Founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta bought a Rolls Royce Phantom V at the London Motor Show during the third Lancaster Conference in October 1963.
The dark blue limo that had a price of tag of £7,305 by then, (currently £114, 209.9 accounting for inflation) was the most expensive car on display.
After converting the value of the vehicle into Kenya shillings it would be worth about Ksh14,600,521.84 today accounting for inflation.
The vehicle became a symbol of opulence that J Boulton, the head of the East African department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) wrote about it.
"It is not only in Kenya that part of the British community envy Kenyatta's acquisition of an example of a Rolls Royce craft," he wrote.
The limo was loaded on a ship to Kenya on November 1, 1963, and it was expected that by the time it arrived at the port of Mombasa, one Inspector Ndisi who had been chosen as a chauffeur, would have flown back to Kenya to receive it.
Ndisi arrived in Britain on November 4, 1963, to undergo a two-week course in maintenance at Rolls Royce Centre at Goodwood.
The Rolls Royce limo arrived at the port Mombasa, albeit with some delay in offloading, and was driven to Nairobi by Ndisi.
The manufacturer committed to fly-in replacement parts and a fitter in case it broke down.
Not to be left behind in the struggle for Kenya after independence, Americans had gifted Kenyatta with a Lincoln Continental convertible, and the Germans also organised for a Mercedes Benz to be presented to Kenyatta on independence day.
The vehicle has been well maintained over the years and it was alleged that in 2013 before the Jamhuri Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta drove it from State House to the main gate before boarding his usual vehicles.
This, it was claimed, was because the Rolls Royce was not armoured and thus not safe for him to use in public.
