Rolls-Royce Dropped a Phantom Into a Swimming Pool to Honor a Legendary Drummer

Rolls-Royce first built a Phantom in 1925, and continues to be constructing them 100 years later, with the most recent era, the Phantom VIII, debuting in 2017. To mark the anniversary, the marque put one in a swimming pool.

The pool was Tinside Lido in Plymouth, England, the place a Phantom VIII was placed on a ship after which taken poolside, the place it was lifted off by a crane after which positioned into the water atop a platform. The stunt was meant to evoke an apocryphal story from 1972, when Keith Moon, the drummer of the Who, is alleged to have pushed a Rolls-Royce right into a pool at a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan.

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The precise automotive that went right into a pool there was in all probability a Lincoln Continental—and never as a result of it was pushed in, however as a result of the handbrake was not utilized and it rolled. Or there was no automotive in a pool in any respect, and as a substitute it was a extra regular evening of Nineteen Seventies drunken rock star extra, together with a meals battle and varied smaller issues being thrown into the pool.

“The drummer knocked out part of his front tooth; at the hospital, doctors could not give him an anaesthetic (due to his inebriation) before removing the remainder of the tooth,” according to a biography of Moon quoted by Autoweek. “Back at the hotel, a melee erupted; fire extinguishers were set off, guests (and objects) thrown into the swimming pool and a piano reportedly destroyed. The chaos ended only when police arrived with guns drawn.”

For a sure era, the reality doesn’t actually matter lower than the parable itself: a legendary rock star treating the world’s most luxurious automotive with such flippancy on his solution to dying too younger. Rolls-Royce likes the parable for what it provides to its personal fantasy, that Rolls-Royces are the automobiles of kings and queens and self-indulgent rock stars, too.

Thus, for the one centesimal anniversary of Phantom, Rolls-Royce delicately recreated the parable, inserting a Phantom in pool water in England, with photographers and videographers there to make sure that it wouldn’t be misremembered, like Keith Moon.

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Rolls-Royce mentioned the Phantom is definitely a retired prototype, and was set to be recycled. It was positioned on a ship, after which steered subsequent to the pool, the place it was lifted into the water.

The Phantom being lifted on the crane was virtually an occasion in itself.

“From the Golden Age of Hollywood to the rise of hip-hop, over the last 100 years, music artists have used Phantom to project their identity and challenge convention,” mentioned Chris Brownridge, CEO of Rolls-Royce, in a press release. “Their motor cars often became icons in their own right, with a lasting place in the history of modern music. This enduring connection reminds us that Rolls-Royce and the extraordinary people who are part of the marque’s story are united by one ambition: to make their presence felt.”

Rolls-Royce selected Tinside Lido in as its setting. Built in 1935, the general public pool in Plymouth, England, was the positioning of a photograph taken of the Beatles in 1967 when the band was filming Magical Mystery Tour. It later fell into disrepair and was closed in 1992 earlier than being restored and reopened in 2005.

A platform was lowered into the water earlier than the Phantom, after which the automotive was positioned on high, to make it appear from above that the auto is floating peacefully, as a human may.

John Lennon confirmed off his Phantom V in 1967, the 12 months that the Beatles filmed Magical Mystery Tour and in addition went to Tinside Lido. Lennon ordered the automotive following possession of one other Rolls-Royce. The Phantom V was painted yellow with various “psychedelic” touches like flowers and swirls. That automotive is at the moment on show on the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Among different notable musicians and celebrities to personal Rolls-Royces are Marlene Dietrich, Elvis Presley, Liberace, and Elton John, every typically with a flourish. John, for instance, purchased one in all his Rolls-Royces on a whim and added some private touches.

“In 1973, en route to a concert in Manchester in his white Phantom VI, Sir Elton saw a newer example in a showroom window. He instructed his chauffeur to stop, bought the car, and used it to complete his journey to the venue,” according to Rolls-Royce. “Later, he would update the Phantom with black paintwork, a black leather interior, tinted windows, a television, a video player, and even a fax machine. The most significant addition, however, was a bespoke audio system that was so powerful that the back windscreen had to be strengthened to prevent it from shattering when the volume was turned up.”