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Driving the long and winding road

It's half a century since The Beatles' split was finalised. We look back at the Fab Four's motoring favourites.

It's half a century since The Beatles' split was finalised. We look back at the Fab Four's motoring favourites.

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WORDS Andrew Roberts

DRIVING THE LONG

AND WINDING ROAD

LOVE ME DO AT 60

I

t is virtually impossible

to encompass the social

and cultural changes

reflected in the journey

from Love Me Do to The End.

During that period, The Beatles left

behind the Cavern and Hamburg

nightclubs and redefined popular

music. Their cars symbolised the

group's progression, from Fords

bought from local dealers to

hand-built machines seemingly

purchased on a whim. What

young person would not envy

a group who could supplement

their Aston Martins and Ferraris

with Radford-bodied Mini ‘town

cars’? By 1967 John's ‘psychedelic’

Phantom V was guaranteed to

annoy the bourgeoisie. Ironically,

its owner was about as working

class as Noël Coward; the wellknown

Austin Maxi debacle

almost appeared to be a return to

A Liverpool beat combo

released Love Me Do

60 years ago. The next

seven years saw riches,

global fame – and some

rather cool motor cars,

too…

Lennon's suburban background.

And so, the seven cars described

below represent diverse aspects of

The Beatles career – from a group

rivalling Craig Douglas and Adam

Faith in Hit Parade to Abbey Road.

THIS WEEK p2-6 OUT & ABOUT p10-12 LIVING WITH CLASSICS p24-28 BUYING & SELLING p30-42 CLASSIFIEDS p46-65

PAUL MCCARTNEY’S

1967 LAMBORGHINI 400 GT 2+2

Virtually anyone who has seen Get

Back will probably recall seeing a very

handsome ‘Rosso Alfa’ Lamborghini

400 GT 2+2 parked on the street below

The Beatle’s rooftop performance on

30 January 1969. Autocar thought it

IMAGE Bonhams

was ‘nothing short of sensational’ and

chassis number 1147 was one of four

imported by the UK concessionaires

Mitchell & Britten. They commissioned

Hooper to convert the steering to

RHD, and SLF 406F

was registered on 16 February 1968, the

day before Paul and Ringo flew to India

to join George and John. Work would

soon commence on the White Album.

Meanwhile, the Lamborghini remained

in the McCartney fleet until 1979, and

in 2018 it tempted those visitors to

Goodwood who had a spare £400,000-

500,000. And if no one said, ‘See how it

runs’, they really should have done.

JOHN LENNON’S 1956 AUSTIN

A135 PRINCESS HEARSE

The Princess 4-Litre is one of the cars

most associated with The Beatles’ early

years of fame, playing a memorable

role in A Hard Day’s Night. Their

road manager Mal Evans recalled

that when the band evaluated other

limousines, they found the doors of

the Vanden Plas opened at a wider

angle, which meant they could make

a more effective getaway from a mob

of fans. In August of 1971 John Lennon

purchased a 1956 A135 Princess

hearse, which appeared in

the 1972 documentary

Imagine. One notable

modification was the

addition of two rows

of aeroplane seats,

which transformed the

interior into a somewhat

unorthodox estate car.

Lennon sold the Austin in 1972 to the

Oscar-winning film producer Bill McGaw

who toured Ireland in it. The Princess

was then shipped to the USA, joining

the Texas Rock and Roll Car Museum in

2008 and (a theme with ex-Beatles cars)

was auctioned eight years later.

CREDIT RM Sotherby’s

DID YOU KNOW? Paul bought an Espada in 1975 and spent about £70k on repairs after it rolled into a pond.

DID YOU KNOW? A departure from a concert had Princess’s engine running

and doors open, with a police car in front and a motorcycle escort to the rear.

RINGO STARR’S

1966 AUSTIN MINI COOPER S

RADFORD/HOOPER

On 15 April 1966, Time Magazine

famously claimed London ‘swings; it is

the scene… alive with birds (girls) and

Beatles, buzzing with mini cars.’ Each

group member drove an exclusive

version of the Cooper S purchased

via Brian Epstein’s company BryDor.

LLO 836 D was registered on 5 May

1966, with Richard Starkey becoming

the official owner on 15 June 1967. The

extensive customisation, via both

Harold Radford and Hooper & Co. Ltd.,

incorporated a hatchback and a folding

rear seat to accommodate a drum kit.

Ringo kept the Mini until December

1968, and 49 years later it sold at auction

for £102,300. If there is one song that fits

the Radford Cooper’s image, it is Rain,

released on 30 May 1966. The number

contains some of Ringo’s finest work – ‘I

feel as though that was someone else

playing – I was possessed!’ he said.

DID YOU KNOW? Ringo bought a Standard Vanguard Phase I in 1959, his first

car. ‘That’s when I started carrying my own drums and driving friends around.’

GEORGE HARRISON’S

1967 MERCEDES-BENZ 600

George acquired a three-year-old

Ford Anglia 105E in 1962, but five

years and several exotic vehicles

later he took delivery of one of

2190 short-wheelbase Mercedes-

Benz 600s. According to the

group’s personal assistant Alistair

Taylor, Harrison wanted a Rolls-

Royce but the 14-month waiting list

disheartened him. OLA 600E was a

former demonstrator for Mercedes-

Benz GB and proved ideal for the

composer of Within You Without

You. It also looked quite at home

on the driveway of ‘Kinfauns’.

Unfortunately, during the troubled

Get Back sessions, George Martin

reversed across the Abbey Road

car park in his Triumph Herald and

managed to dent one of the W100’s

doors. Last year, the 600 sold for

£145k,000, and the new owner must

surely be impressed by those vast

headlamps – ideal for illuminating

the route to Blue Jay Way.

IMAGE Neil Fraser.

DID YOU KNOW? In 1971 George bought John Lennon’s Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman when his former bandmate

emigrated to the USA. He decided to sell it four years later to The Supremes.

IMAGE Bonhams

JOHN LENNON’S

1965 MERCEDES-BENZ 230 SL ‘PAGODA’

PAUL MCCARTNEY’S

1962 FORD CONSUL CLASSIC

For a 20-year-old to order a new Consul

Classic in Goodwood Green from Blakes

of Hardman Street showed a certain

faith in the band’s future. The Beatles

had passed their Parlophone audition,

and their first disc for the label was

shortly due for release. McCartney was

‘always very worried about making the

payments’, but there was a memorable

encounter with his former headmaster

on departing the showroom. To quote

George: ‘Paul looked at him like, “Ha ha,

yes, it is me, and I do have my own Ford

Classic”.’ However, on 26 August 1963,

the police noticed 2074 KD travelling

at excessive speed along the Seabank

Road in Wallasey, following the Beatles’

appearance at the Tower Ballroom. It

was McCartney’s third such offence; the

local press reported that ‘James Paul

McCartney, 21 years old musician of 20

Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool, was

fined £25 and disqualified from driving

for 12 months.’ Whoops...

DID YOU KNOW? Blakes’ used car bargains included an Austin A40 De Luxe

for £425 or a Triumph Herald for £365. Worth every single penny.

IMAGE Bonhams

PAUL MCCARTNEY’S

1964 ASTON MARTIN DB5

A leading American critic hailed A

Hard Day’s Night as ‘the Citizen Kane

of jukebox musicals’, and the LP of

the same name consisted entirely of

Lennon-McCartney compositions.

Under these circumstances, placing

an order in the summer of 1964 for a

DB5 costing £4593 16s 8d did not seem

altogether unreasonable. McCartney

also specified Marchal fog lights,

detachable head rests, seat belts,

Armstrong Selectaride rear shock

absorbers, a Motorola radio with a

powered aerial and a Philips Auto-

Mignon record player. He took delivery

of the Sierra Blue Aston Martin on 17

September – apparently, it was quickly

handed over behind a motorway service

station from which McCartney could

escape from any fan. The DB5 remained

in his fleet until 1970, latterly augmented

by a DB6. Several owners later, the

Aston Martin reached £1,345,500 at an

auction by Bonhams in 2017.

DID YOU KNOW? Deluded people believe that Paul was killed in a car crash

on 9 November 1966 and replaced by a look-alike named William Campbell.

1965 marked the beginning of Carnaby

Street mythology, of the Beatles being

awarded the MBE and releasing their

masterwork Rubber Soul. Meanwhile,

IMAGE Worldwide Auctioneers

on 15 February, John Lennon passed

his driving test first time in a Triumph

Herald. On the 16th, various dealers

made their way to Weybridge with

a selection of demonstrators. The

musician eventually opted for a Ferrari

330 GT, followed in June by a Rolls-

Royce Phantom V and, in August, a blue

230SL Automatic. In any case, Lennon

preferred being chauffeured in the Rolls.

His biographer Ray Connolly notes that

‘with his very poor eyesight, he’d never

been better than a terrible driver’. The

Pagoda left the fleet in 1969, the year

of the famous Austin Maxi crash, and

in 2019 it was auctioned for $225,000.

Sadly, history does not relate whether

the Pagoda inspired his lyric suggestion

to Paul – ‘drive my car’.

DID YOU KNOW? John was the

last member of the group to pass

his test and stopped driving after

the ADO14 accident on 1 July 1969.

16 | CLASSIC CAR WEEKLY Wednesday 2 November 2022 Wednesday 2 November 2022 CLASSIC CAR WEEKLY | 17

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