Audi A8 L W12, Ice Silver Metallic

The D3-generation A8 was Audi's quiet answer to the question of how a flagship saloon should behave. Where rivals announced themselves, this one let the engineering do the talking: an aluminium ASF spaceframe that kept the long wheelbase light, quattro drive sending power to all four corners, and at the top of the range a 6.0-litre W12 folding two narrow-angle V6s into a single compact block. In long-wheelbase A8L form it was built for the person in the back as much as the one driving, yet the W12 gave it a turn of pace that never needed advertising. The single-frame grille, the slim xenon clusters and the restrained shoulder line have aged into something genuinely understated.

MotorHelix captures the D3 in Ice Silver Metallic, the cool grey-silver that suits the car's reserve and reads cleanly across the flanks and the deep bootlid. The opening panels, the fine chrome window surrounds and the multi-spoke wheels are rendered with the patience this subject asks for. MotorHelix presents it at 1:18 on a fitted display base.