Pininfarina Builds a Rolls-Royce Roadster

When most car enthusiasts think of Pininfarina, beautiful rosso Ferraris come to mind more often than not, but the legendary

Italian design house has done much more than pen cars for the prancing horse brand. Other brands, such as Alfa Romeo, Cisitalia, Jaguar, Lancia, Maserati, MG, Nash, Peugeot, Volvo and even Cadillac have employed the company over the years, often because the corrozzeria has created a design study to pique the interest of the manufacturer.

The Pininfarina Hyperion is no design study, mind you, but a fully working one-off production car based on the new Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe, commissioned by its awaiting owner. Prior to delivery it will be shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this weekend, where it will be sure to wow attendees.

Less upright and more curvaceous than the Drophead Coupe, the Hyperion enjoys flowing art deco lines that could only belong to a Rolls-Royce, yet its two-seat

roadster configuration is rare in the British marque's history. Pininfarina nixed the rear passenger compartment by removing the seats and sliding the front ones rearward, while simultaneously pulling the lower, sweptback windscreen some 400 mm (15.7 inches) towards the rear.

A nice touch is a handcrafted Girard Perregaux tourbillon wristwatch that can be removed from its straps and set into the dash, but the pièce de resistance is a gun rack situated up front in the cabin.

Missing at the event will be former CEO Andrea Pininfarina, grandson of the late Battista "Pinin" Farina who founded the company and concurrently changed the family name. Andrea died in a motor vehicle accident on August 7, 2008, and will be missed.