John Lennon's Trippy Rolls-Royce is Coming to London
John Lennon’s iconic Rolls-Royce Phantom V will return to London later this month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The psychedelically-painted Rolls-Royce currently resides in Canada, where it’s displayed at the Royal British Columbia Museum. It will soon travel from Canada to the UK, where it will join ‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ exhibition at Bonhams’ headquarters on New Bond Street in London – an area that Lennon frequented in the 1960s in the car.
Lennon first took delivery of his Phantom in June of 1965. It arrived as a stock, Valentine Black example, but Lennon quickly made it his own, having the rear seat converted into a double bed and getting a TV, telephone and refrigerator installed. He later visited a coachbuilder and requested the wild paint job pictured here, with the finished product debuting just days before Sgt. Pepper’s hit the shelves.
SEE ALSO: One-Off Rolls Royce Sweptail is the World’s Most Expensive New Car
The car was regularly used by Lennon and he took it with him during his move to the U.S. in 1970. Once stateside, Lennon used the car to ferry around other rock stars like The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Moody Blues. It was later stored for a number years before billionaire Jim Pattison donated it to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, B.C. in 1977.
‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ Rolls-Royce Exhibition will kick off at Bonhams’ flagship showroom in London on July 29th and last through to August 2nd.
Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
More by Sam McEachern
Comments
Join the conversation