Everyone fancied Buffy, right? Or were you more Team Xena? Either way, the promise of your car coming with a "high-gloss black vamp" is enough to entice any buyer. (And yes, we know Buffy wasn't the actual vampire, but the idea still works.)
That is what Rolls-Royce decided to call its reborn Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet ornament on its Ghost and Wraith Black Badge models when they launched at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. As the name suggests, the Black Badge models came with a black badge. In fact, "the deepest, darkest and most intense black ever seen on a production car." Need we remind you, Mr Rolls and Mr Royce, that black isn't really a colour, it's an absence of light. But we digress.
If you're looking for the most luxurious way to spend more than £300k on a car with no rear doors, the Rolls-Royce Wraith could be a contender for you. In this case, the Black Badge works its magic on the 6.6-litre V12 engine, too, which in this version gives 632hp and 642lb ft of torque. There's also recalibrated air suspension software to help control the Wraith's hefty weight transfer, while bigger front brake discs mean there's no nose dive under harder braking. Add to that the remapped eight-speed automatic gearbox and the Black Badge is indeed more than just, well, a black badge.
So there's extra black on the outside, 22 layers of carbon fibre in the wheels, and the starlit roof lining taking centre stage on the inside. Although this example comes with a relatively muted cream upholstery, early examples were often clad in pink or blue leather, with matching ambient lighting taking away any of the subtlety of being dark and mysterious and replacing it with a sticky-floor-nightclub kind of vibe.
The moody example shown here has just 195 miles on the clock, still comes with the manufacturer's warranty, and saves nearly 10 per cent on the original list price of £353,000. Alan Sugar's latest Apprentice series clearly didn't go very well, then.
As well as the obvious you'd expect on a spec sheet, you also get lambswool floor matts, the RR monogram to the headrests, a TV tuner and two in-built umbrellas. Not that any goth would ever be seen with an umbrella.
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