Rolls-Royce Builds One-Off Wraiths For Aging Rock and Roll Icons
Remember when Roger Daltrey sang, “Hope I die before I get old?”
The Who. The Kinks. Pink Floyd. They're some of the most influential groups in the history of rock and roll, bands that pioneered the devil-may-care, stick-it-to-the-man attitude that came to identify the 20th Century's greatest musical invention as much as raging guitars, shattering drums, and spine-tingling vocals.
And on Wednesday, members of all three groups dressed up in tailored suits and gathered together to take in the custom Wraiths Rolls-Royce partnered with them to whip up.
Note that verb: "partnered." Rolls-Royce didn't reluctantly build these Wraiths for a group of rock rebels. They teamed up with them entirely willingly. They embroidered the titles of Beatles songs into Giles Martin (son of the band's producer, George Martin) willingly. They gave the hood of Daltrey's Wraith a Tommy-inspired paint job willingly. The same company that aristocratically flipped its lid when John Lennon gave his Phantom V a psychedelic livery in the 1960s is now happily painting its cars up in surreal patterns for one of his contemporaries. This is the world we live in now.
Well, at least some of the money from these Rolls-Royces is headed to good causes. Rolls says a portion of each car's value will be given to a charity chosen by each musician.
