Interested in a vintage Rolls with a history of celebrity passengers? This car has been meticulously restored to its original beauty by Debi and Dick Danner, of Tiverton, RI. The car is being sold within the next few months, and more importantly 50% of the proceeds will be going to charity - helping others in food banks, shelters, soup kitchens, as well as for literacy, music, arts, and theater in the schools.
This celebrity Rolls was custom built for its owner, Roosevelt Zanders, and took almost two years to complete. Mr. Zanders was a pioneering African-American owner of a highly successful New York City limousine service. He was also listed in "Who's Who in Multicultural Achievers" and his life history is taught in some schools because of his outstanding achievements. The coachbuilder of the Silver Wraith was James Young. 1959 was the last year that this model of the Silver Wraith was produced.
Mr. Zanders was a personal and trusted chauffeur to the average person, as well as to the rich and famous. As a chauffeur, he treated all of the passengers he served equally, regardless of their economic or social status. The famous passengers include Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Eleanor Roosevelt, Aristotle Onassis, John Wayne, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Nat King Cole, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
In 1959, author Gay Talese wrote about Roosevelt Zanders and his Rolls in an article in the New York Times, and later featured him and his car in a book about intriguing people of New York City. The October 1963 issue of Ebony magazine featured Mr Zanders with his car in a New York Life Insurance ad. In later years, the car appeared in Billy Joel's Uptown Girl music video.
In 1989, the Silver Wraith Rolls left Manhattan and came to Rhode Island to be a part of the Danner limousine service called Going in Style. During that time, the car appeared in Newport, RI in the 1994 movie, True Lies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. Going in Style incorporated a program called "Angel Wheels," which involved giving a portion of the fees from the limousine service to help less fortunate in the local communities. The restoration of this Rolls was a labor of love, and the Danners are hopeful that it's upcoming sale will continue to help others.
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