When it comes to luxury cars, the Rolls-Royce Corniche has long been synonymous with the ultimate in the drop-top experience. Obviously, any Rolls-Royce when new is at the top of the luxury car food chain, but the drop-top version goes a step further. The exclusivity factor increases significantly, as does the price of entry. However, despite the Corniche being the most expensive car offered by Rolls-Royce when new, you can now buy one of the most exclusive models offered in the last 25 years for under $100,000. This 2001 model listed here on eBay is currently bid to $65,100 with the reserve unmet.

The Corniche is a name that most car collectors know to be synonymous with the pinnacle of luxury and exclusivity. If you had this model on your bingo card of vehicles you might buy this year, it’s safe to say you traveled in very exclusive circles. When Rolls-Royce cultivates its list of VIP customers, I’m fairly certain the group of folks who get the call that a new Corniche is going to be offered plan to park such a car at one of four beach-front homes they own. As such, mileage is often quite low on a car such as this, and with under 9,000 original miles on this example, it’s effectively as-new.

Now, the most challenging aspect of marketing a car like this for sale, in my opinion, is that the standards for luxury cars accelerate quickly these days. In other words, what passed for peak luxury in 2001 doesn’t necessarily hold true today, so buying a car like this is not done because the technology and comfort features are still particularly high-end; in fact, those features likely help to age the car quite a bit. Still, when it comes to an old Rolls, there’s a lot of stock placed in the condition of the leather and the genuine woodgrain trim, both of which appears to be in excellent shape here.

This Corniche is undoubtedly a special model not only for its limited production numbers and exclusivity factor but also because this particular era marks the final batch of cars produced exclusively under Rolls-Royce control. Soon after this Corniche was made, the company became a subsidiary of Volkswagen. While this transition undoubtedly helped to provide some much needed capital and stability, the prestige factor took a hit, in my opinion, with the old guard of Rolls-Royce undoubtedly pushed aside in favor of greater efficiency and platform and component sharing. This is a special car that has aged well, and will forever have status in the collector class of vehicles.