Lady Penelope’s FAB 1 – The Six-Wheeled 'Rolls-Royce' Limo That Refused to Die

Unstoppable Icon - Sometimes a car is more than just a car. Some machines manage to slip out of the ordinary world of wheels and engines, and step straight into the realm of legend. Few vehicles illustrate this better than a shocking pink Rolls-Royce that simply refused to die. Rolls-Royce themselves tried to erase it from existence, yet FAB 1—the car of Lady Penelope from the cult TV show Thunderbirds—is still around, celebrating its 60th anniversary as one of the strangest and most fascinating automotive stories ever told.

The real-life replica of the ‘FAB 1’ limousine, a bright pink Rolls-Royce fantasy car created for Lady Penelope in the 1960s cult series Thunderbirds, was built to chauffeur Gerry and Sylvia Anderson to the 1968 premiere of Thunderbirds Are Go. (Pictured from: TheTelegraph)

Back in 1965, British television looked nothing like it does today. Families huddled around small black-and-white sets, and children were used to simple, stage-like productions. Then came Thunderbirds, a puppet-driven sci-fi adventure series created by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, and it blew people away. Suddenly, kids were watching rockets, secret bases, and futuristic machines brought to life with miniatures and special effects that felt decades ahead of their time. At the center of this spectacle was Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, an aristocratic spy who needed a car that matched her elegance, wealth, and daring lifestyle. For Gerry Anderson—who had grown up poor in London but always dreamed of owning a Rolls-Royce—there was only one badge that made sense. 

Originally, the ‘FAB 1’ limousine was the iconic pink Rolls-Royce of Lady Penelope and her chauffeur Parker in Thunderbirds, the 1960s puppet-based sci-fi adventure series created by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson. (Pictured from: TheTelegraph)

The car his team designed, with Derek Meddings leading the visual effects department, didn’t just nod toward Rolls-Royce luxury. It turned it inside out. FAB 1 was painted in an outrageous shade of pink, topped with a bubble canopy, fitted with six wheels, and stuffed with more gadgets than James Bond’s Aston Martin. Missiles, harpoons, radar systems, machine guns, and even hydrofoils for skimming across water—it was both glamorous and deadly. While the TV version was only a 2.1-meter-long scale model made of plywood and fiberglass, the design captured imaginations instantly. It cost £2,500 in 1964—an eye-watering sum for a puppet prop—but it looked every bit like the Rolls-Royce of the future.

The 6ft puppet-scale version of the car was displayed outside Planet Hollywood in London when it, along with the original puppets, was sold at auction in 2002. (Pictured from: TheTelegraph)

The small-screen car was such a hit that when the Andersons prepared for their feature film Thunderbirds Are Go in 1966, Sylvia insisted that they needed a real, drivable version to wow crowds at the premiere. That’s when things got even more interesting. A Bedford Duple Vega bus chassis was chosen as the foundation, chopped and stretched to 6.5 meters long, and weighing over three tons once complete. It used a six-cylinder engine, a two-speed GM Powerglide automatic gearbox, Land Rover wheels, and a custom fiberglass body that faithfully recreated the model’s wild lines. The Perspex bubble roof was split into two sections that lifted with an auger system, allowing passengers to board like stepping into a futuristic spacecraft. Even the license plate rotated between the iconic FAB 1 lettering and a legal registration number, so the car could drive on British roads.

The real-life replica of the ‘FAB 1’ limousine was commissioned in 1966 by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson to promote Thunderbirds Are Go, with construction entrusted to the Toby Baxter company in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, under Sylvia’s supervision, using a modified Bedford Duple Vega bus chassis to support its massive six-wheeled design with four steerable front wheels. (Pictured from: Sixmania.fr)

It sounded like a showstopper, but real life had other plans. On the very night of the premiere, the replica broke down after only a few hundred meters, forcing Sylvia and Gerry to finish their journey by taxi. Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, were not amused. The company was outraged that their Spirit of Ecstasy mascot and famous “RR” badge had been used without permission. They demanded the car be purchased for destruction, but the Andersons resisted. In the end, the grille was modified, swapping the Rolls-Royce logo for an “LP” in honor of Lady Penelope. The car survived, though its relationship with Rolls-Royce was anything but friendly. 

The real-life replica of the ‘FAB 1’ limousine, painted bright pink with a bubble-top roof, measured about 6.8 meters in length, weighed over three tons, and featured an array of remarkable gadgets—including a machine gun—making it impossible to lose sight of. (Pictured from: PostWarClassic)

For a while, FAB 1 toured the UK as part of movie promotions, before disappearing into obscurity. Rumors swirled that Rolls-Royce had finally destroyed it, but the truth was stranger. The car had been left to decay in a barn, forgotten for years, until collector Peter Nelson tracked it down in the late 1980s. By then it was in a sorry state, but Nelson had it restored and placed on display in his Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick. Visitors could marvel at the six-wheeled pink beast alongside other famous movie vehicles like KITT, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the Batmobile. 

The interior of FAB 1 featured black leather seating, a central driving position, and a chrome-detailed dashboard with a custom FAB 1 speedometer. (Pictured from: Sixmania.fr)

Even then, Rolls-Royce didn’t give up—they once again tried to have it destroyed. Once again, they failed. By 2011, when Nelson’s museum closed, FAB 1 was sold to American collector Michael Dezer, who added it to his massive Miami-based collection. Today, it still resides there, occasionally spotted out in traffic with its fake FAB 1 plates swapped for its true registration “CPP 1F.” It may be behind ropes and “no photos” signs, but the fact that it still exists at all is a kind of miracle. 

The real-life replica of the ‘FAB 1’ limousine was sold in 2011 to American collector Michael Dezer after Nelson’s museum closed, and while it now resides in his Miami collection—sometimes seen on the road with its true registration “CPP 1F” instead of the famous FAB 1 plates—its survival, as shown in photos taken before restoration, remains nothing short of miraculous. (Pictured from: Sixmania.fr)

The legend of FAB 1 didn’t stop with the original. In 2004, when Thunderbirds returned as a live-action movie, Lady Penelope’s car had to return too. This time, though, Rolls-Royce declined to participate. Instead, the filmmakers partnered with Ford, who built a fully functioning FAB 1 limousine inspired by their new Thunderbird. 

The modern version of FAB 1, featured in the 2004 film with Sophia Myles as Lady Penelope and Ron Cook as Parker, was built on a Ford Thunderbird platform after Rolls-Royce declined to participate. (Pictured from: TheTelegraph)

Painted in the signature pink and still carrying six wheels and a bubble-style roof, it was an audacious reimagining of the classic. Fans, however, were divided. While the car looked futuristic, many felt it lacked the elegance of the 1960s Rolls-Royce version. Gerry Anderson himself had no role in the project, and his family later admitted he wasn’t especially fond of this redesign. Today, the 2004 FAB 1 sits at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire—a reminder of how powerful the original concept was, even if modern updates couldn’t quite capture the same magic.

A die-cast toy version of FAB 1, crafted by Meccano under the Dinky brand, became a beloved collectible that captured the charm of Lady Penelope’s iconic car. (Pictured from: TheTelegraph)

Meanwhile, FAB 1’s cultural impact has lived on in miniature. Dinky Toys’ die-cast models became the must-have gift of Christmas 1966, fetching high prices among collectors today. Corgi revived the model in the 2000s, and Scalextric released a slot-car version as recently as 2023. Fan-built replicas have also appeared over the years, including a 21-foot Jaguar-based limousine created by Melvin Jarvis, which even attended Gerry Anderson’s funeral in 2013 before being destroyed by fire.

Fan-built replicas have appeared over the years, including a 21-foot Jaguar-based limousine created by Melvin Jarvis that attended Gerry Anderson’s 2013 funeral before being destroyed by fire. (Pictured from: Sixmania.fr)

Through all of this, the original TV model holds perhaps the greatest symbolic power. That six-foot puppet car, preserved today in director Peter Jackson’s private collection, represents the dream Gerry Anderson carried from his childhood: the dream of one day owning a Rolls-Royce. In real life, he eventually did—a Silver Shadow gifted to him after selling the TV rights to Lew Grade. But it was FAB 1, the wild pink Rolls that shouldn’t have existed, that cemented his legacy in automotive pop culture. | IX4p9nKW8JA |

Six decades later, FAB 1 still makes people smile, still inspires collectors, and still looks shockingly futuristic. It predicted features we now see in everyday cars, from dashboard screens to voice communication. It blurred the line between luxury and fantasy, and it proved that imagination could sometimes outshine reality. Rolls-Royce tried to kill it twice, but FAB 1 survived. And maybe that’s fitting—because like Lady Penelope herself, it was never just about style or wealth. It was about daring to stand out, daring to be different, and daring to last forever in the memories of those who saw it. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | THETELEGRAPH | POSTWARCLASSIC | SIXMANIA.FR ]

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