Jay Leno has another special vehicle in his garage today, this time its a 1983 Rolls-Royce Camargue. And no, you aren’t alone if you have never heard of it. Some say the Rolls-Royce Camargue was an expensive failure, but it is still a pretty rare sight to see.

The Ultra-Exclusive Rolls-Royce Camargue

On Jay Leno’s Garage this week, the vehicle’s current owner said no one wanted the extremely rare Rolls-Royce Camargue, and it was more of an estate planning situation than a fight over the car. This two-door coupe is a sign of the times, with most models moving to four doors for a more family-friendly option.

Oddly enough, the vinyl roof is one of the rare coupe’s defining features. One of Jay’s expert appraisers, Donald Osborne, says it was about exclusivity. He says that when you looked at the Camargue and saw the roof, it appeared to be a convertible, thus more exclusive.

The Camargue was essentially a coupe version of the Silver Shadow, and the two-door conversion made it unique but also expensive. It was a big deal because of one comfort feature that took forever to make, but the Camargue was widely considered a flop.

The Camargue Was Built By Hand

Osborne says this Rolls-Royce represented a return to British craftsmanship. They were handbuilt, and the automaker only made two a week. Rolls-Royce only made 531 of them in the production run, so there was an intense focus on quality.

This was the first car with bi-level air conditioning, a revolutionary feature at the time. Rolls-Royce took eight years to develop the system, making it the most expensive production car in the world when it was introduced. In 1976, the Camargue started at $125,000, which would be around $682,000 in 2024.

The Rolls-Royce Camargue was designed by Paolo Martin at Pininfarina, making it the first post-war production car not designed in-house. It had a 6.75L V8 engine, the same as that in the Silver Shadow, but the Camargue had a bit more power. The Rolls-Royce 6.75L V8 was one of the largest engines ever put in a sports car by a British automaker, and it remains an impressive bit of history.

The Camargue Isn’t Worth That Much, But It Is Cool

Even though the Camargue would be very expensive if you bought it today, most of them are selling for under $100,000 on Bring A Trailer. No 1983 models have sold on the site in recent years, but a few 1985 versions have gone for $76,000 and $68,000. While it won’t bring in the big bucks, it is interesting to hear the story of the Camargue​​​​​​​.