Where is the Abbey Road van today?

Kinja'd!!! "Rainbow" (rainbeaux)
06/02/2016 at 10:24 • Filed to: None

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Die-hard fans of either the Beatles or Beetles know that the white VW was sold back to VW at auction for $23,000 and currently resides in their museum. But whatever happened to the black van on the other side of the street? Its license plate is nearly impossible to read, but it should be possible to find at least SOME info on it. Right?


DISCUSSION (8)


Kinja'd!!! Fl1ngstam > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:32

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You mean the POLICE van? SYO 724F. I don’t know.

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Kinja'd!!! Rainbow > Fl1ngstam
06/02/2016 at 10:34

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Huh, I didn’t even notice. I feel kinda dumb now.

I wonder if it belonged to the cop who was stopping traffic for the shoot.


Kinja'd!!! fintail > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:39

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Knowing some cars of that era in that area, it dissolved away before the end of the 70s. I see that same plate was used on the RR Oasis dunked in a pool several years ago.


Kinja'd!!! Fl1ngstam > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:45

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SYO 724F is no longer on the British Vehicle Tax register, so it’s highly likely to have been scrapped many years ago. Here’s a similar one that seems to have survived:

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Kinja'd!!! RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:46

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I tried a search for the number plate and there didn’t seem to be any clear answers, though it turns out that Oasis used the police van’s number plate on an album cover.

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You know, because Oasis were so humble about trying to sell themselves as totally the Beatles all over again in so many words and the best thing to happen to music in decades.


Kinja'd!!! Fl1ngstam > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:49

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The Beatles were sometimes delivered to gigs in the back of Police vans, due to the craziness of their fans. It may be that this was a deliberate inclusion in the photo.


Kinja'd!!! Your boy, BJR > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 10:58

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Fuck that I wanna know what happened to the white stratus from Beatallica’s Abbey Load

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Kinja'd!!! Fl1ngstam > Rainbow
06/02/2016 at 11:40

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Looks like you are correct:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Co…

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

A London Metropolitan Police J4 (usually referred to as a Black Maria ) appears parked in the street on the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road . The van had been driven down by the policeman who came to stop the traffic behind the camera during the photo shoot. There was a second police officer out of sight further ahead up the road stopping any oncoming traffic.