The Ivory Tower: Shannan's Crown Majesta
There always seems to be a debate among car people about what cars fit what labels, and how to define these labels. It’s human nature to want to classify things by easily identifiable terms, it can’t be helped. As someone who greatly enjoys VIP style cars I quite frequently see people arguing amongst themselves whether something is VIP or not. A lot of modern VIP car media focus on cars that have exaggerated kits, obscenely wide wheels, and up-market inspired interiors, but it wasn’t always this way. VIP style has evolved into this style that externally promotes this image of excessive modification done in the guise of luxury and I love that. Looking back in time reveals a different picture. At its core VIP style arose from lowered big body luxury sedans from the 70s and 80s, such as the Mark II, the Crown, the Gloria, etc, that culminated in 89 with the release of the Celsior. The former you hardly see in modern times, at least in my experience, while the Celsior, and its contemporaries from its era, are still a staple of the style. Which brings me to Shannan’s Crown Majesta.
My introduction to the Crown Majesta is all thanks to my friend Matt. For a short period he owned a S140 Majesta that featured an almost identical two tone to Shannan’s. Which is why when I saw Shannans parked outside of Pizza Societe in Melbourne, it was love at first sight. It was something entirely new to me, but at the same time something I was familiar with. I lamented the fact it was parked between two other cars, thinking that all I’d be able to get of it was a couple ¾ profile shots and I moved on. Luckily, a far more energetic, less food focused friend of mine, Tyler, was able to wrangle together a group of cars for us to shoot that day, including Shannan’s Crown Majesta. Of the four cars, Shannan’s was the one that I knew I had to get photos of. Not only because I absolutely adored the car, but because I knew my friend Matt would enjoy seeing it. After a quick session shooting Luke’s R34 sedan, I asked Shannan if she’d be willing to drive further down the docklands to some other spots I had seen earlier that evening.
A quick jaunt down the road and we were entrenched in a jungle of shooting locations. That brief cruise deepened my appreciation for the car, despite its lowered stance it seemed to float down the road, without a noise to be heard and the whole time I was encased in leather and wood trim with a wide spectrum of features that seemed wildly ahead of it’s time for a car introduced at the turn of the millennium. In the process of touring Shannan’s car through three different locations, its mostly stock exterior allowed me to appreciate what makes the Crown Majesta such a good base for a VIP car in the first place. The presence of chrome accenting can either break or make a car for me and the Majesta does it right. It’s not treated as a main aesthetic feature instead relegated to perfectly accenting the formidable body and its various eccentricities, like the parking lights atop the fenders, the badging and lights. These features were all something that were new to me, but they weren’t what captured my attention initially. That’s owed to something else.
The lowered ride height and the rather familiar looking wheels conjured up imagery of the early days of VIP cars. Many early VIP cars were aping style cues from the luxury sedan icons of the era, Mercedes and the performance division AMG. AMG’s most popular wheel will always be the Aero series. Both the monoblock AMG AERO I and the three-piece AMG AERO II are highly coveted, officially approved Mercedes aftermarket wheels of choice. Given their specific manufacture and high price tag, wheels inspired by the design were bound to pop-up. Perhaps one of the most well known examples in modern times being the Work Eurolines. When my eyes met the similarly styled Riverside Altstadt Dish I immediately began conjuring up images of bontan clad, rowdy Japanese youths huddled around an 80s luxury sedan of matching height and wheel selection.
While Shannan’s Crown Majesta isn’t an excessive modern VIP build, the simpler style and nostalgic imagery of the era and of my friend’s Majesta that it conjured up was a very unplanned, but special moment for me in Australia. I was experiencing something entirely new while being reminded of my friends at home and thanks to the kindness of a complete stranger I was going to be able to share that with them. I couldn’t be more excited about it and neither could she. The shared excitement is something I rarely experience when shooting someone’s car and it was entirely refreshing to have the person I’m shooting with be just as engaged with the experience as I was.
Subverting my expectations even further and only making me more overjoyed at the situation I found myself in, Shannan was a total angel, completely surprising me by letting me drive her yacht, completely unprompted might I add! This complete stranger indulged my crazy ass by letting me pour over her car with a camera and letting me drive it. I about lost my shit when she reached over and activated the HUD speedometer. As I said earlier so many features seemed ahead of their time and getting to be behind the wheel to experience them just drove that point further for me. Again, these are things that rarely happen to me, but yet there I was, in Australia, driving a piece of VIP fueled nostalgia for an era I never experienced and fulfilling my dream to be some wannabe Yakuza type.
It meant so much to me that Shannan indulged my photographic endeavors and I’m so happy I got to meet such an angel of a person. Not only did she make the shooting experience so much more enjoyable by sharing my excitement and letting me drive her car, she allowed me to create work that I’m extremely proud of that I can share with people that hopefully enjoy it as I do. While I’m sure Shannan won’t keep her Majesta this way forever, in its current state it shows that even a simpler style or an in between state can bring just as much joy as something that’s dressed to the nines. Thankful doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel, but I’m hoping that whatever future this car sees that I can one day photograph it again updating it’s progress and making new memories in the process.
