Austin Maxi

One event in John Lennon's life is still a mystery. On July 1st, 1969, he was driving to visit his aunt's croft near Durness, in the north of Scotland. On a single-track road near Loch Eriboll, John saw another vehicle approaching. Although there were passing places along the route, John panicked and drove his white Austin Maxi off the road.
Of the car's four passengers - John, Yoko Ono, Yoko's daughter Kyoko and John's son Julian, only Julian escaped unhurt. On being taken to Lawson Memorial Hospital in Golspie, John needed 17 stitches on his chin, Yoko 14 in her face and Kyoko 4 in her lip. All three were detained for five days to recover and ensure they had suffered no internal bleeding or other problems. Julian was released into the care of John's aunt until his mother Cynthia flew up to collect him. John and Yoko had stopped at a tearoom in the village of Tongue before driving back towards Durness. It was at some point during that journey that Lennon drove off the road.
The Express for Saturday, July 10, 1999 carried the story of John's crash and talked to the only nurse at that time still working in the hospital who had treated John. She recounted the tale of the minister of the Knox Free Church in Brora visiting the hospital to talk to John about his claim that The Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ. When they were discharged from hospital on July 6th, a chartered helicopter was waiting on the hospital lawn to take them across the Moray Firth to Inverness airport. There, they boarded a private executive jet which took them back to London.

The fateful Austin Maxi was shipped back to the Lennon's home at Tittenhurst Park near Ascot, where it was placed on a plinth in the garden to remind the couple of their mortality.







White Austin Maxi 1750

Julian Lennon bought the Apple mascot at auction in September 1996. It had been fitted to John Lennon's Austin Maxi.