PEACOCK ROLLS-ROYCE
A GURU DECORATES A ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER SPUR
Dr Hook sang that the band’s Indian guru was “teaching us a better way”, and Beatle George Harrison said, “All things must pass”. One was joking, one
serious — a bit like the inside and outside of this car.
When your followers insist on dousing you daily with flower petals, what better place to have it happen than the seat of a Rolls-royce? In the era of free love and flower power, Rajneesh, also known as the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was taking full advantage of this. Each afternoon, the guru would drive, or be driven, around his estate in Portland, Oregon, US, as he received the devoted admiration of his followers.
Rajneesh built up a collection of Rolls-royces; he became a one-man Roller salesman’s dream as he kept snapping up those Rolls. At the time, he was responsible for two per cent of the North American new Rolls-royce market. His followers wanted him to have one for every day of the year.
All the world’s a canvas
Some of the cars became the canvas on which certain of the guru’s more artistic followers expressed their devotion to him in visual form. One of those cars was decorated by a Swami artist, and it is this car that is now in the hands of collector Garry Robertson.
Garry’s eclectic collection, about 100 strong, is amazing to behold. Dozens of his favourite cars are stored in various buildings in the North and South Islands of New Zealand, as well as in Australia. Each car has a story, and if you get Garry going, he’ll tell you all of them.
One man’s stage
Garry’s obsession with mechanical things began right back when he would put his pedal car up on crates and work underneath it, just as his dad did with the family car, a ’48 Ford V8 coupé. A year or two later, he was mowing the lawns because
THE BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH, AN INDIAN GURU, TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS THAT HE’D FOUND ENLIGHTENMENT. HE CERTAINLY ENLIGHTENED THEIR WALLETS AS THEY KEPT BUYING HIM ROLLS-ROYCES — BETWEEN 93 AND 95 OF THEM, DEPENDING ON YOUR SOURCE
it meant that he could have control of a petrol-engined lawnmower. From there, he progressed through various motorcycles and on to a Morris Minor — he eventually ran into a power pole in that. A veritable fleet of middle New Zealand–type cars followed: 1100s, Falcons, Hunters, Cortinas, Kingswoods, Valiants.
Today, Garry’s collection includes all of those, as well as another genre of cars that he loves for reasons that might not be the motivation of other collectors. Recalling those early cars, Garry constantly refers to their colour or ugly shape — the criteria of an artist rather than of a petrolhead.
Nowadays, Garry’s reasons for collecting a car are just as left field: the bigger the better; the lower the miles the better; American; unusual body shapes; unusual colours; huge tail fins; space age–inspired tail lights; plush interiors; opera windows; even those set with real diamonds. It seems that these are all valid reasons for purchase. Buy one? Garry buys four. There’s Rolls-royces for sure, 11 of them, but there’re also Chryslers; Cadillacs; four 1959 Coupe de Villes; 15 Lincolns — one 40 years old with only 3600 miles on the clock — an Edsel; Mercurys; Thunderbirds — the list goes on and on. Each car is quirky. If it’s “big and floaty”, an “unusual colour”, or a “weird body design”, chances are that Garry has one of them there somewhere.
If it’s “big and floaty”, an “unusual colour”, or a “weird body design”, chances are that Garry has one of them there somewhere
An Indian or two
Garry loves motorcycles too. There’s a brand-new Indian Scout in his lounge; the engine has never seen any oil and the tank is dry from new. Then there’re two more just like it in one of the buildings — three brand-spanking Indian Scouts! You know that model name because that’s what Burt Munro took to Bonneville all those years ago. When Burt’s great-nephew Lee Munro decided to have a crack at his own world speed record at Bonneville, Garry picked up the purse strings, because that’s what it’s all about: Southland, Indians, and Munro. He champions the underdog.
It’s good to help
Garry did the same thing when
New Zealand film-maker Amanda Millar was looking for help to produce her film about Celia Lashlie, Celia, which is now in cinemas here. Amateur artist Garry, lover of cars because of what they look like, picked up the bill for that project and became executive producer. Celia Lashlie promoted good parenting as way of reducing violence in many forms. She knew a thing or two about that — she was a former prison superintendent. Garry liked that idea and
stepped up to help Amanda Millar create her work. In the same way, he has bought the Kaikoura subdivision Ocean Ridge. He saw it, was totally impressed by “the wild and raw sea views, the mountain views, and the green pastures in between” — again, something he could preserve, promote, develop, and make available.
Enjoying the aesthetics
An appreciation for what things look like and what they will become if preserved, coupled with a love of mechanics, has created this collection of the unusual, bright, and exotic.
Which brings us to our feature car. Among the most unusual of Garry’s cars is this Rolls-royce, known internationally as the ‘Lace Peacock’ Silver Spur. The car is intricately decorated with dozens of pictures of peacocks, which apparently held some special significance for Rajneesh and his followers, and its paint is beautifully laced with gold metal flake. John Lennon apart, not too many people take a perfectly good Rolls-royce and then draw all over it, but that is what has happened here.
All things must pass
Why a Silver Spur and not a more expensive Corniche? Well, apparently the Corniche gave Rajneesh back trouble but the Silver Spur settled said back trouble down. The back trouble is understandable — remember the era and what it was about.
The interior of the car is as restrained as the exterior is bonkers. Inside, you are wrapped in leather and deep-pile carpet — cut pile as in Wilton, that is; not loop pile as in Feltex, you understand. The car wafts as Rolls-royces tend to do, but, 35 years ago, this was almost insanely comfortable. It still is today.
Eventually, the Rajneesh commune collapsed amid allegations and charges of terrorism and even murder. One of the guru’s aides was convicted of poisoning 700 people — to this day, the biggest act of terrorism perpetrated on US soil.
In the ensuing shambles, the Bhagwan’s fleet of Rolls-royces was mostly sold to one person. The death of the new owner meant that the car was sold again, and the subsequent death of that owner meant that the car was sold yet again — OK, you get the idea.
Various documents appear to show conflicting ownership history since the car was a part of the Rajneesh fleet. One thing that does seem fairly certain is that most, or even all, of the previous owners have passed on — although Rajneesh himself denied that he was ever born or that he would die; he said that he was, “just passing through”.