if I was seriously considering a Rolls-Royce limousine (dream on!), I would be dealing with Rolls-Royce themselves.
If they did not offer what I was after, I would be guided by them as to whom to approach – not some backyard outfit from a magazine ad. And a ‘free’ stretched Oldsmobuick as an incentive to purchase? I think not. If I had a Rolls-Royce limousine, what on earth would I want with that…. thing?
What a ghastly, tasteless low-key advertisement.
This is for a commercial limo operator for hire, not a private user. The R-R limo in the ad isn’t new. It’s for weddings and batchelor parties.
Peter,
Any post-war Rolls-Royce [and Bentley] cut apart and lengthened, with the work done outside England, was never authorized by the company, and therefore it had no warranty. The last coachbuilder [not owned by Rolls-Royce] to have factory authorization for creating stretched limousines was Hooper & Co. of north east London. I know because I was a Hooper& Co. rep. Sadly the company didn’t survive past about 2005.
The corporate name for Hooper was sold to a German company and is now known as Hooper International, located in Arnhem, Germany, They do not make limousines at this time, focusing instead in creating reproduction Silver Cloud 2-door drophead coupes in the Mulliner-Park Ward style. This is done by taking the standard steel saloon and converting the body.
Anyone wanting a NEW Rolls-Royce would likely need to buy one from Rolls-Royce directly, to ensure factory warranty is in place.
Thanks, Bill. My comment was very tongue-in-cheek. I suspected that if one wanted something outside the regular or Mulliner Park Ward offerings back then, Hooper would get the nod. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that the car in the ad was older that the Oldsmobuick – must ensure I have coffee before typing! 🙂
Everyone missing the fact that the ad features a Buick, not an Olds? Someone should call Scott Sampson and let him know.
So when you ordered your $115k package, did you spec a Rolls and then get whatever H-Body they had laying around? Wouldn’t mind seeing a Bonneville based one. With SSE options. Since they apparently considered a Lesabre T-Type a valid conversion… victim.
LeSabre T-Type limousine
These dopey stretch limousine builds were the fodder of airport livery companies who fortunately drove the wheels off them. The 3.8L was tough enough to withstand the hard use. Once fully expensed, they were shunted off to the bottom-feeder used car operations and salvage yards. No loss.
This looks like a “panoramic photo” gone wrong.
I never knew these existed. IMHO they’re slightly less awkward looking than Chrysler’s K-car derivative “limos”….which isn’t saying much.
1. When buying limos, I appreciate that they’re “distinctively priced”.
2. The Internet has existed for so long now, I had forgotten all about “reader service cards” in the back of magazines.