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1976 Rolls-Royce Camargue

This is a very rare opportunity to be part of motoring history. The Rolls-Royce Camargue was the most expensive Rolls-Royce in its time, and also the most expensive car in the world. Pininfarina of Turin was commissioned to design Camargue, with their chief stylist Paolo Martin being responsible for the final result. A total of 526 cars were delivered to customers, with the US taking 74 per cent of production. Already a rare car, accounting for those that “didn’t survive” and so this is a very rare car indeed.

This 1976 North American example, chassis # JRE22723, was the ninth ever Camargue to be sold into this continent. She was delivered in June, 1976.

She was completely and totally restored by Park-Ward Motors over the last 4 years. A meticulous and very detailed restoration of all mechanicals, a back to bare metal repaint, interior restored to include new factory correct Nuella hides on the front seats (colour matched and ordered through Connolly Bros direct), the wood all refinished to Crewe standard, right down to brand new lambs-wool “full-cover” moutons.

This Camargue has been restored to a monumental degree and may well represent the best restored Camargue in the world. The restoration as well in excess of $125,000.

She is simply in stunning condition.

The car shows 5,300 miles and common sense suggests this is 105,300. That said, not a single part of the car’s mechanicals has been overlooked to include removing and reengineering the engine heads, all the hydraulics, brakes, suspension, exhaust, right down to every little operational item. Mechanically, the car can only be described as “excellent”. She drives incredibly smooth and tight and we think as a result she is probably the best representation of what a Camargue drove like when brand new. Notwithstanding this huge amount of work, the car is still subject to our full Predelivery Commissioning (certification) program upon sale, like all of Park-Ward's cars. This process ensures EVERYTHING is in top form.

The Camargue is the best-driving Rolls-Royce of its era and this specific example drives magnificently. She truly glides, smoothly and effortlessly taking everything in stride, and sweeping through bends with grace and poise. Even over rough roads she displays no knocks, rattles, or unwarranted disturbances, being superbly tight indeed. The presentation in the engine compartment is excellent testament of the effort gone into the car.

The body and paint on the car are spectacular. She was repainted by us on a complete body strip-down basis and back to bare metal preparation. There was no rust in the car to repair nor were there any signs of previous accident damage of any kind. The car was originally Green and then painted black some 25 years ago. The current colour is Ming Blue and the combination with the dark red Nuella hide interior is nothing short of striking. The interior colour is its factory designation. The paint presents perfectly consistent, deep in lustre and without any blemishes, chips or dings whatsoever. Where possible, all rubbers, gaskets and seals were replaced.

The interior of the car was refinished to perfection whilst maintaining originality where possible. The head-liner was/is in superb condition and as such retained. The leather on the door panels and rear seats were excellent and so retained also, albeit lightly Connollised. The front seats were actually not too bad but showing age. Although no rips or tears but showing the early stages of drying leather. For a lesser car, these could have been hide fed, softened up and then retained, but we elected to replace the faces with brand new Connolly Nuella hides ordered directly from Connolly Bros in the UK. The ordering process required us to send a sample of the seat leather to Connolly who then leather matched and dyed to original. The final finish is perfection. All the woodwork throughout was removed, stripped and refinished using the Crewe factory method of up to 20 coats of clear, wet-sanded between coats with the final coats buffed and polished to a glass-like finish. Superb in all respects. As a bonus, through the grace of Mother Nature, the burl walnut grain on this wood set is very defined and rich with an abundance of knots and swirls, presenting a particularly deep and magnificent grain. The woodwork can be described as "flawless". Carpets, door finishes, rear parcel shelf, the infamous aero-style dash finishers, controls and switches are also all in excellent condition. Each being meticulously detailed before reassembly.

All the bright-work on the car including grill, headlight surrounds bumpers (stainless steel unique to Camargue only), door sills, side mouldings and finishes were all removed. Machine, and then hand buffed and polished. There is only one blemish in the stainless at the left rear ¼ window point where we did not risk removal. You can see an imperfection in the moulding (most of the glass on these cars is no longer available and we did not want to risk damage on its removal).

All features on the car work as they should. The automatic split-level climate control works perfectly, delivering ice-cold air conditioning or hot air as required on both levels. Windows work correctly, and the electric seats operate properly and are not “tired”. This Camargue also has an electric rear-view mirror. All gauges are working, as are all the instrument and interior lights. The aeroplane inspired gauge and instrument surround pieces are all in excellent condition.

A very special "hidden" stereo system with all the modern features of blue-tooth and auxiliary inputs is mounted under the dash and the controls discretely hidden in the centre ashtray for accessibility.

A bespoke cocktail cabinet with whisky flask and 4 crystal cut nip glasses are nicely housed in the centre console stowage compartment.

So, with the Camargue not only being a rare car, this one is incredibly unique by virtue of it being “like brand new”. It was purchased new in 1976 and lived most of its life in Toronto, Canada. We have photos of her going back some 20 years. In more recent years, the car was owned by a private collector who housed the car in climate-controlled storage with minimal use for many years. Afterwards it was purchased by us and the “full Monty” restoration embarked upon.

The car now completed, is simply superb, and having owned several Camargues over the years, I can attest that this is the smoothest, quietest and most elegant example I have driven.

This magnificent Camargue comes, as you would expect, with its original handbook, original correct jack and complete toolkit.

~~ This car is an unrepeatable opportunity, is one of the finest examples in existence, and easily ranks as one of the nicest Camargues available. She is a clear 10-out-of-10 that needs nothing. One step better, you could take her as-is to your next Rolls-Royce meet and receive major accolades for her presentation and condition - and surely take home a serious prize. ~~