The swinging sixties saw Rolls-Royce appeal to a new breed of owner. With many actors, pop stars and celebrities of the day choosing the marque. Not for the first time, a Rolls-Royce became a star of the silver screen itself.

In 1965, a yellow Barker-bodied Phantom II shared the limelight alongside Omar Sharif, Ingrid Bergman and Rex Harrison in The Yellow Rolls-Royce.  In the same year John Lennon took delivery of a Phantom V. It left the factory with a plain white finish, which Lennon had repainted in matt black. Becoming bored with this new finish he had it repainted with a psychedelic design, and this Rolls-Royce is now one of the most valuable pieces of pop memorabilia.

Introduced in 1965, the Silver Shadow I was the first Rolls-Royce to feature a monocoque chassis. It had a top speed limited to 118 mph and was capable of producing 220BHP at 4,500 rpm.