Mercedes-benz 600
It survived Beatle ownership, a fire, and knocking over a policeman – and that was all in its first three years. This is the ex-george Harrison 600’s wild life story
23 February 1967 – registered to Mercedes-benz (GB)
OLA 600E started life as the second 600 demonstrator, at Brentford Mercedes, being the 657th car built since production started in 1963. All 600s were handbuilt, taking 48 weeks, and this one was one of 163 manufactured in 1966. A year later Mercedes sold it to Aldershot Motors of Camberley for stock.
1968 – OLA 600E joins The Beatles
OLA 600E became rock-and-roll royalty when Beatle George Harrison added his name to the logbook; he would still own the car when the band broke up. Living in Esher, Surrey, George was only 20 miles from Aldershot Motors, however his Mercedes went to a franchised dealer, Woking Motors, for servicing.
Joe Salamone was working for Woking Motors and remembers George taking in the 600, ‘I worked on it as an apprentice. In those days most 600s were white; John Lennon’s was too. Then Ringo had a red one.’ Joe pauses then decides to share one nightmare event.
‘After servicing George’s car, we decided to clean the engine bay as a special touch because George was so particular about his cars. Unfortunately, whoever was cleaning it used something flammable to remove oil and grime. The next thing you know, whoomph, there’s a fire in the engine bay. Luckily it was only vapour burning, so no real damage. We kept that quiet.’
Another Woking Motors apprentice was Peter Crawley, whose father was managing director. Peter recalls, ‘We kept a book recording the details of 600s that passed through our hands. I still have the records and they confirm the colour, VIN and other details of this particular car, so we know it’s genuine. However, we kept fewer details on this one because it was a used car. Woking Motors later bought it from George in 1970.’
Pattie Boyd, Harrison’s first wife, remembers the car, ‘In 1968 George bought two Mercedes quite close together, this white 600 and a red 280SL. I don’t think I ever drove the 600, it was a large car and I much preferred my nippy SL. I do remember the 600 attracting attention and people only seeing the car, oblivious to the fact that George and I were in it. It was a magnificent car and George loved its advanced technology, every conceivable thing seemed to be power operated. He never had a chauffeur, he was too much of a petrolhead. We both were. Someone took a film of George driving the 600 on the A4 in West London – it’s still on the internet somewhere.’
Not everyone was a fan, especially a policeman who in 1969 alleged that George had brushed his leg with the 2.75-tonne 600 in London’s West End. This encounter
led Harrison to Westminster Magistrates Court, where he was given a £35 fine and a one-year disqualification, but this didn’t happen until February 1971 because he couldn’t find his licence. Pattie thinks he sold the 600 because he was planning to buy John Lennon’s even bigger 600 Pullman when John relocated to New York.
1970 – A move to Scotland
Records show that Mr AJ Robson bought the 600 from Woking Motors, travelling nearly 400 miles to acquire it and bring it back to Balmaghie in Dumfries and Galloway. Balmaghie is tiny with few dwellings apart from Robson’s 268-acre Balmaghie Estate. Local estate agent Joyce Chapman of Galbraiths reveals, ‘The estate’s current owner remembers back to the Seventies, and his mother-in-law further. They confirmed that Robson was killed by a tree falling on him in the driveway. He had a Spanish wife who returned to Spain in 1972 after the accident, selling the house and the Mercedes.’
1972 – Starting life as a company car
At this point OLA 600E became CEP 1 and was driven by Cambridge Electro Plating works director Keith Jones, ‘I liked Mercedes 600s and the engineering quality that made them the best car in the world, in my opinion. For that reason our company purchased several over the years. I never realised that the car belonged to George Harrison; I mightn’t have bought it because I don’t think pop stars look after their cars very well. And to be honest I didn’t care for The Beatles either.’
Keith can’t recall why they sold it, but believes it was probably to make way for a newer 600. The car was sold back into the trade which explains the next registration, HCE 715E, with CE being a Cambridgeshire code.
October 1974 – The Mercedes becomes a taxi
Abbey Taxis of Sheffield bought the 600, changing the registration to 93 ABY, matching similar registrations on its fleet. Cheryl Donohoe from Sheffield takes up the story, ‘My late uncle Ernest Squires worked at Abbey Taxis, which was owned by Norman Hattersley, who died in 2009. Mr Hattersley and my Uncle Ernest were the only two that drove the Beatles Merc. It was only used for special people, you know, VIPS. Ernest drove Roy Orbison around in it when he was playing the Fiesta Night Club in Sheffield in either 1975 or ’76, apparently he was a lovely man. Roy wanted to buy the 600 but wouldn’t pay what Mr Hattersley wanted.
‘People knew that a Beatle had owned it because Mr Hattersley had traced its previous owners via the Sheffield vehicle tax department. Most of the time it was parked at the back of Abbey’s garage premises with a white dust sheet over it. Sometimes Mr Hattersley would sleep in it when his wife kicked him out.’
Documents show the registration changing to RWE 420E but not before the 600 was inspected by the local licensing office. Its VIP taxi duties ended in 1981, after which it sat for 20 years. ‘Mr Hattersley later got into financial difficulties and that’s probably why he sold it.’
April 2001 – Going under the hammer
Georges’ 600 caught the attention of Daily Telegraph journalist Dave Selby who’d noticed that the ex-john Lennon 600 Pullman (later owned by George) was also up for auction for ten times the £20k estimate of George’s 600. Dave wasn’t convinced either were realistic estimates given that a Mercedes similar to George’s had recently achieved £13,000. By way of contrast Dave mentioned John Lennon’s piano had made £1.67m the year before. Julian Shoolheifer worked at Cheffins at the time, ‘The guide price of £20,000 to £25,000 represented our estimation of its value as a car. It’s difficult to place a precise value on celebrity ownership so we left it up for the market to decide.’
And the market decided – neither car made its estimate, although both sold later below their reserves.
2001 – Setting sail for Denmark after £18k sale
Tom Burup recalls the 600 catching his eye, ‘I’d seen the car advertised but I didn’t bid. Later I contacted Cheffins, saying if the car was as good as they said I would pay £18,000. A deal was done and the car arrived in Denmark on 4 May. I still have the documents of sale and transport. I bought it because I’d always liked them but the turning point was it being a Beatles car. When it arrived, I kept it at my business premises in a warm, dry environment. My mechanic inspected it and confirmed all was right. It had about 98,000 miles on the clock. And incredibly it was in original condition – paintwork, interior, everything. I had to have side indicators fitted to the front wings to comply with Danish road law.
What with grandchildren, business and daily life I hardly used the car – I averaged 75 miles a year. The furthest we drove it was a 175-mile round trip to my son’s wedding in 2016. I remember people were thrilled to see the car, probably the only one in Denmark. The fastest I’ve driven it is 75mph on a racetrack, I was mainly interested in how fast it would accelerate.
‘It became clear it would cost me more and more to keep. Sometimes I wouldn’t use it for a year or more and that’s likely to create more repair costs. So I sold it while it was in good condition through My Garage of Vejle Denmark. It was a relief to be honest.’
May 2019, Sukhpal Ahluwalia takes it on
Sukhpal Ahluwalia, founder of Euro Car Parts, has always seen himself as a custodian of his classic cars, recognising a time would come when he would part with his collection to return to India. ‘I came to the UK as a teenage refugee from Uganda when Idi Amin kicked us out. My dad had a Mercedes, but we had to leave it behind. We lost everything. Now I collect cars from that era and of course Idi Amin had a Mercedes 600. I wanted a right-hand-drive 600 and not many were made, so when I was told of this one I went for it.
‘There was a delay in re-registering the 600 in the UK, which kept it off the road for a month or so. The DVLA reassigned its last registration of RWE 420E, which of course wasn’t the first. I’ve not driven it much because early on there were mechanical issues that were complex to sort out. Only a few garages in the world understand the 600. And then there’s the problem of
‘Sometimes Mr Hattersley would sleep in it when his wife kicked him out. Roy Orbison wanted to buy it’
‘All the advice I’ve been given is to keep the 600 like it would have been when George Harrison owned it’
spare parts, many of which aren’t easily found. So it took me a while to find the right skilled help.’ Meanwhile the 600 was sitting in Sukhpal’s garage where his in-house mechanic, Richard Pandian, was able to assist.
Richard recalls that first outing with Sukhpal, ‘The car wouldn’t start, it took me several attempts and even when it started it was cutting out at idle. Then I smelt petrol so I knew it wasn’t holding fuel pressure because of a leak, hence the idle issue. The seats are hydraulically adjustable but a hydraulic leak meant the driver’s seat kept moving, making safe driving tricky. So it was just a short drive to fill up with petrol and back.
‘The car’s biggest challenge is its complex hydraulic system, as one leak gets sorted this increases the system’s pressure and another weak spot fails. The hydraulic boot lid was dangerous because one press of the switch and it flew open, it could’ve injured someone; we fixed that. Meanwhile the air controls on the suspension needed overhauling so the parts were sent to Germany, and then of course the car couldn’t be used until they came back, which took weeks.
Meanwhile Sukhpal turned his attention to the body, ‘The chrome was showing its age so I decided to have it re-chromed. There’s a lot of chrome on a 600, so each piece was labelled so that it could be reinstalled correctly. I guess the whole process took six months. By late 2020 I decided we needed more help with the hydraulic leaks and air suspension issues.
I was recommended to John Haynes Mercedes, a specialist in Worthing. As well as the hydraulic and suspension problems, they identified that the brake calipers needed attention. Refurbishment was the only sensible option but again this could only be done in Germany. Meanwhile Haynes removed the Danish repeater indicators to restore the 600 to its original look.
‘All the advice I’ve been given is to keep the 600 like it would have been when George Harrison owned it. One glaring omission was the incorrect registration. Simon Haynes in conjunction with the Mercedes-benz Club and Peter Crawley who had the invaluable early documents, facilitated OLA 600E being reassigned. This is important because it’s seen in photos with Harrison. Also, in the name of originality I resisted restoring the wood veneer or anything else in the interior. The interior is in exceptionally good condition for a 55-year-old 600 and when you sit in it you’re in the same seats that at different times Harrison and Orbison sat.
‘I’ve put a lot of heart into this car. But I’ve always known that I would need to let it go, even if I’ve grown attached to it. I’ve recently started the process of returning to India, and I know it’s going to take a while to part with my collection. It’s always been part of my personal plan, but it’s still an emotional process. And it doesn’t make letting go of the 600 any easier. On reflection I feel I’m simply the custodian of an important piece of rock and roll history.’