Paul McCartney’s Wings open-top tour bus up for auction

The famous tour bus used by Paul McCartney and Wings will be heading to auction later this month. 

Used on the band’s 1972 Wings Over Europe tour, this customised open-top bus has lived an intriguing life. 

Now fully restored, it could achieve a substantial sale price when auctioned via the Car & Classic online platform.

Wings Over Europe

Before becoming a large-scale piece of rock and roll memorabilia, ‘WNO 481’ started life as a 1953 Bristol Commercials double-decker bus. 

Initially employed in Essex to serve local bus routes, it was converted to have an open top deck in 1966, ferrying holidaymakers to the Butlins resort in Clacton-on-Sea.

In 1972, Paul McCartney leased it as the official Wings tour bus, complete with two drivers and a full support package. The amazing psychedelic exterior paintwork was added to ensure it stood out. 

Paul McCartney himself explained the idea behind buying the bus, saying: “If we’re gonna be in Europe in the summer, going to places like the south of France, it’s just silly to be in some little box all day gasping for air. So we came up with this idea to have an open deck, upper deck kind of thing. 

“We’ve got some mattresses up there so we can just cruise along, fantastic, it’s great, just lie around and get the sun.”

Band on the Run

The interior of the tour bus included a fully functioning kitchen, individual seats for the band members and even a playpen for children on the upper deck.

Powered by a 7.0-litre Gardner five-cylinder diesel engine with a four-speed manual gearbox, progress on the tour was noted as being relaxed. If the bus was moving too slowly, other vehicles were used to make sure band members made it to the venues on time.

Despite this, the tour passed through 25 European towns and cities, racking up an impressive 7,500 miles during July and August 1972. 

Sedate travel certainly gave the band time to write new music, and it is perhaps no coincidence that the theme to Live and Let Die was recorded shortly after the tour.

Wild Life

After the tour, the bus returned to regular duties until 1980. It was saved from being scrapped in 1982, then restored with the Wings Over Europe livery.

The bus made its way to Tenerife in the 1990s, being used as a tourist attraction outside a rock cafe. In 2009, it was rediscovered in a storage area and subsequently returned to the UK in 2017.

Fully restored between 2019 and 2022, the bus now looks exactly how it would have done in the summer of 1972. Wings drummer Denny Seiwell has even donated an original touring trunk, just to add to some authentic appeal.

Paul McCartney’s company, MPL, has officially licensed the use of the Wings artwork, logos, band members’ names and personal photos on the bus.

Live and let’s drive

Just how famous is the Wings tour bus? Famous enough to have a lengthy Wikipedia entry dedicated to it, along with its own website and Facebook page. 

Ownership of the website is included as part of the sale. The site has apparently received multiple enquiries from people interested in seeing the bus attend events this year.

Recently restored, in full running order and equipped with genuine Wings memorabilia, WNO 481 will resonate with a broad spectrum of enthusiasts.

Ahead of the auction, which starts on 22 April 2024 and runs for seven days, Car & Classic has provided an estimate of between £150,000 and £200,000 to buy the bus.

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