The Rolls-Royce Phantom is now a 100-year-old car. As a century-old piece of engineering and human history, the car has had its share of interesting owners. From 50 Cent to Elton John, a run of famous folks have all owned one. So, for the car's 100th birthday, Rolls-Royce set about recreating one of the more famous bits of lore surrounding the car.
Did Keith Moon Really Dunk A Phantom?
If the photos hadn't given it away, Rolls-Royce did pull it off. More on that in a second. First, it's worth addressing a simple fact that even Rolls acknowledges: no one was ever able to figure out if Moon, drummer for The Who, ever took one for a swim, but the man himself says he never did. Moon owned one, but as the story (very much allegedly) goes, the suddenly amphibious luxury car was a Lincoln Continental. In a '76 interview with Rolling Stone, Moon said his attempt to flee a party-crashing sheriff at a Holiday Inn ended in a a submerged Lincoln.
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"I ran out, jumped into the first car I came to, which was a brand new Lincoln Continental. It was parked on a slight hill and when I took the handbrake off, it started to roll and it smashed straight through this pool surround [fence] and the whole Lincoln Continental went into the ‘Oliday Inn swimming pool, with me in it."
Rolls did it a bit differently, taking the retired body of a prototype destined for recycling and gently placing it on stilts in the pool of the Tinside Lido in Plymouth, England for some photos.
Sometimes A PR Stunt Is Just... A Stunt
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It all feels a little like Alex Krokus' "Life of a Meme" comic. Keith Moon allegedly did the whole pool thing first, and even if he did, it was probably a Lincoln, and no one ever corroborated the story. The whole bit was only just a little funny when Top Gear did it, and even that was so long ago it's now found on a YouTube channel called Top Gear Classic.
The multi-billion-dollar company? Kind of beating a dead horse that's already been dug up, beaten, and buried a few times over. Rolls could have sacrificed a real Phantom to whatever Poseidon of the Pool there may be and really, truly sunk the thing. Sticking it on stilts for a photo op just doesn't feel very sincere, or very "Rock n' Roll."
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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