Thrifty and eco-friendly Queen Elizabeth only drives her Bentley Arnage for special occasions. Well, technically she only rides in it really (but that is a different story). The Bentley State Limousine is the official state car for her royal highness and if you have never seen it, she’s a real beauty. Custom built by Bentley for the world’s most famous celebrity senior citizen Queen Elizabeth II back in 2002, it was a gift for her at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

According to Motor Revolution, “The vehicle’s twin-turbocharged, 6.75-litre V8 Engine has been modified from Bentley’s Arnage R version to produce 400 hp (300 kW) and 616 lb·ft (835 N·m) of torque. Maximum speed is 130 mph (210 km/h) so it’s not slow despite it’s size. The State Limousine is three feet (91.44 cm) longer than a standard Bentley Arnage, 10 inches (254 mm) taller, and six inches (152.4 mm) wider. It is equipped with broad coach doors that open to the rear almost 90 degrees. British textile manufacturer Hield Brothers produced the Lambswool Sateen cloth used for the upholstery of the rear seats.”

Only two of these ultra-luxe exotic cars were ever built, making it a highly collectible automobile and more rare than a Rolls-Royce Phantom IV. Only 18 of those were built for royal family members and world wide heads of state.

The most fun part of the Queen’s Bentley?

The roof has been raised over 2 inches above the typical luxury automobile design… and you will never guess why.

To accommodate her hats.

That custom feature could come in handy should the royal family elect to party-down and cruise around town in lavish costumes on Halloween.

[The car was also used as transportation for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, so it has historically come in handy to provide space, ample leg room and head room for gents and ladies dressed in ways that are out of the ordinary.]

Her Majesty’s royal wheels were, “the first ceremonial Royal vehicle to have been developed using the latest computer aided design techniques and will be the first ever Bentley in the Royal fleet…” says Classics.com.

By only riding in it for limited miles, not only does she preserve and protect the value of the luxury exotic car by keeping miles low, she also keeps pollutants down — her tiny move to go green.

Love automobile history? Car nuts and movie fans alike have been invited to the premiere of a new film titled Revenge of the Electric Car. Happening at 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 3rd in downtown Charleston, SC, the film is slated to air at the Hippodrome on the widescreen. Vanity Fair magazine has already hailed the film as, “Riveting and Highly Entertaining”, the provocative film is a sequel to the movie,”Who Killed the Electric Car?”

Why is the movie important to Americans and residents of the Low Country? Because the film reveals a little known secret kept by the automotive industry. “Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of car is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever…” says the movie promoters.

In a day and age where high gas prices are affecting the mobility of residents all over the Southeast, are limiting car travel tourism to the Charleston region, and have caused inflation in the price of all food and consumer goods (due to the high cost of fuel for transport vehicles), Charleston residents are paying particular attention to how the auto industry is making decisions about the products they intend to build over the next twenty years.

REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR

In 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car is back… with a vengeance. In “Revenge of the Electric Car,” director Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars.

Plug In Carolina is hosting the movie at no charge to the public at the Hippodrome Widescreen Cinema, at 360 Concord St., next to the aquarium.  Examples of electric vehicles from GM, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and others will be on display prior to the event.  If interested, attendees may also participate in a question and answer session, immediately following the movie.

Though the movie is free, registration is required by sending the registrants name, email address, and number of requested tickets to jpoch@plugincarolina.org.  The media is encouraged to attend. Questions may be directed to 843-743-6736.

Register soon as seating is limited!  The movie trailer may be seen at http://www.revengeoftheelectriccar.com/ .

Celebrity cars are always fun to read about online, and this story was no exception. It seems celebrity teen Justin Bieber is in a bit of trouble after getting into a fender bender while driving a Ferrari.

E! Online news reported more breaking headline news about the celebrity gossip that the Biebs was in big trouble with California police after wrecking the hot car in the sunny state. Checking in with Cali law enforcement reps, they found out that the teenager was not in any legal trouble for driving the sports car while still under the age of 25.

They also confirmed that Justin Bieber was involved in a minor crash.

However, it was a tweet that really has the singer in trouble with his mom far more than the law — as it looks like the real reason why Biebs got clipped in the exotic car (causing the police to be called in the first place) was that he had been involved with street racing!

Imagine reading this little news report on Twitter and being the parent of a kid trusted to drive such an incredibly fast machine:

“I just raced @justinbieber down Ventura in his Ferrari I won but a fedex truck got in his way…Seemed like a down to earth kid,” Everlast, aka House of Pain member Erik Schrody, tweeted yesterday.

If you were his mom or dad and he had wrecked the car, would you scream?

The pop star’s press camp had nothing to say yet about the verified celebrity tweet. Also not shared what whether or not he will be grounded for acting irresponsibly.

Justin Bieber is considered a green celebrity for his humanitarian work helping folks affected by the BP oil spill in New Orleans, for being a pet friendly activist who gave his celebrity endorsement to PETA, and for donating a large portion of the proceeds from his new perfume line for girls (called “Someday”) to charity.

It is too bad he was not driving a Prius. That would have been funny.

For more exotic car news and celebrity cars trivia, follow @cafecars on Twitter.