Rolls Royce makes custom Paddington Bear to help NSPCC

Rolls Royce has created a custom Paddington Bear as part of the Paddington Bear Trail initiative to raise funds for the NSPCC and Childline.

Rolls Royce Makes custom Paddington Bear to help NSPCC

Paddington Bear has been around since the mid-1950s, when Michael Bond spotted a lonely bear on a shelf in a London store and felt sorry for it, bought it and started writing stories about the bear’s adventures (and it got called Paddington because Bond lived near Paddington Station).

Paddington Bear got a petrolhead connection (although not at the time) when Jeremy Clarkson’s parents’ company – Gabrielle Designs – created the first Paddington Bear toys in the early 1970s (and yes, little Jeremy was the first in the world to have his own Paddington) and now it’s the turn of Rolls Royce to bask in the world of Paddington.

As part of ‘The Paddington Trail’ – 50 statues of Paddington Bear placed at landmarks across London which will be auctioned to raise funds for the NSPCC ahead of the new Paddington Bear movie – Rolls Royce has created their own Paddington.

The Rolls Royce Paddington was designed and crafted by RR’s team at Goodwood, inspired by Charles Rolls’ racing and aviation passions, and comes complete with a brown leather duffel coat, cravat, purple hat ribbon and a pair of MK8 racing goggles.

The Rolls Royce Paddington will be located on a plinth crafted to resemble a Rolls Royce grill with a mirror finish opposite Rolls Royce’s flagship showroom in Berkeley Square.

Giles Taylor, RR’s Director of Design, said:

It has given us great pleasure to support such a worthy cause by creating a Bespoke Paddington Bear
Paddington is undoubtedly one of the nation’s best-loved characters; we were therefore honoured and delighted to be challenged with participating in the Paddington Trail. The Hon. Charles Rolls shared Paddington’s lust for adventure and exploration; he therefore proved the perfect inspiration for our interpretation of the world’s most famous bear.

The Paddington Bear Trail goes live today (4 November 2014) and the 50 unique Paddingtons will be auctioned by Christies following the release of the new Paddington movie on 28 November, with all proceeds going to NSPCC and Childline.