John Lennon’s Rolls Royce
1985, John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385, (£1,768,462) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. John Lennon with son Julian.
Beatle John Lennon bought a 1964 Mulliner Park Ward Phantom V, finished in Valentines black. Everything was black except for the radiator, even the wheels. Lennon asked for the radiator to be black as well, but Rolls Royce refused.
Originally the car was customised from Park Ward with black leather upholstery, cocktail cabinet with fine-wood trim, writing table, reading lamps, a seven-piece his-and-hers black-hide luggage set, and a Perdio portable television. A refrigeration system was put in the boot, and it was one of the first cars in England to have tinted windows. He probably paid £11,000 (nearly £210,000 in today’s general inflation value).
Lennon didn’t know how to drive and didn’t get his driving licence until 1965, at twenty-four years of age. He sometimes hired a 6’4″ Welsh guardsman named Les Anthony.
In December 1965, Lennon made a seven-page list of changes that cost more than £1900: the back seat could change into a double bed, a Philips Auto-Mignon AG2101 floating record player that prevented the needle from jumping, a Radio Telephone and a cassette tape were added, while speakers were mounted in the front wheel wells so that occupants could talk outside via microphone.
The car needed a new paint job after Lennon used it in Spain during his filming in Richard Lester’s How I Won the War. Lennon commissioned a custom paint job from private coach makers J.P. Fallon Ltd. in the style of a Romany gypsy wagon (not “psychedelic” as often referenced).
Artist Steve Weaver painted the red, orange, green and blue swirls, floral side panels and a Libra on the roof. Lennon was in a 60s mood and wanted to make a statement to the English establishment. He loved telling a story about an elderly woman who hit the car with her umbrella.
To match his later White Album period, Lennon also bought another all-white Phantom V in 1968. In 1977, Lennon donated the yellow Phantom V to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum at the Smithsonian Institution to cover an IRS bill of $250,000. The Cooper-Hewitt sold the car in 1985 for $2,299,000 to Canadian businessman Jim Pattison, who donated it to the Province of British Columbia. It was on display during Expo 86 in Vancouver, and since 1993 it has been in the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada
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