Bonhams Is Selling Off Two Ex-Beatles-Mobiles

Yes, you can drive their car. Yes, you will be a star.

November 15, 2017 9:00 am EST

If we gave you three chances to guess which member of the Fab Four drove a Mini Cooper, the first two wouldn’t count.

Clearly a Ringo move — or so we thought.

Turns out all four Beatles received a 1966 Mini Cooper as a gift from their manager Brian Epstein’s management company and, other than that it was driven by a guy with average musical abilities, the only thing that differentiated Starr’s vehicle from those of his bandmates was that it was modified to accommodate a drum kit.

Despite that bespoke bodywork, the fourth Beatle sold the car in fairly short order. Now, after having been owned by the same family for decades, Starr’s Mini is hitting the block at The Bond Street Sale.

Also coming under the hammer is a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that Sir Paul McCartney took possession of a year or so before he was gifted his own ‘66 Mini.

Ordered weeks after the Beatles famously appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, the blue beauty originally contained a number of custom features including musical notes stitched on the interior and a Philips Auto-Mignon record player.

Though McCartney later upgraded to an Aston Martin DB6, the DB5 was his first Aston love.

Taking place December 2nd in London, the Bonhams auction of the cars is expected to fetch up to $160,000 for the Mini and take in as much as $2 million for the DB5.

Get more info about the former Beatle mobiles here.

Meet your guide

Evan Bleier

Evan Bleier

Evan is a senior editor with InsideHook who earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and has called Brooklyn home since 2006. A fan of Boston sports, Nashville hot chicken and Kentucky bourbon, Evan has had his work published in publications including “Maxim,” Bleacher Report and “The Daily Mail.”
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