OVER eleven decades have passed since that famous lunch in May 1904 when Henry Royce, a successful engineer, struck a deal with Charles Rolls, owner of one of the first car dealerships to create Rolls-Royce Limited. Since then, the stories about the intricacies of the manufacturing process of a Rolls-Royce motor car have become legendary in their own right, representing a beacon of dedication to the art of craftsmanship. Amidst the plethora of stories around the famed luxury motor car, that of Mark Court is one of the most widely discussed, as Court is currently the only person in the world qualified and skilled enough to paint the famous pinstripe or ‘coachline' on Bespoke Rolls-Royce motor cars. Symbolizing the quality and uncompromising craftsmanship that is synonymous with the meticulous creation of a Rolls-Royce motor car, the coachline is applied entirely by hand, unaided by any machinery, running over both flanks of the full six meters of a Rolls-Royce vehicle. It can either be single or double line, in a single color or two-tone and can feature anything from logos, to family crests or even Arabic calligraphy, based entirely on what the customer requests through the famed Rolls-Royce Bespoke program. Some of the beautiful and elaborate designs that have featured on the coachline of a number of exclusive Rolls-Royce Bespoke models in the past few years include the intricate Arabic calligraphy elegantly expressed on the coachline of the One Thousand and One Nights Ghost Collection and the exquisite Peacock emblem decorating the Emerald green coachline of the Rolls-Royce Maharaja Phantom Drophead Coupé. Reminiscent of a modern-day fairytale, Mark Court trained as a sign writer upon leaving school, and spent most of his early career painting restaurant signs, shop fronts and lettering on commercial vehicles, before the chance came to work at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. At the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, Chichester, his unique talent allowed him to leave his fingerprint on some of the world's most impressive Bespoke vehicles with painstaking craftsmanship. As the only person in the world qualified to paint the renowned pinstripe of the luxury marque, Court has been responsible for each and every single coachline on all Rolls-Royce Motor Cars produced in the past decade, single-handedly painting more than 2,500 cars to date. Besides the necessary artistic skill, mastering the art of coachlining requires astonishing levels of patience and focus, as fine brushes made of squirrel hair are used to create these elaborate designs, a process which can take up to three hours. The steadiness of hand and ability to maintain such incredible levels of focus is something that perhaps can only be genetically inherited, which is why the person being groomed as Mark's eventual successor is none other than his son, Ashley, who is currently an apprentice at the factory in Goodwood, being trained by his father to follow in his steps as a world-renowned Rolls-Royce coachliner. At the request of VIP customers, and as a testament to the dedication of Rolls-Royce to its valued clientele regardless of geographical location, Mark Court has on occasion visited customers at their homes to paint a coachline on a vehicle that has already left the factory. The story of Mark's travel to the desert metropolis of Dubai in 2012, to paint a coachline on the vehicle of a very special client, has become legendary in the automotive industry, and was the subject of a short film produced by Rolls-Royce. — SG
