Wicknell’s Final Fleet: Rolls-Royce And Benz Caskets Worth US$217 000 By Fanuel Viriri Controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo was given a send-off fit for a car collector, with custom Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz caskets on display alongside the now famous US$217,000 gold coffin. Pictures from the funeral parlour show two white luxury caskets – one with a […]

Wicknell’s Final Fleet: Rolls-Royce And Benz Caskets Worth US$217 000

By Fanuel Viriri

Controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo was given a send-off fit for a car collector, with custom Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz caskets on display alongside the now famous US$217,000 gold coffin.

Pictures from the funeral parlour show two white luxury caskets – one with a Rolls-Royce grille bearing registration WMC 777 and another with a Mercedes-Benz front with a Zimbabwe flag draped over it. Both were adorned with large white floral arrangements and candles.

The car-themed caskets have become a new trend in luxury funerals in South Africa and the US, where coachbuilders craft the foot-end of the casket to resemble the front of a luxury car, complete with working lights, chrome grille and custom number plate.

While the display caskets grabbed attention on social media, sources close to the family say Chivayo’s final resting coffin is a Malaysian-made 14-carat gold casket valued at US$217,000 that was imported specifically for his burial.

Funeral industry players say the car caskets cost between US$4,500 and US$7,500 each on the local market, depending on finish, while the sealed gold inner casket cost more than 30 times that.

Chivayo, known for gifting Rolls-Royce Cullinans and Mercedes Maybachs to church leaders and family members, was in death surrounded by the same luxury brands he loved in life.

Wicknell and his wife Lulu will lie in state at their Gletwin mansion and the burial is set for Sahwira Glen Forest Memorial Park on Thursday.