The world’s introduction to “that devil woman” in 1961 begins with a violently blaring horn as two frightened Dalmatians watch her long, exaggerated, blood-red coupe come careening down the streets of London. Her menacing coupe arrives screeching to a halt beside a hitching post. Her crazed silhouette appears behind the leaded glass door, framed in the oval window, her waiting form a momentary portrait of insanity. At the housemaid’s first unlatching of the lock, the devil-woman bursts through the door as if her ego is a spring-loaded jack-in-the-box. She bellows “Anita, Darling!” in between breaths of green smoke, and immediately follows up with a blunt description of herself: “Miserable , darling, as usual, perfectly wretched !” [1].
Cruella arrives at Roger and Anita's home in her custom car [1]
There is no question: we, the audience and the world, are supposed to hate Cruella De Vil. She delights in condescension, and she is a shameless one-percenter. She claims furs as her “only true love”, necessitating the premature deaths of the adorable fluffy companions most sane people find endearing. Cruella has no supernatural powers, but her purer form of evil requires no magic: Cruella is simply a bad person. She holds everyone in the world in contempt, and even moves in a way that is supposed to trigger a sentiment of displeasure [2]. Her dramatic introduction demonstrates that she wields an utter disregard for anyone else’s life or interests. This woman is used to getting what she wants; to the detriment of whomever has whatever it is that she wants.
The original setting of 101 Dalmatians was in mid-century London, where like many places, there were three critical tells by which one could derive the financial/social status of an individual:
1. Clothing (Cruella wears custom furs)
2. Property (Cruella lives on a sprawling family estate, although she neglects to care for it)
3. Transportation (Cruella drives a custom car).
Cruella’s extravagant clothes are gaudy and possibly self-designed, and her family estate is probably inherited and seriously deteriorating. But her car may be the most overlooked personal statement of this ornery, ever-scheming Disney villain (despite the dramatic car chase in the animated original film). In 1958 London, a two-tone art-deco custom swoop-coupe would have been an outrageous thing – even if it were only driven on the proper side of the road at the posted speed limits, which is certainly not Cruella’s preferred driving style. But what exactly is Cruella De Vil’s wild, powerful machine?
My answer: Cruella De Vil drives a heavily customized 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental. In fact, I’ve named this real-world counterpart to the 1961 animated movie car the Rolls-Royce “Scélérate” (pronounced “sel-ee-rah,” French feminine-singular meaning “villain”, “criminal”, “scoundrel”, or “evildoer”). “Scélérate” isn’t just a random selection; there is a historical basis for this choice.
For reference: an original example of a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Sport Coupe, this one built by coachbuilder Freestone & Webb [03]
Although there may be no technical “right” answer as to the formal identity of Cruella De Vil’s car, I believe there should be for such a fantastic vehicle. So even though nobody in the world asked me to, I went ahead and ‘designed’ it without permission or approval from Disney or Rolls-Royce. I had to, because upon seeing the trailer for the 2021 live-action “Cruella” origin story featuring Emma Stone (which I was immediately excited about), I realized that for the second time (and in the opinion of this author) Disney appears to have botched Cruella’s live-action car by choosing a ridiculously-proportioned Panther De Ville, which is so insufficient that the original engine had to be replaced with a Chevrolet engine just so it could perform for the less-than-exceptional driving scenes in the 1996 live-action film [4]. Although it was probably chosen for it’s cartoonish appearance, if the Panther cannot withstand the stresses of filming, it certainly is not fit for Cruella’s driving.
Disney's selection of the Panther Deville for the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians; the Panther represented a caricature art-deco body over a modern drivetrain, with black-and-white two-tone as originally specified in the original 101 Dalmatians text by Dodie Smith published in 1956
In the real world, the eccentric, wealthy, attention-seeking, eternally depressed and psychotic Cruella De Vil must have had high enough ambitions and wealth to justify commissioning this custom Rolls-Royce coupe. Cruella also had the questionable-enough-taste to transform an otherwise priceless and exclusive car into an absurd custom that is instantly identifiable as hers – as unique as her terrifying silhouette in the glass entry door to Anita and Roger’s home. I propose that, unlike the family estate that is a decaying reminder of what she no longer has, her car is in fact a deliberate choice, and a nostalgic leftover from the triumph of her younger, wealthier, sexier years. This is a version of Cruella that we have never seen, but I expect we may be introduced to in the 2021 film [5].
The selection of a 1929 Rolls-Royce specifically as a basis for Cruella’s car is also deliberate: 1929 saw the onset of a global economic depression, and how uninterested in the welfare of others could Cruella be than to commission a custom luxury car, perhaps the finest in British automobiles, during peak suffering for the rest of the world? That’s who Cruella is at her core. 30 years after the Great Depression (Great Slump in the U.K.) when 101 Dalmatians takes place, she still drives a machine where the driver’s seat is the only place in her life that forces her to look up at, rather than down on, other people.
Still shot of Cruella's animated coupe in the snowy countryside [1].
The animated right-hand-drive movie car has several distinct features worth noting: the landau bars (the curved metal bits still seen on funerary cars today) at the rear quarters, large polished solid metal wheels, a cantilevered roof and fastback body with an integrated spare tire at the rear, custom doors that are cut lower than the mid-line of the body, slanted headlight covers on the oversized headlights that make the car appear to always have an angry scowl, and an aggressively angled split-windshield mounted on the cowl rather than integrated with the body. Finally, although not an exact match, the “tombstone” radiator shape is heavily reminiscent of the trademark Rolls-Royce nose, albeit raked dramatically back towards the driver at the top, and finished off with a massive hood ornament that only shows up in close-up shots of the car.
Disney artists may or may not have been aware, but even though Rolls-Royce radiators are always completely vertical and retain basically the same shape for the over-100-years of Rolls-Royce production, there is one extraordinary exception: the one-off 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Jonckheere Aerodynamic Coupe. This distinct custom was modified in Belgium in 1934 and at the time of this writing is owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in California [6]. The "round-door Rolls" serves as precedent for the angled front of Cruella’s custom Rolls-Royce Scélérate, if not for the animated Disney counterpart as well.
Note the raked back radiator design of the 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Jonckheere Aerodynamic Coupe, which aside from being the only Rolls-Royce with a slanted nose, is famous for also being the only car in the world with perfectly circular doors which pivot on a rod to open [6]
Disney fandom has also decided that two other specific cars have been a source of inspiration for Cruella’s custom coach: the 1936 Alvis Speed 20 Drophead Coupe, and the 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale ‘Weinberger Cabriolet’ [4]. Both cars do admittedly present a similar long-hood, big-headlight, swoopy-shape art-deco sculptural aura, so they are useful references. Other elements might have been picked from other period luxury cruisers like Duesenbergs, Delayahes, Delages, Talbot Lagos, Buccialis, and others, many of which utilized dramatic coachbuilders like Saoutchik and Figoni & Falaschi. However, Cruella reportedly lives at the decaying Old De Vil Manor (nicknamed 'Hell Hall') in Suffolk, England. As it happens, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis were all constructed only 2.5 hours northeast in Derby, U.K. It seems appropriate that the modern-era, high-society English aristocrat would have selected the Rolls-Royce above the potentials.
Left:1934 Alvis Speed 20 Vanvooren Cabriolet [07]; Right: 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Weinberger Cabriolet [08]
1932 Bucciali TAV8-32 by coachbuilder Saoutchik [09]
Back to the Rolls-Royce “Scélérate”, which is my real-world proposed equivalent of Cruella’s car from the 1961 animated film. “Scélérate” would have started as a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental chassis, with the factory 144” short-wheelbase configuration designed for the Rolls-Royce customer interested in being their own driver and with ‘spirited’ driving a strong possibility – less than 300 such cars were ever built [10]. We could assume a modified powerplant based on the massive 7.6L (468c.i.) 122-hp factory straight-six engine paired to a standard 4-speed manual transmission. On the other hand, Cruella’s dastardly driving results in a brief entanglement with a large tree, at which point a bulk of the top parts of the car are torn off. With the roof, hood, front fenders, most of the windscreen, and pieces of the exhaust system conveniently shed, it is revealed that there are no less than 4 exhaust ports belching flames at full throttle on each side, and possibly as many as 8 spark plugs visible on one side.
Cruella speeding through the snow, belching flames, with the massive engine exposed [01]
In other words, since it has been done before in the real world, it would not be that far-fetched to suggest that Cruella could have specified that her custom car be fitted with a 12-cylinder or 16-cylinder automobile or even airplane engine, similar to the 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Merlin V12 [11]. An early Rolls-Royce V-12 Merlin I engine put out as much as 1,000 horsepower, with the later versions serving the de Havilland Hornet fighter planes rated at closer to 2,000-hp.
1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II "Merlin", with a 27-Litre V-12 Rolls-Royce airplaine engine [11]
As with all Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis, once completed with mechanical running gear, Cruella would have selected a coachbuilder to construct a body to her specifications (or modify an existing body, if she started with an existing car). Rolls-Royce did not build their own bodies for the Phantom II, or most early Rolls-Royce cars for that matter (in fact, the first mass-produced Rolls Royce did not appear until 1949). We have to assume that a woman who designs her own clothes would also want to have a say in the form of her custom car. This is where she could have directed to have the squared-off rear transformed into the dramatic rakish fastback with the integrated spare tire compartment and the sliver of an oval-shaped rear window (it is doubtful she cares much for what is already behind her). She would also have requested that the single flat windscreen be cut down and split into two lower angled pieces with a divider bar like many early-century cars trying to approximate aerodynamic shapes before technology existed to curve glass. She also would have had the doors cut down and angled sharply down towards the back, and the sweeping fenders exaggerated at all four corners and the custom louvers punctured into the hood on both sides for almost the entire length of the front end (presumably to help the large engine breathe). Finally, before applying the chromium-plated landau bars to the rear quarters, and in stark contrast to the mostly black, gray, silver, or dark blue luxury cars of the day, she dressed her dramatic new ride in a garish two-tone. While the original 101 Dalmatians text by Dodie Smith introduced her large car as painted striped black and white to match her two-tone hair [12], the “Scélérate” is styled after the Disney film car instead. “Scélérate” features a blood-red body to match the interior lining of her fur coat and red gloves, with black fenders as an accent color to match the void in her chest where others have a heart.
Final sketches of the Rolls-Royce “Scélérate” custom coupe by Michael Lempert
The Rolls-Royce “Scélérate” measures 17’-3” bumper-to-bumper, and sits just over 5’ high at the top of the roof, mostly on account of giant 20” polished metal wheels. The front and rear track match the factory Phantom II specifications of 60” up front at 63.5” at the rear. For being only a two-seat coupe with a generally small passenger compartment, the “Scélérate" is a very large car. However unfortunate, the fate of this entire hypothetical exercise has been pre-determined; Cruella’s fantastic art-deco speedster ultimately meets its end in a collision with a tattered delivery van driven by Horace and Jasper during the winter of 1958 and both cars are completely destroyed, a tragic end to her desperate attempt to capture the Dalmatian puppies she is after for her next fur coat.
It has been 60 years since the introduction of Disney’s first modern villain, whose villainy is really just an amplified greed and condescension, fueled by inherited wealth and poor manners. Cruella remains uncomfortably relevant to our present-day woefully unbalanced society. I think it is fair to say that if the story were re-set in present-day London, a similarly wild Rolls-Royce custom might just as easily resume the role of the devil-woman’s ride, and be every bit as relevant and cohesive a part of her story as her character still is in our present society. I look forward to seeing Emma Stone's portrayal of young-Cruella in the upcoming release scheduled to arrive in mid-May of 2021 - even if her car isn't as cool or true as it could have been.
“The world was such a wholesome place until Cruella, Cruella De Vil.”
[Roger Radcliffe, 101 Dalmatians, 1961]
Michael Lempert | The Anachronist
Rochester, NY
2021.02.21 (Edited 2021.05.06)
Resources and additional information:
[1]:101 Dalmatians. Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske. Walt Disney Productions, Buena Vista Distribution, 1961. Film.
[12]: Smith, Dodie. The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Middlesex, Puffin Books, 1961.
Very good also you’re not the only one who thinks Curella‘s car has a Merlin, I and two of the family members of mine think/know that it has a 60 L Merlin VR8 due to the four big exhaust pipes and eight spark plugs. The other four aren’t spark plugs they are support beams. Anyway, be sure to check out the sequel written by me about Hunter De-Vil’s Custom Limousine. https://www.wattpad.com/1434561833-de-vil-of-a-time-2-hunter%27s-custom-limousine