Creation
Body
A product of our love for natural materials, and our admiration for the beauty and fitness for purpose of classic racing yachts, the Phantom Drophead Coupé’s rear deck is available made from teak.
Sourced from South-East Asia, we only use blonde green teak grown in hilltop regions, where the ground is better drained. Only these trees yield wood that has the clean grain and rich colouration we’re looking for.
Each deck requires a matched set of up to 30 separate pieces of teak to be cut from the same tree. Only by doing this can we avoid any variation in grain patterns. Once cut each of these 3.5mm thick teak strips are joined together by our craftspeople at Goodwood to form one piece. This section is then bonded to the deck substrate (frame) for increased strength and stability.
Once securely bonded - in an overnight process - grooves are precisely machined into the teak surface before black caulking - the same as used by yacht builders - is applied to the grooves and left to cure for 72 hours.
Curing complete the teak assembly is trimmed to shape before the surface is sanded to a perfectly smooth finish and treated with two sealing coats and one finishing coat of liquid wax, in a process taken from the marine industry and improved for our purposes and requirements.
Besides looking wonderful, the rear deck’s primary function is to conceal the Phantom Drophead Coupé’s soft-top, which lowers at the touch of a button and folds into a remarkably compact space behind the rear seats.
In an age when the car industry appears obsessed with folding metal roofs, the Drophead Coupé’s soft-top is a wonderfully tactile and precisely tailored return to the romance of open-top motoring. However, as the soft-top features a heated glass rear screen and is made from 5 layers of highly durable, sound-deadening waterproof material, it’s a return without compromise.
