“As Lennon told a Rolling Stone interviewer in 1965, these were not only for privacy, ‘It’s partly that, but it’s also for when you’re coming home late,’ the Beatle remarked. ‘If it’s daylight when you’re coming home, it’s still dark inside the car – you just shut all the windows and you’re still in the club.’

“But this would not be this particular Phantom’s most famous iteration. In May 1967, just days before the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this motor car was reborn. Inspired by the Romany-style caravan at his home in Weybridge, Lennon reportedly took the advice of Marijke Koger, one of the artists behind the design collective The Fool, and commissioned a complete transformation.

“The once-black Phantom was repainted in vibrant yellow and covered with swirling, floral motifs and zodiac symbols. Lennon enlisted a local artist to realize the new design; the result was an artistic manifesto for the Summer of Love the same year, and was often parked proudly outside Lennon’s Kenwood home.

“Not everyone approved. As the freshly painted Phantom drove down a promenade in London’s Piccadilly area that summer, Lennon claimed that an outraged Englishwoman shouted, “How dare you do that to a Rolls-Royce!” before attacking the motor car with her umbrella – a moment that only galvanized its legendary status.

“Lennon’s Phantom moved with him to New York in 1971, where it became a familiar sight on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In 1977, he donated it to the Cooper Hewitt Museum. When it was auctioned in 1985, the Phantom sold for $2,299,000 – then a world record for any piece of rock and roll memorabilia. A year later, it was gifted to the Province of British Columbia, where it remains in the care of the Royal British Columbia Museum: a countercultural artefact and perhaps the most famous Rolls-Royce in the world.

“The Lennon motor car is just one example of Phantom’s deep ties to the creative industries. Since its inception, Phantom has been the reward of choice for influential figures who have shaped the cultural landscape, both as recognition for their success and as a canvas to express their own personality and vision,” Rolls-Royce said.