Making a Rolls-Royce Ghost Fly 550+ Feet in the Air Is the Ultimate Flex

This is not one of these things.

At one point in this ever-weirder age of the Internet, the rich people of the world have decided that luxury goods can also serve as home decorations. No, strike that: some of these rich people reached the conclusion that much-coveted luxury assets should be used only as home decorations.

Case in point: a brand new Rolls-Royce Ghost used as a display piece for a high-rise terrace. It happened last month in China in the Fujian province and was the idea of a local billionaire who wanted something extra for his new home. All things considered, the new condo, which was still under construction when this happened, is probably more like a man cave or a bachelor pad than a full-time home.

So this gentleman, whose identity has not been made public, decided that only a Rolls-Royce Ghost would do as decoration for the terrace in his future home. That would have been a massive and complicated undertaking, even if this was a regular mansion, but the condo was on the 44th floor of the building, which only made the operation more challenging.

A crane had to be brought in, and a special iron crate was built specifically for this purpose. The Ghost was lifted 557 feet (170 meters) high in the air, then pulled onto the terrace with iron rods before it was driven into position. The landing spot was by the jacuzzi, but the vehicle's final resting place was by the glass parapet that allows a full view of the city but keeps you from harm.

Video of the stunt started making the rounds on social media last month and was eventually picked up by automotive vlogger Supercar Blondie this month. The reactions to it were almost universally disapproving, with commenters saying that a new car like a Ghost is made for the city streets, not to be exiled on display in an apartment building.

And they do have a point, even if you're more of a "their money, their business"-type of guy.

This isn't the first time a video showing a stunt like this has gone viral, nor is it the first time when a billionaire goes the extra mile to have his dream car brought up in his home, even if that means never driving it again. Let's be real, whoever has the money to do something like this won't spend an equal amount to get the car back down when they're tired of seeing it every day when they get home. They'll just buy another car.

The ultimate flex

Automotive pieces always add a more masculine, more stylish vibe to a place, whether we're talking about poster art, deluxe merchandise, coffee table books, or deconstructed vehicles mounted to the wall. Car elevators that bring your automobile of choice into a display gallery inside your condo could even be considered an offshoot of auto-centric interior design.

But this new trend has not a single trace of the functionality of those above. It's more costly to pull off, riskier, and ultimately pointless because that car would never again be driven on the tarmac. In this particular case, it's like taking a wad of cash and using it as your coffee coaster.

Even at its most outrageous, luxury retains some functionality, though not in this instance. Because something like this is all about the flex, about doing something just to show you can afford to – and because you want to. It's like eating only food covered in 24K gold leaves: it won't taste any better, and it will still smell the same coming out like regular food, but you do it because you want others to know you have the money for it.

The perfect PR stunt

In May this year, one Australian gentleman paid $3 million for a McLaren Senna GTR he'd seen in storage, and then who knows how much more to have it lifted by crane to the 57th floor of a new building where he'd just bought a condo. As was the case then, there's more to this flying Ghost than meets the eye. It doesn't make the stunt any less outrageous, but at least it gives it more context.

On social media, the story is that this rich dude really wanted it as a furniture piece inside his home, so he made it happen. That's only half the truth because this was also a PR stunt for the real estate developer and Rolls-Royce themselves.

According to reports, the whole thing was orchestrated to bring more attention to the high-end construction, with help from a local Rolls-Royce dealership.

The real estate developer told the media that "it took a lot of calculations and experiments" before they even got started with building the iron crate because of the 2.5-ton weight of the vehicle. Speaking of weight, it shouldn't be a problem for the terrace, they added. Duh, it would be stupid if they went through all this trouble to cause even more.

One more final joke, if you'll allow it. Isn't it a shame they went through all this trouble, and we don't even know the name of the luxury high-rise?

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