1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Drophead

The Rolls-Royce Dawn, which will essentially be a drop top version of the Wraith, is the latest new model to come from the British luxury automaker. The company hasn’t shared photos of it yet, though it did say that the 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, one of the rarest cars in the world, served as a muse for the new model. The Dawn was unveiled to its dealer network at a special event in California and it is likely that Rolls-Royce will share more details in the coming weeks on its newest model.

The engine was a 4.6-liter inline-six that made little noise when activated. The wheels were also a little slow to react and respond, even having a bit of a dead spot in the steering. To activate the transmission, the gas pedal had to be pushed fairly hard. Its engine put out 128 horsepower and could reach 60 MPH in 15.2 seconds, which was slower than some of the cars at the time.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Drophead was a little unusual in its interior, lacking many straightforward features of today’s modern cars. First off, it has no seat belts. The buttons were also not well-marked, making it hard for drivers to guess each of the buttons’ functions. Features get weirder, as the key for the Rolls-Royce Dawn Drophead doesn’t actually fire the engine, delegating that function to the chrome starter button instead.

Most automakers don’t get a news cycle for the announcement of the name of a new model, but then again, a new Rolls-Royce is kind of a big deal: in the past decade-plus, there have been only three badges on Rollers — Phantom, Ghost, and Wraith. And even if you go back through the last century, Rolls-Royce has only used about a dozen different names for its vehicles, give or take.

“Dawn” evokes the Silver Dawn name, used in the 1950s on a dramatic drophead. The new car will be a drophead as well — a four-seat convertible — when it launches early next year.