Oasis photographer is trying to track down the ‘Be Here Now’ Rolls-Royce
Oasis photographer Michael Spencer Jones is hunting down the classic Rolls-Royce from the Be Here Now cover, and he wants your help tracking the vehicle down.
The record turns 25 this week, and to commemorate the occasion, Jones wants to find the car which features prominently on the album sleeve, but he’s yet to have much luck. The photographer originally loaned the 1972 Silver Shadow from the Leicestershire-based Flying Spares for the album shoot in 1997.
The following year after it was loaned for the shoot, Flying Spares sold the following year at a music memorabilia auction for £1,200, but nobody knows where it’s been since. Jones has also shared previously unseen pictures from the Be Here Now photoshoot at Stocks House in Hertfordshire, but it hasn’t led to any results.
Director of Flying Spares, Neil Arman said: “Suppling the Rolls-Royce for the Oasis album cover is part of Flying Spares folklore. When it came back it was missing the famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, which someone had presumably pinched as a souvenir. The car wasn’t roadworthy even when we had it. It hadn’t been taxed since 1993 and had already been stripped for parts, including the engine”.
Adding: “We fitted a new front grille and had it resprayed specifically for the shoot. The DVLA have no record of it being scrapped though, so it could well still be out there. Even classic Rolls-Royces and Bentleys can lie forgotten under dusty sheets in garages – we call them barn finds – and this one has the kudos of being a piece of Britpop history. We’d love to help Michael Spencer Jones to locate it, or at least find out what happened to it.”
The license plate used on the album artwork reads SYO 724F, which is a nod to The Beatles and the police van on the cover of Abbey Road when the actual registration is MDH 119K. If you have any information about the whereabouts of the Rolls-Royce, then contact Flying Spares.
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