Florida Rolls-Royce Driver Somehow Smashes Into A $3 Million Dollar Sculpture In Someone’s Backyard

Rolls Royce Statue Crash Topshot
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Most of the time, if you hit something that isn’t a building while driving a Rolls-Royce, you don’t damage something worth more than the car itself. Unfortunately, the Palm Beach Daily News reports that a rare exception recently happened in Palm Beach, Fla. when a 66-year-old driver ploughed her Rolls-Royce through a multi-million-dollar sculpture in someone’s backyard. This is so far outside my tax bracket that I just need to take a step back and examine the situation. Unfortunately, all the photos floating around are very low-res, so we’ll need to zoom in instead.

Rolls-Royce Dawn

For a start, the Rolls-Royce involved in this very expensive shunt isn’t the ultra-rare Phantom Drophead Coupe, but instead a more common Dawn. Despite not being the hi-po Black Badge version, 563 horsepower and 605 lb.-ft. of torque still make it quick, and the exclusivity of the Rolls-Royce badge makes it still expensive. Figure a price tag north of $150,000 even for higher-mileage examples. Granted, higher-mileage for a Rolls-Royce isn’t nearly the same as higher-mileage for most cars, but that’s the world of high-end cars for you.

It’s already impressive that this driver managed to send her Dawn through a backyard, but she also managed to take out a very expensive sculpture before getting wedged on the seawall. The Palm Beach Daily News reports that the homeowner estimated the cost of the sculpture at $3,000,000, although it’s hard to put a finger on value due to the strange world of art. The sculpture itself was made of coral, which somehow seems both excessive and ordinary. I guess Velveeta cheese just doesn’t hold up to the elements like coral does.

Rolls-Royce Statue Crash 1

While it’s easy to look at this as simply a case of rich person problems, there might be an actual big problem underneath the surface of this story. As reported by the Palm Beach Daily News, “Officers said the woman told them she had no recollection of the hours leading up to the crash.” Uh, that’s not good. I’m not a doctor, but something seems off if a person doesn’t remember a chunk of their waking hours. What’s more, details around the crash are a bit odd. According to the paper, the driver came up the driveway, hit a curb, stopped, and then proceeded to hit the sculpture. Is it possible the driver had some sort of medical event? Perhaps.

While nobody was injured in this incident, it brings up some important questions about driving. Namely, what would you do if another driver is motoring erratically or just seems out of it? Is there a duty to call it in, or are driving standards so low that something like that just seems normal? As necessary as driving is in most of North America due to woeful public transit infrastructure, it’s also a privilege that can be revoked if public safety is in question. Perhaps, at the end of the day, we just can’t trust everyone else on the road without huge, systemic changes. As ever, drive defensively. Even the best drivers in the world still have to look out for everyone else.

(Photo credits: Palm Beach Police, Rolls-Royce)

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81 thoughts on “Florida Rolls-Royce Driver Somehow Smashes Into A $3 Million Dollar Sculpture In Someone’s Backyard”

  3. My first thought when I read “66-year-old” was that the driver might’ve just pressed the wrong pedal and welp, them twin-turbo V12s move fast. Old folks pressing the wrong pedal seems to be A Whole Thing.

    Given the geography, ahem, “Florida Person Problems” may also be at work, though. Do they sell gold-encrusted bath salts for the rich?

    I just wonder how smooth it was over the send there. These ride really, really nicely.

  4. You have a duty to call it in. My autistic kid just about got killed by an impaired driver, so I am rather resolute in my opinion. The driver ran so she didn’t get busted for the DUI (we caught her anyway). I do call in impaired drivers and I indeed wish someone had her in.

    https://abc7chicago.com/deerfield-hit-and-run-crash-chase-thompson-boy-injured/5917218/

    https://www.newsweek.com/family-offers-reward-driver-hit-run-critically-injured-boy-1486498

      1. Or is this all insurance fraud? The sculpture is “worth” 3 mill, and the car’s insured, but somebody needs a big chunk of cash….

  6. I was just in Palm Beach this week and I did see a few Rolls and I saw a lot of terrible drivers. Every time I go to Florida, like 3 time/year, I am aghast as the horrid driving.

  7. Caller: “Help, my Rolls is broken down, stuck over an embankment in the sand.” Service liaison: “Madam, your Rolls Royce has simply failed to proceed for the moment. Please remain calm and someone will arrive to assist just as soon as possible with a loaner for your use.”

  8. Amateur.
    we have footage at work of an old pickup which managed to jump a Mazda CUV (just clipping a rear roof rack support with its rear wheel). Older gentleman with an artificial leg got it jammed on the accelerator coming down a steep road. He blew through the stop sign, across the road, up a grassy bank, and straight-up did a Duke Boys flight over the Mazda. The jolt freed his leg, and he managed to regain control, stopping before he went through the fence next to the railroad tracks.

    He was alright, thankfully, and cogent when one of our guys ran over to check, so seemed like just an impressive mechanical failure. Would really like to have heard the conversation he had with his artificial limb guy!

  9. Dude it is Florida, god’s waiting room. Medium age is like 60. Luckily she didn’t take out a clutch of elderly walkers with elderly people behind them.

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