POP/ROCK - May 1, 1989

A Finnish collector and Beatles fan bought a ticket to ride in the style of the Fab Four when he bid $234,000 at Christie’s for a white Mercedes Benz limousine that belonged to late Beatle John Lennon. The four-door, black-seated limousine, custom built for Lennon in 1970, later belonged to fellow Beatle George Harrison before being sold to Mary Wilson, an original member of the Supremes pop group. Two hand-written verses of a poem by Lennon, illustrated with a sketch, netted $5,450. A rainbow-colored 1965 Bentley automobile that once ferried John Lennon and the other Beatles through the streets of London also goes on the auction block in June. The car, now owned by a New York couple, is expected to fetch between $800,000 and $lmillion