This man is the only person allowed to paint lines on Rolls-Royce
- Mark Court is the only person allowed to paint coach lines on Rolls-Royce
- The British craftsman has worked at the Goodwood factory for more than two decades
- The job requires an incredible amount of skill and a very steady hand
Published on Jul 17, 2024 at 2:55 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Jul 17, 2024 at 6:56 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A British craftsman has spent more than two decades painting coach lines onto Rolls-Royce vehicles – and is the only person allowed to do so.
If you’ve ever seen a Rolls-Royce with a long thin pinstripe – known as coach lines or coach stripes – running from behind the headlights right to the taillights then you’ve seen the handiwork of Mark Court.
Holding one of the most niche job titles in the world, Court is employed at the Goodwood factory in England and has the important final step on production lines.
READ MORE! Behold! Mansory’s custom Rolls-Royce Phantom dubbed the ‘Duke of Darkness’
The former sign-painter needs a steady hand
A former sign-painter, Court takes his job very seriously – and he needs to, because if he messes up there’s no quick and easy way to fix it.
The paint is specially designed to bond with the base paint on the car immediately.
But despite the pressure, Court manages to keep himself calm and zen-like by only focusing on the car and not the high-end customer waiting for their new motor.
“This is just another car to me,” he told CNN in 2015. “If you start worrying about who owns them or where it’s going, it’ll play with your mind.
“Then you’ll never do it.
“[You’ve] just got to be able to learn to shut off and do what you need to do.”
We’re sure that’s easier said than done.
How did he land the job at Rolls-Royce?
Opening up about how he got into the unusual job, Court said it was simply a case of ‘adapting a skill’ for painting lines that he already had and increasing the distance to six meters, or the same length as a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
He was flown out to Germany to meet with Ian Cameron – the man BMW hired as head of design at Rolls-Royce – where he was shown a perfect coach line and asked if he could do the same.
“Well, I’m a cocky Englishman. I can do anything,” Court said.
Fortunately for him, that turned out to be true and he’s been working at the factory since 2003.
As well as the coach lines, Court also paints all manner of things as requested by customers, including initials, flowers, and horse heads.
As of 2015, Court was still on the hunt for an apprentice to step into his shoes – including his own son, who decided it wasn’t for him and went on to work at the Rolls-Royce woodshop instead.
So if you’ve got a steady hand there could be a job waiting for you.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
