Was this John Lennon’s station wagon?
Sarasota car museum says Beatles legend drove boring, beige Mercedes
SARASOTA— The 1957 Pontiac Bonneville is a gleaming beauty. The Don “Big Daddy” Garlits dragster is a throwback sensation. And the 1905 Schacht, which has a chain like a bike, is super.
There are a ton of cool vehicles in the Sarasota Classic Car Museum, recognized as the second-oldest continuously operating antique car museum in the U.S., but I’m particularly taken by a boring, beige 1979 Mercedes station wagon they say belonged to — wait for it — John Lennon.
I’ve seen Lennon’s psychedelic painted Rolls-Royce. I can picture that. And, yes, I know he had turned all domestic in the 1970s, when he was playing stay-at-home dad in New York City.
But this? We’re talking about a man who could’ve purchased all the Mercedes Benz factories by himself, and he’s driving around in a drab, beige, utilitarian (at best) station wagon? Maybe it was a disguise so he could steer his way to Costco without getting noticed. Maybe we have to ask Yoko.
It’s a head-shaker. But, luckily, you don’t have to be a Beatles fan to enjoy this low-key, perhaps even out-ofdate facility.
My tour guide, Phil Mentz, is an older gentleman and a veteran of 19 years at the museum, with a dry sense of humour. He shows me the Schacht, which was made in Cincy and found in a shed somewhere in the American Midwest. They’ve cleverly left half of it looking all beat up and restored the other half to its shiny, original state.
We pass the Bonneville, a massive beige machine with deep red trim that’s positively brilliant with polish and shine. Phil tells me it had electric windows, a big deal at the time.
“They put chrome everywhere,” he says. We also take a look at a 1908 Peets with lights that you had to crank to generate power. It’s one of many makes of car I’d never heard of.
“It was built in Manhattan,” Phil tells me. “They only made 10 or so and didn’t last long. There’s very little record of the company.”
I tell him I’d never heard of a Peets car. He says that’s no surprise as there have been something like 2,500 automobile manufacturers in the U.S. over the years, which comes as a total shock to a guy who grew up with photos of MGs and Fiats and Corvettes on his wall.
We take a look at a 1928 Austin Brooklands Racer from England. I’m told they had to have two seats because a mechanic was required to be in the car at all times during a race.
“Six of them were built but five were destroyed while racing. This is the sole survivor,” he says, sounding as if he’s talking about the lone remaining member of a well-loved family.
We round a corner and spot a 1964 Harley Davidson scooter. Not a motorcycle, but a dainty little scooter. Phil scrunches up his face. “It was an absolute disaster. The Japanese and Germans ate their cake.
“Harley Davidson is in the hog biz, not the scooter biz,” he says with notable disgust. “And they better keep it that way.”
He shows me an Iso Rivolta, which had a German transmission, Italian designers and American engines. “Sounds like a mongrel to me,” I say. Phil grins and replies, “Yeah, but a good one.”
We also spot a Rivolta with a single-- cycle motorcycle engine, which was used after the Second World War to get people moving for only a few bucks.
“The engine had only 13 horsepower,” Phil explains.
I also take interest in a 1967 Iso Rivolta Grifo, designed by the famous Italian Gruppo Bertone.
I tell Phil it looks like a Mercedes crossed with a Jaguar and an old 1970s Toronado.
“You better not let Mr. Bertone hear you say that,” Phil says with a laugh.
It’s a car museum for sure, but it also has a room with pinball machines and another with old arcade games like the Drinking Bear and the Love Best, which has a slogan saying “How to be happy though married.” Another room has odd cars mixed in with more vintage arcade machines, including those old baseball games where a heavy, leaden ball would roll toward a bat that you activated with flippers.
I played one over and over again in Myrtle Beach a few years ago and loved it. Alas, these machines are only for show. But they definitely bring back memories.
Next door you’ll find Vintage Motors, a money-making enterprise that sells classic cars. If you buy admission to the car museum, you can wander around without charge and check out some beauties, along with vintage signs for hot doughnuts and such.
I introduce myself and then wander around, spotting a 1981 white Marauder that looks like a pale version of the Batmobile and some cool Mercedes and MGs.
“Take one home,” a worker tells me. “We ship to Toronto.” Jim Byers is a freelance writer based in Toronto. His visit to Sarasota was subsidized by the Florida and Sarasota tourism bureaus. For more Toronto Star automotive coverage, go to thestar.com/autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.ca.