At the turn of the millennium, Rolls-Royce faced one of the most pivotal transitions in its history. After decades under Vickers ownership, the marque’s future was unsettled until BMW secured the rights to produce Rolls-Royce cars from 2003 onward, while Volkswagen retained Bentley. During this interim period, Rolls-Royce continued to rely on its traditional Crewe-built cars, representing the last expressions of the company’s pre-BMW era.

The Corniche V, revealed at the 1999 Los Angeles Auto Show, was the final Rolls-Royce model developed under Vickers and one of the most exclusive of its time, retailing for amost $360,000 USD at the time. Based on the Bentley Azure’s platform but carrying Rolls-Royce’s distinct design language, it was powered by the company’s venerable 6.75-liter turbocharged V8, paired with a four-speed automatic transmission. Production was extremely limited—fewer than 400 examples were built—making it one of the rarest modern Rolls-Royces.

This particular Corniche was completed at the factory in August of 2001, finished in an exquisite Silver Tempest (metallic grey) over supple beige leather. After shipping out of the UK, it was delivered new to Royal Motor Cars of Atlanta in 2002; however, it was only later that year that the car sold to its first owner out of Manhattan Motorscars of New York, remaining in the East Coast until 2018 after only two owners (2002, 2004).

In 2024 we purchased and exported the car out of California, and moved on to prepare it for the use of our Chairman’s family, sparing no cost. The car was fully serviced, the hydro-pneumatic suspension fully rebuilt, and the undercarriage cadmium trim fully replated to be as-new. The car comes with original manuals, tools, records, jack kit, and two Rolls-Royce umbrellas.

As it is, this is one of the absolutely finest Corniche V models anywhere on the planet, only one of 32 LHD cars sold that year.