As a global partner to the automotive industry, EDAG has defined “the vision of comfort” as its leading theme, and this will take centre stage at the company’s presentation at the 2008 Geneva Show. With its presentation of the articulated roof for the Rolls Royce Phantom, EDAG is showcasing its first step towards its target of developing complex, innovative luxury solutions.
Not even a Rolls Royce Phantom will be able to satisfy its owner’s every wish. One example is the seat behind the ‘C’ pillar in the rear of the car, which traditionally creates a feeling of security and privacy. With the production model, however, this does have a price: namely the fact that it is impossible, even for someone of average height, to enter and leave the car in an upright position. The solution that EDAG developed is an articulated roof over the rear seat area, so that passengers can get into and out of the car in comfort.
It might sound trivial, but the job called for a great deal of technical finesse. First of all, EDAG’s Product Development and Production departments worked out various concepts for raising the roof and the lateral roof frame together. It goes without saying that the exclusive interior design was to be borne in mind at all times, and that neither rigidity, comfort nor sealing capacity were to be compromised under any circumstances whatsoever.
There was no way to avoid severing the lateral roof frame of the aluminium spaceframe. A reinforcement cut from solid metal, which at one and the same time incorporates the kinematics, water channel, locking mechanisms, seals and finger protection, does, however, provide the essential rigidity of the body.
The aluminium structure for the roof was likewise cut from the solid. To save weight, the roof’s outer skin panel is made of synthetic carbon-fibre material. The roof’s interior trims were re-designed, and covered with original quality Rolls Royce materials. By simply pressing a button, the driver or passenger can activate the specially developed electronic controls, and raise the hydraulically powered roof segment with practically no sound whatsoever. Modification of the roof structure has had no effect on either the car’s handling or its interior acoustics.
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For the most part. If memory serves, it's also the cucumber capital of Japan. Hence the home-market ads for the FT-86 featuring Takeichi-kun, the cartoon cucumber whose meteoric rise through the underground drift world has shamed him in the eyes of his school-master.
I wish the entire piece was removable so it would be like having a convertible that's only open right about your head. While sipping on some champagne, of course.
All fellow members of the Roman senate hear me. Shall we continue to build palace after palace for the rich? Or shall we aspire to a more noble purpose and build decent housing for the poor? How does the senate vote?
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