The Story of the Two Phantoms

Rolls Royce Phantom (No 1) - Body designed by Mulliner Park Ward

J P Fallon Ltd delivered Phantom reg No FJB 111C, to Johns Lennons house on May 25th 1967. The paintwork which was originally black had been painted yellow and decorated overall with a Romany inspired floral design. Marijke Koger part of the collective artists kown as The Fool had suggested he paint the Rolls in the same style as The Gypsy caravan that he had at his home in Weybridge.

Fallons engaged local artist Steve Weaver to design and paint the new finish for the car. The car was delivered just days before the release of The Sergeant Pepper Album and seemed perfect for the "Summer of Love".

The car was eventually shipped to the United States when John moved to New York in 1971.In 1977 Lennon donated the car to The Cooper Hewitt Museum as part of a deal with The U.S. tax authorities. In 1985 the Museum. auctioned The Phantom. It sold for a staggering $2,299,000, a world record for an item of Rock n Roll memorabilia. A year later it was gifted to The Province of British Columbia and The Royal British Columbia Museum.So now Canada is the custodian of the worlds most famous Rolls Royce. It is very occasionally loaned out to other museums.

Rolls Royce Phantom (No 2) - Body designed by Mulliner Park Ward

J P Fallon Ltd took delivery of Phantom reg No FKJ 349C on September 6th 2014. Nicknamed Lancelot, the car had been stored for over 20 years clocking up a mere 1000 miles since 1994.

The car had been stripped down to bare metal and painted Garnet over Black. Rolls Royce specialists Overtons were then commisioned to rebuild the engine with several upgrades.

The interior was removed and trimmed in red. The black interior of John’s original car we felt was too dark and red suits the 60’s feel far better!. The ashtrays are solid silver with 18ct gold Rolls Royce insignia.

The main exterior artwork was applied by Rob Collard. In Britain Rob is recognised as the top vinyl artist working in the UK today. He spent two weeks studying pictures of John Lennons Phantom so he could create a perfect homage (pronounced the French way) to this wonderful car. After many man hours he was ready to recreate Steve Weavers original design and bring in the artists to help him create this iconic car.

With the help of another Artist Josh Green, Rob applied the yellow base coat. He then hand cut the roof design, and patterns on the boot and bonnet. Paul Karslake hand painted the gold circles and the flower clusters on all the white panels which were also cut by Rob Collard who then air sprayed the wide swirl design along the side of the Phantom. Peter Morris who worked on Johns original car painted the wheels and the Orange gypsy floral pattern around the headlights and side panels.

The glaziers then tinted the windows creating a lovely contrast between the black glass and the yellow bodywork.Rob finished off the process by varnishing The a phantom all over to seal the colours.

Fallons then fitted a sound system which any Rock Star would be proud of!

On December 19th 2014 the Phantom left the workshop in London, and for the first time in nearly 50 years John’s original vision of The Rolls Phantom can again be seen on the streets of Britain and Europe.

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