John Lennon’s white Rolls-Royce Phantom V, (EUC 100C), chassis No. 5VD63, was purchased by John Lennon in 1968 to coincide with the Beatles White Album launch. It followed the rather disappointing, Magical Mystery Tour, (1967), The Beatles alternative and surreal film, in which the yellow Phantom V (FJB 111C) made a cameo appearance. A blend of their psychedelic sketches, visual concepts with songs including, I Am the Walrus, and The Fool on the Hill. It was a self made movie by the Fab Four not long after their manager Brian Epstein died in August 1967, it marked the end of an era. Now, gone were the multicolored Sergeant Pepper style suits, as a new bright and simple classic mood had arrived. Lennon was now living a new phase of his life with Yoko Ono. He begins wearing white clothes and decorates the interior and exterior of their new home, Tittenhurst, bright white. His yellow Romany Rolls Royce was no longer an expression of who he was. It associated him with The Beatles in the minds of the public and so yellow Phantom V, went into storage.

Les Anthony, Lennon’s chauffeur asked teenager Steve Easton to find a replacement Rolls-Royce Phantom V for Lennon. Easton, was working as a trainee salesman with Golden Wheels Garages in Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, a Fiat main dealer that also specialised in used sports cars. Easton found a two-tone black-over-green Rolls-Royce Phantom V and drove it to Lennon’s home in Surrey, where he met John and Yoko. Lennon wanted the car, but he wanted it changed to white, inside and out. It’s believed that Lennon paid £12,000 for the car and its modifications and colour change,  an incredible sum equivalent to the price of a house at the time. The distinctive Rolls-Royce appeared in many memorable photographs featuring the Beatles and Yoko Ono

According to the memoirs of Klein’s chauffeur, the white Rolls-Royce Phantom V, (EUC 100C), was sold to Allen Klein, a noted music publisher and record label executive,  approximately 1969, he paid around $50,000 for the vehicle.

This white Lennon Phantom had been the subject of mystery as for many years it’s where abouts were unknown. Then a private American collector, displayed a white Phantom V claiming it was the car that belonged to John Lennon. But there were some stark differences between the car he displayed and the Lennon original, mainly his was left hand drive, where as Lennon’s being a UK car was right hand drive. There were other differences, Lennon had a unique bespoke white steering wheel, telephone and a unique roof Aerial, along with the custom white interior, the Americans interior was tan and the steering wheel was black? The mystery was finally solved when the genuine, Lennon car, EUC 100C, reappeared at the 2016 Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club annual rally at Burghley House. 50 years later  After Kleins death in 2009, it was inherited by his son Jody Klein, who after many years in storage restored it back to its original condition. Steve Easton now sales director, was there to see the motor, he’d sold to John Lennon back in 1968.