When you’re a company that’s as invested in all of the finest things in life, you tend to go to places that very few will go to just so you can make a point. Rolls-Royce has a reputation for having this kind of mindset, so when a deep-pocketed customer approached the British luxury automaker and asked it to build him a car like no other, the company obliged. The result is this one-off creation called the Rolls-Royce Sweptail.

Underscoring the level of customization involved in the Sweptail is the fact it took Rolls-Royce four years to finish the car. That means that the customer request happened sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. For a company that’s used to building one-off creations through its Bespoke personalization division program, the length of time it took Rolls-Royce to build the Sweptail speaks to how unique the model is. And like any true Rolls-Royce one-off, the Sweptail draws inspiration from elements in its social sphere, namely luxury motoring and racing yachts. Put these things together, trust in Rolls-Royce’s long and storied history in coach-building, and you get a car that’s a literal and figurative definition of what a masterclass in one-off auto creations should be. The fact that the Sweptail reportedly costs $13 million only adds to its instant legend status, the kind that's reserved for only a handful of models in the world.

Continue after the jump to read more about the Rolls-Royce Sweptail.

What makes the Rolls-Royce Sweptail so special?

Where do I even begin? I could point to the car’s reported cost and just end there. If the Rolls-Royce Sweptail does cost $13 million like it’s been reported, that’s more than enough to justify why the car is so special; it’s expensive as hell! The Rolls is one of the most expensive new cars in history as some have indicated, but that’s apparently the going rate now for a car that comes with a lot of firsts itself. Obviously, we’re not just going to end with the Sweptail’s insane price tag. Doing so would be an injustice to the level of craftsmanship that went into building the car. For us to really appreciate the Sweptail in all its glory, it’s important to look at it from all possible angles, beginning with the exterior.

One look at it and it becomes evident that the Rolls-Royce Sweptail doesn’t look like anything from Rolls-Royce’s current model portfolio. It may be based on the Phantom Coupe, but there’s very little from that car’s design that was transferred to the Sweptail. Look at the model long enough and you might even convince yourself that it’s an entirely new model, even if it still carries the unmistakable Rolls-Royce DNA.

The first order of business is to look at the car’s front section, which is dramatically different from the Phantom Coupe. The headlights, for example, are now round as opposed to the rectangular headlights on the standard Phantom. There’s also a thin light strip just above the round headlights while the automaker’s trademark “Pantheon” grille also looks more imposing on the Sweptail given how clean its surroundings are.

The whole make-up of the front section is finished off with white trim surrounds that create a rectangular look to the whole section. The presence of the “08” just below the grille isn’t an accident either. It’s actually the car’s identifier and registration number and its presence on the one-off coupe isn’t limited in this area. In some ways, the Sweptail’s front section looks like a face. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is subject to interpretation, although, from the looks of it, the owner (who did spend a fortune on it) probably liked the way the car turned out.

As unique as the front section is, the Sweptail’s most distinctive exterior feature sits at the back where the inspiration behind its name is there for the whole world to see. The upright and imposing shoulder lines of the car are quintessential Rolls-Royce design characteristics, but the raked stern is at the back is unlike anything we’ve seen in the auto industry, even from a company that’s known for its coach-building expertise. The full effect of the design can be seen from the rear where the roofline dramatically tapers off with the two sides being drawn together as they approach the rear, eventually meeting at the tip of the trunk. The rationale behind this design is to highlight the nautical inspiration behind the Sweptail. The final relevant detail in the exterior of the Sweptail is the reappearance of the “08” identifier sitting just below the Rolls-Royce logo at the back. Apparently, Rolls-Royce milled those two numbers from ingots of aluminum before hand-polishing them to look the way they look.

For the amount the owner paid to have this specific detail included, Rolls-Royce dutifully obliged, even if meant making significant changes to the body that the company had never done in its history.

Now let’s move to the interior where the modifications from the Phantom Coupe to the Sweptail are just as significant. First, the altered roofline of the car forced the company to change the interior layout of the coupe. Fortunately, that was all part of the plan of the car’s owner, who wanted to get rid of the rear section entirely and replace it with a custom wooden cabinet of sorts with a mid-shelf that’s illuminated with a glass lip, a polished hat shelf with luggage rails.

Throughout the interior, Rolls-Royce used poised Macassar Ebony and open-pore Paldao, considered as one of the most luxurious and most popular wood veneers in the world today. The use of these two materials is offset by Moccasin and Dark Spice leathers, which cover the seats, armrests, and the top section of the minimalist dashboard. If anybody is still doubting the level of exclusivity attached to the Rolls-Royce Sweptail, then consider these features – we’ve never seen them all together in one car interior, even in the aftermarket tuning world – as another proof that validates the car’s one-off status.

Speaking of the dashboard, Rolls-Royce says it’s one of the cleanest dashboards it’s built. Press photos of the Sweptail don’t reveal anything clean from this section of the car, the British automaker says that only one control appears on the dashboard whereas the rest of the buttons and switches are “discreetly relocated.” We can’t see where these “relocations” take place, so might as well take Rollers’ word for it. The company did add that the clock it included in the Sweptail’s interior has precision-machined titanium hands and a face that was handmade from the thinnest Macassar veneer. In fact, the use of titanium on the clock hands extends all the way to the three hand-assembled instrument dials that have somehow been turned into unique features themselves.

Think Rolls-Royce is finished with everything it’s already added to the interior of the car? Guess again because in spite of every unique and exclusive feature that we’ve already detailed, the Rolls-Royce Sweptail comes with the distinction of having easter eggs within its easter eggs. The first of these so-called surprises is a hand-built mechanism located in the center console that actually deploys a bottle of champagne and a pair of crystal champagne flutes. Not content with that surprise twist, the owner of the Sweptail also had Rollers install two indetical panniers that are hidden in the outboard walls on either side of the interior. At a touch of a button, the panniers open up revealing a pair of handmade attaché cases that are part of the full set of luggage that the British automaker developed specifically for the Sweptail.

We’re already exhausted at this point. Not to the level that Rolls-Royce engineers were when they built the Sweptail, but the sheer level of exclusivity that the car is grounded on is definitely a handful. Fortunately, the one-off coupe’s engine remains standard so don’t expect to see any surprises there. It still features the same 6.75-liter twin-turbo W-12 engine that produces 453 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque, enough to give the $13 million ride the ability to accelerate to 60 mph in just 5.6 seconds before maxing out at a top speed of 150 mph.

Everything you’ve read at this point make up the Rolls-Royce Sweptail, arguably the most exclusive Rolls-Royce model the company has made in its history. Consider that for a second. Rolls-Royce, the automaker that prides itself on having some of the most exquisite cars the world has ever seen, just built a model that trumps anything it has ever done in its long and illustrious career.

That description of the Sweptail says a lot more than $13 million ever could.