The Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan has been handed to Cyril Kongo, and the result is five private cars that treat the cabin like a rolling art room for people who think a normal Cullinan is a bit shy.
Rolls-Royce calls them Black Badge Cullinan by Cyril Kongo, five Private Commissions shaped through its Private Offices in New York, Seoul and Goodwood. Each car shares the same idea, but each gets its own hand-painted expression of Kongo’s work across veneer, leather and the Starlight Headliner. Like most bespoke commissions, taste appears to be something that is in the eye of the beholder, right?
Kongo’s world is all colour, tags, symbols, planets, equations and high-gloss energy, and none of it is understated. It suits Black Badge Cullinan better than a polite beige lounge even from a posh high street shop. The base car is already the darker, more self-satisfied Cullinan. Kongo’s work makes it look as if someone let the art collector sit in the back with the keys to the paint box, for better or for worse.
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ABOVE: Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan by Cyril Kongo in studio and detail.
The cabin is divided into four colour zones, with Phoenix Red for the driver, Turchese for the front passenger, and Forge Yellow and Mandarin in the rear. The stitching, piping, inserts, monograms and lambswool carpets follow that palette. It sounds outrageous because it is outrageous, which is half the point.
The Starlight Headliner is the main event in most Rollers. Rolls-Royce says each roof lining carries 1,344 fibre-optic stars, with Kongo adding imagined planets, constellations, quantum physics references and an infinity symbol. The artist marked the stars before Rolls-Royce craftspeople punched and placed them by hand. One shooting star runs the full length of the ceiling, a first for Rolls-Royce. Yes, I am rolling my eyes.
The hand-painted work keeps going across the fascia, centre console, rear console, picnic tables and Waterfall between the rear seats. Rolls-Royce prepared 19 veneered pieces in black, then Kongo painted them directly before ten layers of lacquer were applied. That is a very expensive way to make a private nightclub gallery space look distinctive. With Rolls-Royce, you get what you pay for, and more.
The imperious outside gives only a hint of the racket within. The cars wear Blue Crystal over Black paint, with blue particles in the lacquer, a first-ever Gradient Coachline, Kongo’s tag motif, coloured brake callipers, illuminated treadplates and Bespoke umbrellas. Subtle it is not, but neither is commissioning a Cullinan as a five-car art project. If you have the money, Rolls-Royce has a bloke.
All five cars have already been allocated to collectors worldwide. The rest of us get the pictures, which will make for interesting chat at dinner, one way or another. A Black Badge Cullinan with a hand-painted Starlight sky is not transport in the ordinary sense. It is an answer to a question absolutely nobody asked.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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