MAKING A SPLASH

Celebrity excess is nothing new, and time has documented the trend well. From trashed hotel rooms to somewhat baser vices, the glitterati has an eye for a perceived good time and one which has often attracted the eyes of the paparazzi. Their cars are no different – it was rare to see a Hillman Minx disgorging a lead actor at Pinewood, or a low-spec Dodge in Hollywood – and Motown never went crazy for the delights of a Nash Metropolitan.

But it’s not all Rolls-Royces in swimming pools, however tempting that idea might be – and however true or untrue the original rumour. And while the E-Type required considerably less cash, even it wasn’t the most attainable car of choice for those in the limelight. Some of society’s sweethearts drove classics which remain affordable to this day.

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

Rock and Rolls-Royce make happy bedfellows, Anyone who is anyone has at some stage owned something with a Spirit of Ecstasy at its prow – the ultimate symbol, perhaps, that one has arrived. Let’s slay the sacred cow first. It’s not actually confirmed whether or not Keith Moon did put his Silver Shadow into a swimming pool. Rolls-Royce official history suggests that it was a conflation of two stories – one involving a Lincoln Continental originally told in 1972, and one whereby he left the handbrake off and it rolled into a half-built pool of its own accord. However, it’s one of the coolest stories in rock and roll though, and one while made light of the stunt with a tired example in 2005.