Creation
Teak Deck
Inspired by classic yachts, we’ve made the Phantom Drophead Coupé’s rear deck from sections of teak. Beautiful and functional, it’s a feature unique in the car industry today.
Sourced from South-East Asia, we only use blonde green teak grown on hilltops, for it has the clean grain and rich colouration we desire.
To make the deck, the teak is cut into matched sets of components. Each set comprises of up to 30 pieces, all of which come from the same tree to ensure there is no variation in grain patterns. These teak ‘planks’ are 3.5mm thick, and, once at Goodwood, are joined together as one piece, then bonded to a substrate frame by our skilled craftspeople for enhanced strength and stability.
Once bonded the teak assembly is trimmed to shape, then grooves are precisely machined into the teak surface, ready to receive black caulking, which is then left for 72 hours to cure. Only then is the surface ready to be sanded to a perfectly smooth finish, before being treated with two sealing coats and one finishing coat of liquid wax, using processes taken from the marine industry and improved for an automotive application. This is also carried out by our craftspeople here at Goodwood. The end result is a durable yet natural-looking finish that is capable of withstanding the elements yet preserves the teak’s fresh, sappy, just-cut appearance.
While the rear deck has an elegant look of simplicity, it is a highly complex aesthetic and functional element that required many technological challenges to be overcome before it could go into production. Such commitment to quality and innovation is typical of Rolls-Royce, while the end result is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Phantom Drophead Coupé.
