Rolls-Royce’s Spectre Lunaflair has a paint job you’ll never see again—here’s why

Although expensive, the sale of a Rolls-Royce isn’t usually a newsworthy event. However, the Spectre Lunaflair was considered special enough that the company thought it merited its own press release . If the photos are even half as stunning as the in-person result, they made the right decision.

By the moon’s pale light

The Spectre Lunaflair's unique paint technology was developed to mimic an astrological phenomenon known as a ‘lunar halo’. Lunar halos appear as an eerie, ethereal ring of light with a rainbow ring edge, especially on cold nights with a full moon.

This optical trick occurs naturally when ice crystals in the upper atmosphere catch the moonlight; light reflected from the sun then acts as a giant composite lens to refract moonlight like millions of tiny prisms.

The physics of it are very similar to the classic rainbow, but the visual result is rather different. From personal experience, it is far more striking and even foreboding than the cheery rainbow you can see during the day.

Getting lost in the paint

Technology is the right word for the paint as well—it took one whole year to develop and hone the paint used to make the Spectre Lunaflair the masterpiece that it is.

Rolls-Royce engineers and artists ended up settling on seven layers, applied in a very meticulous manner, with flecks of magnesium and aluminum all mixed in to produce the halo effect to the commissioner's satisfaction no matter the light level—a pale and metallic hue in low light reminiscent of the moon's own light, and a more rich and colorful rainbow in brighter light.

Much a hue about nothing

It is not reported how many iterations it took to reach this final paint process or how much extra cost it added to the ultimate (and still secret) price tag of the Spectre Lunaflair. However, while Rolls-Royce is scant in most of the details, it is clear that one thing is true: the recipe will never be used again.

Locking this paint technology away forever, especially after it took so long to get right, feels like a lost opportunity and a waste of time to do in the first place. However, suppose one looks at this paint as more of an art piece than an industrial technique.

In that case, it not only makes a kind of sense why the commissioner would want to keep it to one vehicle but perhaps even justifies the extravagance of inventing something so remarkable in the first place for only one single use.

Shrouded in secrecy

So, who will claim the Spectre Lunaflair as their prize? No one knows who this mystery customer is except Rolls Royce; they're not telling for now. It has been specified that the buyer is a 'significant client' from the United States, but beyond that, it is only a rumor.

For Bespoke Design, It’s the virtuous cycle of life

While the Spectre Lunaflair’s appearance is as stunning as its development history sounds grueling, that might not be the most interesting part of this vehicle's story. According to Martina Starke, head of Bespoke Design, aka the part of Rolls Royce which focuses on these specialty limited-run and hand-assembled custom works, the idea for the Lunaflair’s appearance was

“ sparked by the client after witnessing a paint finish on another Bespoke motor car. This symbiotic relationship and cross-pollination of ideas is fostering a ‘virtuous circle’ of innovation and creativity…”

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We know which of Bespoke’s previous works was the inspiration as well, another one-of-one masterpiece called the ‘Phantom Syntopia’, commissioned by Dutch fashion designer Iris Van Herpen , known for futuristic and fluid design elements in her work.

Final thoughts—thus bespoke Zarathustra: a car for all and none

Ultimately, the Spectre Lunaflair is a marvelous machine, a triumph of chemical science, pushing the limits of human engineering, steeped in the height of fashion, and draped in the soul of the arts.

However, what are the chances that you or I will ever lay eyes on it? The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris, France. The Colosseum stands as a landmark for everyone who visits Rome, Italy, to see. You can walk up to StoneHenge in the UK and see the Great Wall of China from space.

Sure, the Lunaflair is a luxury car and not a painting or a building, but… shouldn't that make it more mobile, more available to be seen and appreciated? Instead, it will likely find its rest in a collector's garage, immaculately maintained for only a few to enjoy.

While the pun on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's most famous work "thus Bespoke Zarathustra: a car for all and none" is quaint and humorous, it's also pertinent to the point I'm left drawing after learning about such an impressive piece of engineering.

The Lunaflair is for all of us, showing what humanity can achieve with enough incentive and effort. Yet, it is also a car for none, or more accurately, for one: a symbol of the will to power and dominance buried deep within all of us. But only one person gets to claim this prize as their own.

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