Some birthday presents are expensive. Others are legendary. Rolls-Royce’s gift to itself for the Phantom’s centennial, and to The Who drummer Keith Moon, for what would have been his 79th, falls squarely in both categories. Rolls-Royce has submerged a very expensive Phantom EWB into a swimming pool, as a tribute to the wild drummer who’s said to have put a Rolls-Royce into a pool back in 1967.
The Keith Moon legend is a little murky itself. During his 21st birthday celebration at Michigan’s Holiday Inn, Moon claimed he let off the handbrake and rolled his Rolls-Royce into the pool. Though he later suspected it might have been someone else’s Lincoln Continental. However, it doesn’t really matter what exactly happened. The story became rock ‘n’ roll legend, inspiring everyone to create their own legends.
For one, Oasis created the iconic “Be Here Now” album cover in 1997, featuring a partially-submerged Rolls-Royce in a swimming pool as tribute to Keith Moon. A Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was actually submerged during the photo shoot, with a license plate that read “SYO 724F”, the same registration number from a van on The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover.
Now Rolls-Royce has officially brought things full circle, giving credibility to the legend in a way. Rather than waste a pristine running $500,000+ luxury car, they used a retired Phantom Extended Wheel Base prototype destined for recycling. In the process, creating what might be the most expensive tribute photo ever taken. The location of the picture, Tinside Lido, carries its own Beatles connection, having served as backdrop for The Magical Mystery Tour filming in 1967.
The stunt confused residents of the hotel, as well as the media reporting on the disruption. Let’s call it mission accomplished, then. Since it definitively proves that yes, a Rolls-Royce has graced a swimming pool and created quite the splash.
Whether Moon’s original escapade happened as legend suggests matters less than its cultural impact. By transforming folklore into reality, Rolls-Royce has honored rock mythology in the most Keith Moon way possible: with unbelievable excess.
