Fifty top models of luxury on wheels roll into town

Cars fit for a maharaja have arrived in Rotorua as part of a worldwide tour by about 50 Rolls-Royce and Bentley models to mark their centenary.

The vehicles on display include a 1920 Silver Ghost, specially built for the Maharaja of Jodphur.

The oldest car on the New Zealand leg of the tour is from 1912, and the newest is a 2001 model.

After the New Zealand tour ends in Wellington, some cars will continue to Australia and Europe.

The tour is scheduled to finish in Manchester on May 4 - exactly 100 years after Charles Rolls met Henry Royce at the city's Midland Hotel .

Rolls-Royce is famous for models such as the Silver Ghost, Phantom, Silver Cloud and Silver Shadow, but its engines have also powered World War II Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft and, more recently, Concords and Boeings.

Its engines are also used on off-shore drilling rigs and in naval ships, submarines and rockets used for space exploration.

- NZPA