Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Rolls is called a “collector’s item” by its seller, but suffers from a salvage title which might mitigate that collectability. Let’s see how this luxury barge fairs in our critique.
Speaking of ‘critique,’ that’s a word that the English language borrowed from French. So, too, is ‘Encore,’ which also happens to be the name of the car we looked at last Friday: a 1986 Renault Encore Spring Edition. Unlike French words popping up in English, Renault Encores aren’t all that common these days, and our car was even more uncommon as it appeared to be in great shape. A CDN$4550 price tag (around $3,258 American) sealed the deal on the little French kiss of a car, earning it a solid 60 percent Nice Price win.
There’s a great old British sitcom from the 1990s called Keeping Up Appearances, the gist of which is the main character Hyacinth Bucket’s (pronounced ‘bouquet,’ if you please) ambitions of climbing the social ladder. Hyacinth’s efforts are constantly thwarted by her working-class—and idle-class—relatives and her long-suffering husband, Richard, who is happy with his middle-class life.
Part of that life is the car the Bucket’s own, a Rover 216. That was a mid-sized saloon based on the Honda Civic, not the fanciest of rides, to be sure. Hyacinth would have much rather been comported in something much more befitting of her aspired-to stature, preferably something as ostentatious as a Rolls-Royce.
And who wouldn’t want to tool around in a big, beautiful Rolls? That is, after all, the pinnacle of luxury and attainment, right? Of course, few of us schlubs could ever afford a Rolls as that luxury is limited to an exclusive club of Richie-Riches. Or so it seems.
This 2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe is a car that looks like it should cost six figures—automatic coach (suicide) doors, starlight headliner, leather and wood interior, etc.—but is tantalizingly priced in the upper five-figure range.
The reason for that is a tainted title, which the seller claims is the result of rear-end damage that wrote the car off but has since been fully repaired. Based on the pictures, there’s nothing to let on about that deleterious booty call, nor that the car now has a salvage title as a result of it. In fact, no one needs to know that the car is as cheap as it is if we all promise to keep it on the down-low.
The car itself is pretty over the top. Despite extensive use of aluminum in the unibody chassis and suspension, these are still massively heavy cars, tipping the scales at more than two and a half tons. That weight isn’t all that apparent from behind the wheel, though, thanks to the 452 horsepower 6.75 V12 that’s to be found under the fancy brushed metal bonnet. That’s backed up by a six-speed automatic, which powers the rear wheels.
Speaking of wheels, those are huge 24-inch aftermarket alloys on this car. Impressive as those are, they are totally crazy big. Happily, the seller says that the more reasonably sized factory wheels will come with the car. Other information gleaned from the ad includes a solid maintenance history and the promise that all service requirements are current.
Quite amazingly for a car of this stature, there’s a substantial 150,344 miles on the clock. That’s a lot and may indicate that this Rolls was used as a luxury rental. Regardless of such a postulated history, it looks clean and without substantial wear, both inside and out. Also, there’s an umbrella hiding in the door jamb, so there’s that.
If all that wasn’t enough to encourage your inner social climber, then the $86,000 asking price just might be. That’s way under what a clean title car would command, and as long as the insurance company doesn’t get its corporate panties in a twist, who cares about this car having a salvage title?
What do you think? Is a salvage Phantom the perfect way to see how the other half lives at around half the cost? Or is $86,000 still too much for even economically-minded fans of fanciness?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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