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.
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