2022 RM Sotheby’s London Sale (Freddie Mercury Rolls Royce Announced)

Freddie Mercury’s personal 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is on sale as a charity lot at the RM Sotheby’s London 2022 classic car auction.

Freddie Mercury’s personal 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is on sale as a charity lot at the RM Sotheby's London 2022 classic car auction.
Neil Fraser ©2022 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The celebrity car highlight of the RM Sotheby’s London 2022 sale is undoubtedly going to be the 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow that Freddie Mercury used from 1979 until his death in 1991. It is offered at no reserve as a charity lot to benefit Superhumans of Ukraine, a charity raising funds to build a new hospital in Lviv, Ukraine. No estimate was released.

RM Sotheby’s London 2022 Classic Car Auction

RM Sotheby’s London 2022 classic car auction: 5 November 2022 at the Marlborough House in central London, UK.

The sale is the 16th annual RM Sotheby’s sale and again as title sponsor of the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, held in partnership with the Royal Automobile Club, that takes place on 6 November.

The 2022 auction grossed £27,264,325 ($31,571,230) in sales with 83% of all lots sold — the best performance ever for RM Sotheby’s in London.

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Freddie Mercury’s Rolls Royce at RM Sotheby’s London Sale 2022

Freddie Mercury’s personal 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is on sale as a charity lot at the RM Sotheby's London 2022 classic car auction.
Neil Fraser ©2022 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

RM Sotheby’s announced the sale of Freddie Mercury’s personal 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow at the London 2022 classic car auction. Mercury, the world-famous frontman of Queen, unquestionably one of the biggest bands of the 21st century, acquired the car for his personal use in 1979, keeping it until his untimely death in 1991. The car then passed to his sister, who retained the car for many years.

The sale of the car presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a piece of rock and roll history, while at the same time benefiting a remarkable charity, Superhumans of Ukraine. The charity is raising funds to help build a brand-new hospital in the Lviv province of Ukraine. The hospital will help support the rehabilitation of adults and children who have suffered injuries due to the conflict. The center is being built with the intention to treat a proposed 3,000 patients per year, with the charity’s mission statement being ‘to transform Ukraine into a country of Superhumans rather than a country with disabled victims.”

No estimate was released but Hagerty values a standard Silver Shadow without celebrity provenance or a charity connection at between only $5,000 and $30,000.

Freddie Mercury’s Rolls-Roye Silver Shadow

Freddie Mercury’s personal 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is on sale as a charity lot at the RM Sotheby's London 2022 classic car auction.
Neil Fraser ©2022 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Freddie Mercury needs little introduction to most people, having been one of the greatest, singers, performers, and showmen, the music industry has ever known. By 1979, Queen has already enjoyed great success and was one of the biggest bands on the planet, and Freddie’s acquisition of his beloved Rolls Royce was a perfect way to celebrate that success. The car left the factory finished in Silver Chalice over a Blue interior, and was acquired by Mercury’s company, Goose Productions Ltd., in 1979. It became Mercury’s personal chauffeur-driven transport for the duration of Queen’s smash hit heyday, at a time when the band would record much of its best-known music.

Accompanying the car is a history file that features Mercury’s name on assorted workshop invoices. Curiously, much of the paperwork on file is recorded in the name of Mary Austin, Mercury’s former partner, who assisted the singer with the upkeep of the Rolls-Royce.

A letter on file from Jim Beach, long-time band manager of Queen, verifies the car’s celebrity ownership. In a documentary film, Beach states: “We filmed the promo video for We will Rock You in the garden of Roger Taylor’s new Surrey mansion….and Freddie upstaged everyone by arriving in his brand new Roller’. He continues: “Freddie insisted that we sign all of the contracts, all of us together, in the back of the Roller, because this was the first Rolls he’d ever owned.” Film footage of Mercury arriving at the filming of the promotional video that day, is captured on film, with the car’s registration number WLX 293M, clearly visible.

Beach also comments that upon Mercury’s passing in November 1991, the Silver Shadow continued to be driven by the rockstar’s sister, Kashmira Cook, who subsequently bought the car from the Freddie Mercury Estate in 2003.