the 1956 Beatles Bentley

Now known as the ‘Beatles Bentley’, the 1956 S1 standard steel saloon was once the property of 1960s fashion entrepreneur, Australian-born John Crittle.

Crittle cut his teeth in psychedelic ‘60s tailoring working at Hung On You in Chelsea. The shop sold the classic outfits of the period: Art Nouveau, elaborate collared and cuffed shirts, tailored, high-collar double-breasted suits, and flowery shirts and ties to Hendrix, The Who, Bowie and the Stones.

Expanding with the backing of 21-year-old Guinness heir Tara Browne (shortly to be killed in a Lotus Elan, the inspiration for John Lennon to write ‘A Day in the Life’) and Neil Winterbotham, Crittle opened his own shop, Dandie Fashions, in autumn 1966.

https://flashbak.com/psychedelic-fashion-in-london-october-1967-396832/

With business booming, Crittle had bought the then 10-year-old Bentley as a party machine. The color scheme was designed by the art student trio of Douglas Binder, Dudley Edwards and David Vaughn. Known as ‘BEV’, the threesome were first engaged by Tara Browne to paint the King’s Road storefront of Dandie (having also decorated his AC Cobra in a similar fashion), then moving on to the Bentley.

And the Beatles connection? Trading as ‘Apple Corps’, the famous foursome had started several business ventures, partly for tax reasons and partly in the spirit of the times. There was little profit to be made - but it was either put some money into the hands of like-minded young people or give it to the taxman.

Doug Binder is seen by many as the father of pop-psychedelic painting and built a close relationship with The Beatles around the time they were writing and recording Sgt Pepper. Paul McCartney commissioned Binder to paint his piano and he also did the Buick for The Kinks, Philips records and even exported work to Macy’s department store in New York.

Dudley Edwards had the unique claim to fame of living with Paul McCartney for six months and then Ringo Starr for six months whilst completing murals in their respective houses. He also painted the AC Cobra for Irish socialite Tara Browne.

David Vaughan was the ‘manager’ of the BEV collective but also had a successful artistic career of his own including commissions from Pan Am and Princess Margaret. Unfortunately, he had a nasty accident while painting a mural on the Lord John shop in Carnaby Street and plunged three storeys to the ground.

Thanks to links with Browne, supplying the Beatles with clothes and generally being in the scene, Crittle’s Dandie Fashions was absorbed into Apple Corps and the Chelsea store renamed ‘Apple Tailoring’. The new venture did not last long, though, as the whole ‘Beatles and business’ scene soon wound down.

The car was on the balance sheet of the Apple Corporation while it owned the clothes shop, therefore becoming another honourable member of that exclusive club, a genuine ‘Beatles car’.

http://devotestudio.com/work/branding-identities/beatles-bentley/

http://clasp42.rssing.com/browser.php?indx=14584416&item=360
http://beatlesbentley.com/details.shtml
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/%E2%80%98beatles-bentley%E2%80%99-baby-you-can-drive-my-car
http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2018/02/bev-design-collective-colourful-characters.html

side note to the Beatles and Apple Corps:

In January of 1968, the group had their company name, Beatles Ltd. officially changed to Apple Corps. Ltd. and registered the Apple trademark in forty-seven countries. A month later, they also registered Apple Electronics, Apple Films Ltd., Apple Management, Apple Music Publishing, Apple Overseas, Apple Publicity, Apple Records, Apple Retail, and Apple Tailoring Civil and Theatrical.

The multi-armed corporation intended to focus on five divisions: records, electronics, film, publishing and retailing. Coincidentally, John Lennon even wanted to revolutionize the consumer electronics market

In 1976, a 21-year old Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak founded a computer company and decided to call it “Apple”. But they neglected to ask the biggest band in rock’n’roll whether anyone would mind if they infringed on the trademarked Apple name. George Harrison spotted an advert for Apple Computer while flicking through a British magazine …

In 1978, Apple Corps hit Apple Computer with the first lawsuit. In a 1981 settlement, $80,000 was paid to the Beatles’ Apple Corps by Apple Computer on the agreed terms that Apple Corps would not enter the computer business and Apple Computer would not enter the music business.

A second lawsuit came in 1991 over claims that Apple Computer was distributing physical music materials, after the inclusion of a sampled system sound called "Chimes" to the Macintosh operating system. The chimes system sound was later renamed sosumi, which reads phonetically, “so sue me”.

A settlement of $26.5 million was paid out to Apple Corps, this time specifically agreeing that only Apple Corps held the right to use the Apple name on any “creative works whose principal content is music”. While Apple Computer held the right to use Apple on “goods or services…used to reproduce, run, play or otherwise deliver” music, it could not package, sell or distribute physical music materials.

In breach of their 1991 agreement with the Beatles, Apple launched iTunes in 2003. A four-year long lawsuit resulted in a confidential settlement. More than four decades after Steve Jobs had founded Apple Inc., the ongoing trademark battle was finally over. It is believed Apple Inc coughed up as much as $500 million to buy out Apple Corps’ trademark rights.

At the time, Steve Jobs said, “We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks. It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future.”

Seven years after the online music store had launched, you could finally buy a Beatles tune on iTunes.

https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/07/03/before-mac-the-beatles-and-their-1960s-apple-store/