by: Alistair Weaver Holy Roller Ford is Go! Steering with six wheels

The Thunderbirds' Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward epitomised 1960s cool - the original 'It'-girl, she was a posh, dangerous, debonair blonde, and every boy's dream girl. Her choice of transport added to the appeal. Lady Pen spent the '60s being driven around by her trusty aid Aloysius 'Nosey' Parker in the iconic FAB1, a pink Rolls-Royce complete with a bubble roof and smoke bombs.

Lady Pen and Parker (played by Ron Cook)

Almost four decades later, I'm driving the new FAB1 around Trafalgar Square. The car was used as a prop in the filming of the new Thunderbirds movie, which premieres in late July. The Lady is otherwise engaged, but Parker, a.k.a. actor Ron Cook, has taken her place in the passenger seat. Perched behind a tinted perspex canopy he and I are observing the public reaction to this 23ft bright pink leviathan. Everyone stops and stares, but it's the middle-aged men who seem the most excited as they explain to their children the significance of this ludicrously camp limousine. "Aah, Thunderbirds!" yells a Japanese tourist, as we lower the hydraulically-powered roof.

"It was quite difficult recreating a British icon," says Cook. "It was important to pay homage to the original but it would have been wrong to just copy the first Parker because he was great in his own right." No doubt the designers of the new FAB1 faced a similar conundrum, and their task was complicated by a marketing deal. The production team, Working Title Films, initially asked Rolls-Royce to create a new FAB1 three years ago, but the Silver Lady wasn't interested.

Original FAB1, or new Phantom?

"It was a case of bad timing for us," says Graham Biggs, Rolls' head of communications. "We were in the process of building a new car (the Phantom) and re-launching the brand. Associating ourselves with the Thunderbird's project would have sent out a mixed message." Ironically, the new Phantom's cliff-like front end looks rather like the original FAB1's nose...