The Rolls-Royce Phantom turns 100 this year. An automotive icon, the luxury limousine has lived a storied life, rubbing shoulders with politicians, royals and celebrities around the world.
Drawn to its opulence, it is little wonder countless musicians have also crossed paths with it, including the late Keith Moon, drummer for The Who. Famous for his chaotic lifestyle, legend has it that while celebrating his 21st birthday he drove his Phantom into the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan, creating one of rock 'n roll’s most enduring myths.
Whether the tale is true or not — the booze-soaked witness accounts vary wildly — the story has become one of the defining images of rock ’n roll excess.
To mark the Phantom’s centenary and its place in the mythology, Rolls-Royce recently staged a modern re-enactment by submerging an Extended body shell (a retired prototype destined for recycling) in a swimming pool. The setting was Tinside Lido in Plymouth in the UK, a celebrated Art Deco landmark on the edge of the English Channel.
“From the Golden Age of Hollywood to the rise of hip-hop, over the past 100 years music artists have used Phantom to project their identity and challenge convention,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Chris Brownridge.
“Their motor cars often became icons in their own right, with a lasting place in the history of modern music.”
Other notable customers over the years include Elvis Presley who, at the height of his fame in 1963, treated himself to a Midnight Blue Phantom V fitted with bespoke features including a microphone, writing pad in the armrest, a mirror and clothes brush to ensure "The King" was always ready to make an entrance.
John Lennon, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Beatles, owned two Phantom V models. The first, purchased in 1964, was entirely black, including the windows, bumpers and hub caps. It also boasted a cocktail cabinet, a television set and a refrigerator in the boot.
In 1967, shortly before Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released, the vehicle was resprayed yellow and hand-painted with swirls of red, orange, green and blue with floral side panels and Lennon’s star sign, Libra, completing the car’s new persona.
In 1968 Lennon purchased a second model to coincide with the launch of the White Album, marking a new phase of his life with Yoko Ono. White inside and out, it was kitted with a sunroof, Philips turntable, eight-track player, telephone and television. In September 1969 Lennon sold the car to Allen Klein, founder of Abkco Records and The Beatles’ manager at the time, for a reported $50,000 (about R7.76m in today's money).
The flamboyant and multi-talented Liberace, the world’s highest-paid entertainer in the 1950s and 1960s, commandeered a 1961 Phantom V covered in tiny mirror pieces that he would use to drive on stage during his long-running residency at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Liberace’s playing style influenced a generation of performers, including Sir Elton John, who also went on to own Phantom models, including one that had a sound system so powerful that the back windscreen had to be strengthened to prevent it from shattering when the volume was turned up. The car also sported a television, VCR and fax machine.
In the world of hip-hop, Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg would famously feature a Phantom VII in the 2004 music video for Drop It Like It’s Hot, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and cemented the Phantom’s lasting connection with the genre’s most influential artists.
50 Cent appeared in the TV series Entourage in a Phantom VII Drophead Coupé, a scene that later became a widely shared meme. Tha Carter II by Lil Wayne is one of many albums to feature a Phantom on its cover.
“The enduring connection reminds us Rolls-Royce and the extraordinary people who are part of the marque’s story are united by one ambition: to make their presence felt,” Brownridge said.
