Rowan Atkinson has unveiled a one-off Rolls-Royce Phantom - complete with secret laser weapon - which features in his latest spy spoof film, Johnny English Reborn.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show he spoke publicly for the first time about the crash that wrecked his own 370km/h McLaren F1 supercar, which can accelerate from 0-100 in 3.2 seconds.
“I can’t blame the car. It was wet,” he said.
Asked if the car was back on the road, the 56-year-old actor, who is also an accomplished amateur racing driver, laughed and said firmly: “No.”
The repair bill will be huge.
“I haven’t had the estimate,” he said. “But I have had the estimate for the estimate.”
The Mr Bean star injured his shoulder when his Woking-built three-seater - which he’s driven for 60 000km - hit a tree at Haddon, near Peterborough, last month. The car caught fire, but he was able to walk away.
Rolls-Royce is owned by German giant BMW, but its cars are still assembled in Britain. Former BMW boss, Dr Bernd Pischetsrieder, wrote off a McLaren F1 in 1995 when he was head of the company. In the film, English drives a specially adapted Phantom he calls “Royce”. It has the personalised registration number “JE 1” and features a giant (and real) one-off, nine-litre, V16 engine, which he demonstrated to visitors.
But the on-screen secret weapon is a Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet mascot with metal-cutting lasers mounted in its eyes. In one scene, the beams cut out an exact silhouette of the Phantom on a metal door, before the car drives through it.
Atkinson has owned two £300 000 (R3.5 million) Rolls-Royce Phantoms - a four-door and a two-door coupé - and is awaiting delivery of a third.
The actor has a collection of five cars including a 1964 Ford Falcon, an Eighties Aston Martin V8 Zagato, an Audi A8 and a more thrifty Honda Civic hybrid.
Does he have anything else on his shopping list? My spies spotted him on the Ferrari stand admiring the topless 458 Spyder.
Rolls-Royce used the show to announce a £10-million expansion plan at its factory at Goodwood, which is set for a year of record sales.
It is set to exceed 3000 sales this year following a 171 per cent increase to 2711 in 2010.
The boom is accelerating as a result of the new £200 000 (R2.4 milllion) Ghost - the “baby” Roller - which is outselling the bigger £300 0000 (R3.5 million) Phantom at a rate of four to one.
Chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said: “We continue to see increased demand from customers all over the world.”
The Rolls-Royce factory is in the grounds of the Earl of March’s estate at Goodwood, West Sussex, which this weekend will host the popular Revival motoring extravaganza.
Rowan Atkinson will be there as usual, but won’t be driving due to his injury.
This year’s Revival will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic E-Type Jaguar, whose two-seater 21st-century successor, the C-X16, stole the show at Frankfurt, where it was unveiled this week.
Dressing up in period costumes to reflect the eras of cars on show - from the Forties to the Sixties - is all part of the fun and truly transports you back in time. - Daily Mail