It’s one of the world’s most historic cars, and on Thursday, it rolled right onto the Camosun College campus.
“I’ve been trying to think another car that’s more iconic than this, in the world and I don’t know if there’s a single vehicle more recognizable than this car,” said Camosun College Automotive Program Leader Patrick Jones.
That vehicle is John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls Royce. The Beatles’ icon purchased the car in black before having it painted yellow with elements of the psychedelic era.
It would change hands multiple times before being purchased by Jim Pattison for 2.3 million dollars in 1985. However, he would donate it to the province just a few years later. And now this rolling artwork is owned and maintained by the Royal BC Museum.
“This is the first time we’ve brought it to Camosun Interurban Auto Shop because they have this dynamometer machine where we can run the engine. The wheels we’ve got mechanics on site who can do some diagnostics and a little bit of tinkering to make sure everything is in prime operating condition,” said Royal BC Museum Senior Conservator Kasey Lee.
It wasn’t the students doing the work though. That’s the job of technicians from Coachwerks Restorations.
The Beatles rode in the same car to Buckingham Palace to receive their Member of the British Empire Medal from the Queen in 1965. Fifty-four years later, today’s students may not fully know the history, but their appreciation was evident,
“It makes you think when my generation is old, in the future, there’s going to be some artist we listened to that has a car that we’ll be looking on,” said first-year automotive student Nelson Lord.
“It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind car that you would probably never see,” added Lord’s classmate Chloe Jess.
The car has remained at the Royal BC Museum since 1993.
Ben Nesbit
