JOHN’s ROLLS-ROYCE AT THE ROYAL B.C. MUSEUM UNTIL 28 APRIL

John Lennon’s wacky Rolls-Royce Phantom V
Brendan McAleer, Driving

Delivered to John on June 3, 1965, the limousine-bodied Rolls had, at first, an air of respectability. Finished in black, it ferried the mop-topped foursome to Buckingham Palace, where they each received an MBE from the Queen. Lennon had the back seat converted to a double bed, and had first a floating record player – and later, a television – installed.

You can blame Ringo for the paint job. According to Lennon’s former chauffeur Les Anthony, the idea of painting the Rolls like a Romany caravan came from the Beatles’ drummer as they passed a fairground. Soon, respectable Rolls-Royce black was replaced by a yellow background with floral flourishes and a zodiac symbol atop the roof. Lennon would give back his MBE in 1969, and the yellow Rolls-Royce would return it to the Royal Chamberlain’s office.

The Phantom followed John and Yoko to New York in the 1970s, where it was rarely used by the family. However, Lennon was known to lend out the car to his famous friends, including the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. It was donated to the Smithsonian museum to cover a US$250,000 tax bill in 1977. Eight years later, it emerged to be sold at auction, with initial estimates for several hundred thousand dollars. It sold to B.C. businessman Jimmy Pattison in 1985 for a staggering $2.3 million, making it the then most expensive car in the world.

“Definitely one of the most unique [cars I’ve owned],” Jimmy Pattison said from his Vancouver office. “The other would be James Bond’s first Aston Martin, which I purchased for my friend Frank Baker.”

Along with having a chance to drive one of the largest pieces of Beatles memorabilia, Pattison also displayed it in his Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum in South Carolina. When Expo 86 opened in Vancouver, Pattison brought the car back up to Canada, where he eventually donated it to the Royal B.C. Museum.

“We used it to help promote Expo and the British Pavilion, particularly,” he says. “Now we would want to see the province do what is the best use for the province.”

John Lennon’s wacky Rolls-Royce Phantom V
Brendan McAleer, Driving

“As the owner in 1986, Jim Pattison arranged to have [the Lennon Rolls] presented at Expo 86, which he chaired,” explains Dr. Lorne Hammond, curator of history at the Royal B.C. Museum. “The theme was transportation, including the unveiling of the prototype of Vancouver’s Skytrain, and work was underway on the Coquihalla connector between the Okanagan and the Fraser Valley. I would like to say that it has proved a fascinating collection object in our care.”

It’s an extremely interesting part of the museum’s collection of some seven million historical artifacts. There’s just one tiny problem.

“The biggest challenge with this artifact is preserving the unique paint on the exterior of the car,” says conservation manager Kasey Lee. “It did not bond well with the metal and original factory paint. We keep the car operational only so that we can move it from storage to display when required. The vehicle is incredibly heavy, and since the paint is fragile, it is difficult to push without damaging the paint.”

At almost six metres long, the Lennon Rolls is also inconveniently enormous; there’s simply no way to fit it into the museum’s regular collection, as it’s too large and heavy for the freight elevator.

Thus, the vehicle spends a good deal of its time in storage, coming out once in a while to wow the crowds. Mechanically speaking, it still runs well, but the museum’s focus is on preserving the Lennon Rolls-Royce as an object with meaning, rather than an operational car.

“We have developed a conservation plan for the care of the Rolls-Royce,” Lee says, “which places its historic and aesthetic value over and above that of its value as a mass-produced vintage car.”

John Lennon’s wacky Rolls-Royce Phantom V
Shane Lighter, Supplied by the Royal B.C. Museum

Currently, you can see John Lennon’s Rolls-Royce in the lobby of the Royal B.C. Museum until April 28. After that, it’ll be tucked carefully away until the next showing. Dr. Hammond says that the museum has no plans to build a case for the car, as it hampers visitors’ ability to take pictures with the car and experience it fully. He also says the Rolls-Royce still has some secrets to unlock.

“Our research and our understanding of it continues to evolve,” he says. “Film was discovered in the car, but was then traced not to the Beatles, but to a Boston film school who met John and Yoko at an experimental film event. The story of who painted the car has also evolved – from the Dutch collective ‘The Fool’ to Steve Weaver, the commercial artist who actually designed and painted the car.”

Now more artwork than car, it’s been part of the museum’s collection for nearly 30 years. The chance to get a glimpse doesn’t come along very often, so be sure to make a day trip of it soon.