A 66-year-old woman drove a Rolls-Royce Dawn through the backyard of a home in Palm Beach, Florida, and the opulent convertible came to a stop hanging off a seawall with its nose in the sand on the beach. Paramedics took the driver to the hospital, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.
In addition to leaving the Rolls-Royce in a precarious position, the driver struck a coral statue with an alleged value of $3 million at the home. The damage also includes $10,000 to the seawall, $50 to a curb, and $50 to a fence, according to CBS 12 local news.
The woman reportedly told police that she had no memory for hours before the crash. The authorities did not believe she was intoxicated.
Photos show damage to the Dawn’s front end, which makes sense after hitting a sculpture, the fence, and falling five feet off the seawall. While not visible in the pictures, hanging from that height probably did at least some damage to the rear bumper.
The Rolls-Royce Dawn premiered at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show and essentially was a convertible version of the Wraith coupe with some small styling tweaks to differentiate them further. The bodywork behind the rear seats had wood elements. The roof folded in about 20 seconds while the vehicle traveled up to 31 miles per hour.
At launch, a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 produced 563 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque. It was able to reach 62 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds and had a top speed of 155 mph. Later, Rolls-Royce introduced the Black Badge model with an output of 593 hp and 620 hp from the 12-cylinder engine.
The Dawn and the Wraith left Rolls-Royce’s lineup in the United States for the 2021 model year. They were still available elsewhere for a little while longer, but the company intended to end production entirely in early 2023.
Rolls-Royce is currently developing the Spectre electric coupe. So far, there’s no indication whether the company would make a convertible version that would serve as a Dawn successor.
