Autoblog

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When you're surrounded by the copious quantities of automotive pornography in and around Pebble, it's unfortunate that the gaudiest bits of kit catch your eye. Case in point: this yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe that was delivered to a customer in Monterey.

The gallery tells the wholly infelicitous tale, from the matching French's Mustard interior to the carbon fiber trim replacing the Drophead's standard burl wood bits. It's utterly tasteless, but we just can't help gawking. Join in on the pain below.

A Rolls-Royce is, well, a Rolls-Royce. And they don't unveil many new Rolls-Royce models that often, so we've been looking forward to seeing the Phantom Drophead in motion. We have, now you can.

The folks over at Rolls-Royce, in all their ecstatic spirit, have graced the motoring public with this video. The clip gives you the chance to see the full host of automatic features – including the motorized suicide doors, the auto-deploying hood ornament, the plush folding soft roof and some dude's can in jeans – plus some nice shots of the big cabrio in motion. Check out the aluminum hood section and the speedboat-style teak bootlid, two particularly unique features from the showcar which we're stoked made it onto this pre-production version.

[Source: Motor Authority]

We've arrived at episode #53 of the Autoblog Podcast, which means we're at the final stage of the Autoblog Podcast Relaunch Sweepstakes. The prize this week is the king of all iPods, an 80GB iPod Video. It doesn't get any better than that, so if you've been waiting to enter the sweepstakes, now's the time. To do so, listen to the podcast and wait to hear the secret keyword revealed. Once you've got it, email the keyword to abresearch at gmail dot com along with your name, age and address. That's it! We'll accept submissions through Wednesday, January 10th at 12 AM EST, at which time we'll randomly draw the final winner. Check out the official rules here and subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes by clicking here.

For episode #53, we continue our discussion of concept and production cars that have been unofficially debuted ahead of the Detroit Auto Show that begins this weekend. The Chrysler Group had three vehicles prematurely revealed, including the Chrysler Nassau Concept, Jeep Trailhawk Concept and 2008 Dodge Viper SRT-10, now with 600 ponies of ridiculous power. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Convertible also was revealed last week, but the biggest attention getter had to be the Ford Interceptor Concept, a rear-wheel drive Mustang-based sedan which gets a thorough once over on the podcast. Finally, news came in the past few days that the next-generation Ford Explorer would leave its truck roots and be born again as a large CUV. Along with our discussion of the news, we also read some feedback from listeners on how the new show is going. Enjoy!

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Autocar has spy shots of a rather muddy version of Aston Martin's upcoming V8 roadster snapped during testing in the English countryside.

Bucking the recent hardtop convertible trend, the newest Aston Martin has a soft top, borrowing the deployment mechanism from the DB9 Roadster.

Like most convertible versions, the Aston Martin looks to be more attractive with the top down (after all, isn't that the whole point?). Expect performance to suffer slightly due to the added weight of the roof mechanicals and structural reinforcements employed to compensate for the missing roof, but otherwise the car is said to be identical to its hard-top sibling.

Open-air motoring will add about $18,000 to the price of the standard model.

[Source: Autocar]

The Bentley Boys have pulled the virtual sheet on their 2007 Continental GTC convertible. Based on the company's sensuous GT coupe, the new convertible will blow-dry hair all the way up to 195 mph, courtesy its V12 engine. Boasting AWD surety for foul weather (and getting all that power to the ground), the GTC would appear to be a plutocrat's transport of choice for sun-and-snow belters alike. Shame it isn't a folding hardtop.

Autoblog will bring you in-person photographs at the unveiling, but for now, sate your luxury jones with the images after the jump.