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Home / New Zealand

Rolls' FAB1: An opportunity lost

By Paul Charman
NZ Herald·
23 Apr, 2013 05:30 PM2 mins to read

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The Rolls-Royce FAB1. Photo / Supplied

The Rolls-Royce FAB1. Photo / Supplied

Paul Charman reckons Thunderbirds fans were entitled to machineguns

OK, it's a Rolls-Royce, it has the FAB1 plates and is finished in Lady Penelope's favourite shades of pink.

But some of us old, hard-core Thunderbirds fans will be disappointed with the one-off Ghost Extended Wheelbase Roller, made to raise money for charity.

The idea was great, of course. The "replica" was created for BBC Radio 2 host Chris Evans to hire out over the next 12 months - for a cool $9000 a day, with chauffeur.

They say it could raise $1.8 million for the British Breast Cancer Care advocacy group.

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Don't get me wrong, that's certainly a positive aim. But it just seems like another pink Roller, so really a bit of a half-baked effort.

Thunderbirds always overwhelmed our childish imaginations with gorgeous overkill, while this project underwhelms with cosmetic bling and little substance.

You needn't be a fan of mid-60s' Supermarionation to notice big differences.

The "real" Fab1 had six wheels (four at the front for steering); it could be remote controlled by Parker - the chauffeur with that distinctive "milady" - and had a couple of retractable 50-calibre machineguns under the headlights. The "real" FAB1 was an iron fist in a velvet glove; this thing is all velvet glove.

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The exterior is said to be eye-catching with chromed-wheels consisting of pink hubcaps.

The interior comprises pink highlights strewn through the Creme Light leather interior and pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbons hand-embroidered on the headrests.

Other highlights include FAB1 sill plates, pink lambs' wool floormats and pink-accented umbrellas. Yawn.

Remember how the old Thunderbirds always went one better? I mean, if the Tracy brothers discovered a desert oasis, it had a deep lake with an ancient temple at its depths; or if they discovered a pyramid in the desert, it had a forgotten race of aliens living inside, and so forth.

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To me, this FAB1 project has just gone "one less".

Don't get me wrong, I'd certainly cross the road to see it. But had Rolls-Royce pulled out all the stops and created a car the way Gerry and Sylvia Anderson created their wonderful science-fiction shows, wow, I'd have flown to England.

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