Porsche 928 Belonging to The Beatles’ George Harrison Was Nearly Scrapped For Parts

George Harrison’s 1980 Porsche 928 S Very Nearly Ended up as an Organ Donor 

We all have to travel the long and winding road, as George Harrison and the rest of The Beatles reminded us years ago. It helps when you have a beloved car to help in that journey. Fortunately, Harrison had a solid automotive companion for a bit in the ‘80s: a Porsche 928 S. The Beatle bought the 928 S brand new and drove it for the first four years of its life. During that time, Harrison (and whoever else drove it) put around 11,000 miles on it. That’s a little under 3,000 miles a year. While that’s not exactly long-haul numbers, it’s clear George Harrison was out and about in the little front-engined Porsche.

At some point in time, the Porsche left Harrison’s ownership. Fast-forward to 2003, around two years after George Harrison’s death, and the Porsche 928 S went up for sale at auction. A gentleman by the name of Raj Sedha purchased the car with 108,000 miles on the clock. Not because it belonged to a Beatle, but rather as a parts car for his own 928 project. But, like so many occasions, his wife proved to be the voice of reason. She looked back into the car’s history and discovered the George Harrison connection. $125,000 in restoration costs later, the black-on-black 928 S was back to its former glory, save for a preserved Harrison-lived-in interior.

Big bucks at auction

The car went back up for sale again in 2022. At RM Sotheby’s 2022 Monterey auction, the George Harrison-owned 1980 Porsche 928 S fetched a tidy $100,820 as it crossed the auction block. Granted, it doesn’t quite live up to the roundabouts $125,000 spent on restoration. However, the restoration did turn up a 46-year-old copy of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on cassette tape, a favorite of Harrison’s. Pretty cool, really. 

Not the first time a music legend’s car brought big bucks

This is far from the first time a celebrity-owned car has sold for big money. Far from it. Or even music legends, really. According to Jalopnik, a 1965 Dodge Dart belonging to the late, great Kurt Cobain sold for $375,000 just a few years ago. Think that’s nuts? The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards’ 1965 Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur fetched around $1.2 million at auction 11 years ago, per Hagerty.

Photos: Porsche, Stuttcars

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