Page 56 - Bespoke Issue

Silverstone Park to learn more about this amazing machine that is Speedback and her little sister Mini Remastered.
Turning off into the business park opposite Silverstone Circuit the rst thing I see is the large David Brown Automotive emblem on the building, the second is a glass display box with a Speedback inside, like a life sized Dinky Toy. We are here to see the facility and how these cars are built. As we are greeted and welcomed in, there is a stone model of Speedback in the foyer, which has been laser cut from stone in one of David’s other businesses by the possibly the largest 3D cutter in Europe, we are shown up stairs to the client commissioning suite. The large oor to ceiling windows looking out over the entire production oor. Sitting at the large table working on his laptop is David Brown, who immediately apologies for occupying the room and starts to pack up his work to leave us in the capable hands of Phil Dymoke-Grainger his marketing and communications chap whom I’d been in touch with since Geneva.
Phil was going to take us through the customer experience of commissioning a Speedback, which is truly a bespoke automobile. The rst and most obvious place to start is colour, Phil shows me a pallet of colours all with really great names like Ruby Tuesday, but you can pretty much have any colour you like mixed. The paint is going to cover a perfectly nished coach-built body shell with a pillar-less monocoque that provides unparalleled levels of strength and safety that incorporates the perfectly proven chassis and drive drain from the Jaguar XKR, so in very safe hands in terms of ride and performance. Once you’ve chosen your rock song inspired colour you can select a number of nishes for the bright work. Chrome, brushed and Nickel Plated all have their own way to complement your colour choice. Whilst the team at David Brown are there to help you build your bespoke dream they also have a great knowledge of what works and what doesn’t – although I did ask Phil if he’s ever had a customer order something he really thinks won’t work and he admitted to being pleasantly surprised by some of his customers’ choices when the build comes together. The craftsmen-built body is painted and meticulously scrutinised by paint and bodywork technicians through a process that takes 800 man hours to achieve the awless paint nish of the Speedback. The reality is a colour that you can stare into and lose yourself in the depth and complexity of colour and nish.
As we move to the interior there are certain things one would expect, the Bowers and Wilkins surround sound system controlled by the touchscreen infotainment system is the rst box ticked. Your leather and stitching is the next choice in your journey, with plenty of luscious examples to compare before you are presented with a delightful wooden box with draws full of different wood veneer nishes, so the table is now covered in leathers and woods to nd the perfect combination to your paint choices allowing your own personality to re ect in the rolling work of art that you drive away. The interior craftsmen then take your selection and spend 2000 hours creating the perfect cocoon of natural grain leathers and wood to offset the instrumentation that can only be described as jewellery. As you pull the door closed, the soft close action almost slows the effect of tranquillity like taking the rst sip of a ne wine, you sit and let is settle on your pallet and slowly take in the surroundings, from the gear selector to the instrument switches the interior of the Speedback just oozes subtle style and sophistication.
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