Mark Court and Rolls-Royce

Mark Court and Rolls-Royce

Fanatics of handcrafted automotive parts would know about the person we are talking about—Mark Court. He is the famous Rolls-Royce ‘coachline painter’. 

Joining Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood, England plant in 2003, Court quickly rose to fame due to his irreplaceable skillset—painting straight lines without lifting the brush. If you ever see a Rolls-Royce with a painted pinstripe down the side that goes from just behind the headlights to just before the taillights, you are seeing the artwork of Mark Court. 

Court was previously working as a sign painter in his village’s bars and pubs. A tall Englishman with a thick English accent, Mark Court is the type of guy one would imagine painting pub signs around England. He was interested and applied for the Rolls-Royce job as soon as he heard the automaker would open a factory in his rural village in 2003.

His work involves intensely painting that coach line, which is the last step in the Rolls Royce manufacturing process. The paint he uses has special properties that instantly bond it to the underlying car paint. Many would feel tensed in such a stressful situation but for Court “it’s just another car”.

“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 just got to be able to learn to shut off and do what you need to do.” quotes Court.

Though he paints coach lines every day his job involves much more. He has had customers request a variety of custom designs including flowers, horseheads, various abstract shapes as well as their initials on their Rolls Royce. There was even an instance of a Dubai prince flying Court across the world to just paint a coach line on his Rolls-Royce.

Court says he is still trying to find an apprentice who will someday take his place at Rolls-Royce. So far two apprentices have dropped out. One was his son. “Time marches on, I ain’t getting no younger. Someone’s got to continue,” says Court.