What comes to mind when you see a white Rolls-Royce Cabriolet? Weddings, chief surgeons, pop or movie stars? Maybe, but maybe one or the other also remembers Inspector Columbo, more precisely the episode “A Bird in the Hand…” from the year 1992. In that episode Columbo, who does not put out his cigar even when inspecting a car, attempts a crime to clarify, in which a dark Rolls-Royce Corniche explodes by a bomb. No other open car can offer more comfort, more luxury and more prestige than a Rolls-Royce Corniche. Anyone who tries to explain the nature of a roll with numbers will inevitably fail. You have to feel and smell it, hear it and enjoy it in order to understand it. This vehicle report applies to the Rolls-Royce Corniche II, which was only built for a short time and has retained its special flair to this day.

The Rolls-Royce Corniche was built in largely unchanged form from 1967 to 1995. The history of the development was already extensively documented in a report that appeared a few years ago, so here is just a brief summary: It was originally called the Silver Shadow Drophead Coupé, but the two-door convertible was sold as a Corniche from 1971. Technically, it was based on the Silver Shadow and Silver Spirit sedans that were produced in parallel, and it also looked like the Silver Shadow, at least from the front. The rear and the two-door construction were the biggest differences, Bill Allen had succeeded in making the actually large, heavy car look light-footed and elegant.

Over the years, the Rolls was repeatedly improved, the engine grew from 6.25 to 6.75 liters displacement, the twin downdraft carburetors gave way to Bosch K-Jetronic injection in 1987, notably with a 14 percent increase in power output. So that was 114 percent of “sufficient”, after all Rolls-Royce did not give exact performance data. The changes in the second half of 1987 seemed so extensive to the Rolls-Royce company that the cabriolet was immediately called “Corniche II”. In the USA, this term had already been used two years earlier. In addition to the now injected engine, the revised car had also received Bosch ABS, the seats now had a memory function and the dashboard had been modernized somewhat.

Furthermore, the car was largely hand-built by Rolls-Royce and H.J. Mulliner/Park Ward built. However, with 300 to 500 examples a year, a size had been reached that no longer allowed every buyer to individually select the leather skins and wood for the interior.

Of course, 10.7 seconds for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h and a top speed of 206 km/h, as measured by Automobil Revue, did not qualify as a sports car. But there was hardly any owner who tried to get hold of these values himself. With a Corniche Cabriolet you don’t race, you glide. At the same time, one enjoys the innumerable little electrical helpers and the truly cosily furnished interior, which lacks neither fluffy carpets nor beautiful wood and expensive leather skin. The engine is still started conventionally with the key, the automatic is moved in the desired direction using a lever on the steering wheel, after which there is hardly any work to do. Unless you want to open the roof. It folds back electro-hydraulically and without any further action, but it looks better with the tailor-made tarpaulin, which still has to be attached in the traditional way with snaps.