I don’t remember exactly when I heard this story for the very first time and there are different variations but the one I remember went something like this:
Supposedly a man who wasn’t dressed well walked into the Rolls Royce dealer and was checking out the cars. The man asked the salesman how much the car cost and the salesman replied you wouldn’t be able to afford it. The man upset left the dealership and came back another day, purchased the Rolls Royce, had it painted orange and turned it into a taxi cab.
I always thought it was just a myth but I got the photograph above today on Whatsapp and turns out the story did happen although not like the one I had heard. The story apparently is that the local dealerships were at a car show in Geneva and the Rolls Royce dealer teased the Buick dealer telling him that he was practically selling taxis. The Buick dealer got bothered and bought the Rolls Royce and turned it into a taxi to piss him off.
Update: Added more photographs
29 replies on “The story of the Rolls Royce taxi”
Wow. Heard this a long time ago. And also heard that Rolls Royce bought back the car by paying double the price , so that their image wasn’t spoilt…
lol i remember my dad told me this story
Lesson, buy a rolls, turn it into a cab, double your money!
The Urban Legend is true!
Its true and as a reaction england demanded explanation from kuwait rolls royce showroom and ordered them not to sell anymore to kuwaiti costumer without sending their information to england.
I’ve heard your version as well. So is there more to it as suggested in the comments above?
Jai Singh Prabhakar a Maharaja of the princely state of Alwar from 1892 to 1937 bought 6 Rolls Royce cars and used it as a garbage collecting vehicle in India.
Read more at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_Singh_Prabhakar
Lol. I was just about to say this.
Google ‘Nizam of Hyderabad’, one of the richest guys in the world who similarly was refused a Rolls. He bought 50 of them and used them to throw the city’s garbage daily.
Owner TATA?
The version of the story I heard was different so I can’t say which is true …
Supposedly the guy wanted to buy a Rolls and as was customary at the time was to ask for a discount. He was refused to be given any.
He bought two Rolls and used them as taxis which the company later bought back.
people who buy rolls royce, cant afford a bentley
google is your friend.
I first heard about this years ago, and, like most, I thought it was an urban myth. The versin I heard was that when he tried to order a car, they didn’t think he could afford it and ran a credit check on him. When he got wind of the credit check, he was furious, and to say ‘Up yours!’ to Rolls Royce, he painted in Orange taxi coloure.
Delighted to see though that sometimes urban myths come true!
Hes actually one of Karam family members.
Never judge a book by it’s cover.
There is one extreeeeeeemely wealthy sheikh (I’m not saying which one) who often doesn’t look “the part”. He loves fishing and can be seen sometimes at Khubbar walking around the island in the summer in a t-shirt and shorts. He also talks to people and you would never know who he is by his appearance or his friendly/kind demeanor. I applaud humble people like this.
Who I do not applaud are stupid, low-paid sales people who think that they know it all. If you treat everyone with the same level of dignity and respect, you will never have a problem.
My sister has bought a succession of Range Rovers for years. She walked into a dealership in Virginia wearing weekend clothes. She probably looked like a little girl. She wanted to buy a new RR and the salesman took one look at her and wouldn’t shake her hand (this, in an area where there are statistically more female multi-millionaires than anywhere else in the US). She literally left the dealership and the same day bought a Lexus (which she hated and later traded in for another RR!).
Stop judging and start selling.
She actually went & bought a RR again? i would have filed a complaint & made sure the guy is punished n only then buy another RR. :/
Mark the second part of your story is the correct one. Mohammad Redha Yousef Behbehani was the one who did it after they teased him about Buick. He had it running around the Sheraton roundabout picking people up.
Haha
Wow!!! i like him… lol
Does anyone know what year this is? or approximately?
I heard the same story about the guy being refused coz of his appearance..
Suddenly i have a feeling that people at Rolls Royce are Racists!!!
Anybody remember or know of the cleaner from Airport in the BMW showroom 😉
Hats off to the guy who did this….. Although folls royce might signify luxury and royalty does not give them the right to discriminate. ….
++1000
You didnt finish the story he worked as a taxi cab driver with that car getting pickups right outside the dealer and they told him that it would ruin the companys reputation so he was like i dont care that guy made fun of me so im teaching you a lesson so they fired him and he still wont give them the royce they contacted the manufacture in london and they said to buy it from him at any price, he bought it for triple the price of the one that he had and they gave him a new one.
And until today he has it, but he doesn’t use it. He has it on an open trailer kept as a reminder of that day.
I know that because that guy is my neighbour here in the d’iya (الدعية)
I salute him every time i see him
2023 Update:
The car, which was discovered in a junkyard located in Al-Khafji, Saudi Arabia, was purchased by a man named Hassan Al-Boinain.
https://youtu.be/V_TTHbSzO_c
crazy!!!
Yup posted about it today