For Sale: John Lennon’s Car and Other Beatles Treasures

27 January 2011

This 1965 Ferrari 330 GT Coupe once belonged to John Lennon.

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson.

This week we play music from electric guitar player Marnie Stern…

And answer a question from China about writer Toni Morrison…

But first we tell about some special sales of cars and other former possessions of one of the Beatles’ most famous members.

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John Lennon’s Cars

DOUG JOHNSON: “Drive My Car” was a popular songs from the British band the Beatles. The song was first released in Britain in nineteen sixty-five on the Beatles’ album “Rubber Soul.” Earlier that same year, the news media reported that John Lennon passed his driving test. Within hours, many car dealers showed up outside his home. Each hoped to persuade the star that their car was the one for him. Katherine Cole has more about John Lennon’s cars.

KATHERINE COLE: John Lennon decided on a bright blue nineteen sixty-five Ferrari 330 GT Coupe. On February fifth, Bonhams auction house in Paris will put that car up for sale. It’s expected to sell for as much as two hundred sixty thousand dollars.

Officials at Bonhams say John Lennon owned the car for less than a year. It is not clear what happened to it after that. But records suggest that work was done in the nineteen nineties to return the car to its original condition.