Lennon’s Roller goes on show

Currently owned by the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, the car will travel to London to join ‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ – a Rolls-Royce Exhibition, at Bonhams on Bond Street, an area visited regularly by Lennon in the late 1960s in this very car. 
 John Lennon took delivery of a Rolls-Royce Phantom V in Valentine Black in 1965. He would later say that he always wanted to be an eccentric millionaire, and the Phantom would become an important step towards that dream. Lennon had the Phantom V customised in true rock-star style. The rear seat was converted to a double bed, a television, telephone and refrigerator were installed, along with a “floating” record player and a custom sound system (which included an external loud hailer).
Then, in April 1967, just as the recording of the game-changing “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” studio album was finishing up, Lennon asked Surrey coachbuilders, JP Fallon, to give the Phantom a new paint job. The freshly painted Phantom was unveiled days before the worldwide release of the album on June 1 and seemed part of the overall concept of the album. Leading news magazines declared it a “historic departure in the progress of music — any music” and, simply, “a masterpiece”.
The new colour scheme is best described as psychedelic and certainly the colours, particularly the dominant yellow, reflected the album cover. It is however no random swirl, but a floral Romany scroll design, as used on gypsy caravans and canal barges, with a zodiac symbol on the roof. 
The Phantom V was used regularly by Lennon until 1969 (Lennon also owned a slightly less conspicuous all-white Phantom V). Having used it, pre-paint change, to collect his MBE with his bandmates in 1965, he then used it again in 1969 to return his MBE to the Palace, in protest against, among other things, the Vietnam War. 
The car was shipped to the USA in 1970 when Lennon moved there and was loaned out to ferry other rock stars around such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Moody Blues. In 1977, after a period in storage, it was donated by billionaire Jim Pattison to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. 
‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ – a Rolls-Royce Exhibition, will run at Bonhams from July 29 to August 2.
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” presented a number of innovations: no gaps between the songs giving the impression of a continuous concert; new production techniques including alternating the speed of the recording; and a high pitched sound after the track “A Day in the Life”– which could only be heard by dogs. On what was known as the ‘run out groove’, laughter and muffled conversation could be heard, amplifying the sense of humour that the group had. Printed lyrics of the songs on the inside cover were yet another first.