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After 25 years at 56 Hope Road, St Andrew, Bob Marley's Land Rover - which he drove all over the Corporate Area and to rural Jamaica - hit the road for Montego Bay, St James, yesterday afternoon.
It did not leave the Bob Marley Museum under its own power, as what was reputedly the late reggae singer's favourite vehicle has been taken to local Land Rover dealer ATL's Montego Bay offices to be assessed ahead of restoration.
When it is finished, the museum and Bob Marley Foundation's general manager, Jacqueline Lynch-Stewart, said the 1976 Land Rover will be put back on display at 56 Hope Road.
"It has been at the museum since it opened," Lynch-Stewart said. "It is always at the front.
After having been exhibited in the open air under a covering but no sides for a quarter century, "over the years it has naturally deteriorated".
"We made contact with them (ATL) to see if it could be restored. They then contacted the headquarters in London, so this discussion has been going on for some time," Lynch-Stewart said. Next for the Land Rover, she said, is "To pull it down, assess what is required and take it from there. They don't know what they will find."
Museum display
She noted that even if something on the Land Rover is replaced, the original part will be returned to the museum for display.
Lynch-Stewart said that the Land Rover has been "very popular" with visitors. "I know they are going to miss it. What we will have to do is take a photograph and show people that it has been sent to be refurbished," she said. In addition, she said that the removal has been "very traumatic" for the museum's staff. "Any time anything goes it is traumatic. They get a little emotional," Lynch-Stewart said.
Last February, Marley's guitar was loaned to the Grammy Museum in the US, a replica is now on display at 56 Hope Road. That loan was for a year.
Another Marley vehicle, a Volkswagen bus, is at Culture Yard in Trench Town, St Andrew.
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