Star-Studded Line-up and a 1967 Triumph Herald 1200 Estate | Ireland Made Christmas Day Special
Wheels Dec 25, 2023
At 11:30 am on August 8th 1969 the four members of the Beatles strode across a zebra crossing on Abbey Road in London and were photographed by Iain Macmillan. Six photographs were taken that day and Paul McCartney picked one which became the iconic album cover for the Abbey Road LP.
George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon were megastars and after the album came out the zebra crossing near the Abbey Road studios also became legendary.
Beatles memorabilia is highly sought after, and the white Volkswagen Beetle parked on the left of the photo was easily identified by enthusiasts with its registration ‘LMW 28IF’. The car was tracked down and bought by memorabilia collectors and is now on display in an Auto-museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. Further along Abbey Road in front of the white VW Beetle sat an unassuming sky blue 1967 Triumph Herald 1200 Estate.
Enter our story Dublin based classic car dealer, David Golding who had purchased this very car for £2,500 in the summer of 2016 from South Western Vehicle Auctions in Poole, Dorset. The Triumph was advertised as: “This vehicle is believed to appear in picture form on the famous Abbey Road L.P. cover.”
Eager to prove the provenance of the car, David then embarked on a six-week hunt for information. Based on nothing more than word of mouth exchanged among successive owners, spanning from the second to the fourth, all of whom were either neighbours or acquaintances of the initial owner, left David with very little information. Also, the six photographs captured by Iain Macmillan proved to be of limited assistance, as the license plate was unclear.
However, David did have the original logbook and was able to track down Andrew McKenzie as the original owner only to find he had passed away in 2012. Nevertheless, David successfully reached out to his widow, who vividly recalled the car and facilitated contact with her children. A noteworthy detail shared by Mrs. McKenzie was that her husband had a habit of wearing a tweed jacket whenever he drove the Triumph.
Upon zooming in on the official poster, David observed a man who seemed to be strolling around the car, about to get in. Strikingly, he was attired in a tweed jacket reminiscent of the one described by Mrs. McKenzie. Eager for confirmation, David shared his discoveries with one of the McKenzie daughters, and her response was, “The man behind the car does resemble my Dad.”
After six-weeks of trawling though the logbook, examining correspondence and photographs in detail and chatting with previous owners and their relatives, David Golding felt confident that the car was part of the fabled Beatles cover shoot and offered it for sale.
Prior to the sale David performed light re-commissioning on the car, registration plate NHS 31F. At that time the car had 60,000 miles on the clock and in David’s words was said to be in “fair” condition and still “roadworthy” and after an extended test drive, he stated that the car “runs very sweetly.”
David sold the car to renowned US comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham for £10,000. Jeff had the car shipped home to Los Angeles and later presented it as a birthday gift to his manager. Seeing a way to make a quick buck, the manager quickly scoured Beatle festivals across LA. Setting up a pop-up tent outside with a sign featuring the album cover and the words “Get your photo taken here with this iconic car,” he was in business. Within a week, he earned $88,000!
The Triumph went on to feature on an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage with British entertainer James Corden.
A Triumph 1200 Herald estate connected to The Beatles, Jeff Dunham, Jay Leno, James Corden and the provenance proved by David Golding: a car seen by billions and remembered by no one.
Information sources:
A T.WorldChannel
Jay Leno’s Garage
Road and Track
Speedster404
