Where is John Lennon's Mini?

[Pete]

The Beatles had finished touring by the end of August 1966 so you’d think would have been snapped around London a lot more (but were still very busy recording). There are quite a few pictures of them kicking around in Minis but like Al says those fan photos are over fifty years old and their owners probably in their 70s at least, not necessarily uploading them to websites! Cameras weren’t that common to have on you in the 60s, in fact unusual to carry a camera anywhere other than for holidays! Most of the fan photos are understandably of pretty poor quality.
On the subject of the cars claiming to be Lennon’s, and the actual logbook, they’re not (necessarily) in the same hands! We have to remember the DVLA were dishing out logbooks without much concern back in the 80s, this number plate as lots of other famous registrations, would have had little relevance to them so could have been applied for on a whim. Safe to say though whoever owns it has never talked about it publicly.

[Jeroen Booij]

Safe to say though whoever owns it has never talked about it publicly.

Not quite! There is a newspaper article dated 2000 about it.
Sorry, but I'm not sharing it.

[mab01uk]

Safe to say though whoever owns it has never talked about it publicly.

Not quite! There is a newspaper article dated 2000 about it.
Sorry, but I'm not sharing it.

Why??

[mab01uk]

On a hill in Surrey....A young man, famous, loaded, and waiting for something.
How does a Beatle live? John Lennon lives like this - Evening Standard 4th March 1966
Quote:
"One feels that his possessions – to which he adds daily – have got the upper hand; all the tape recorders, the five television sets, the cars, the telephones of which he knows not a single number. The moment he approaches a switch it fuses; six of the winking boxes, guaranteed to last till next Christmas, have gone funny already. His cars – the Rolls, the Mini-Cooper (black wheels, black windows), the Ferrari (being painted black) – puzzle him. Then there’s the swimming pool, the trees sloping away beneath it. ‘Nothing like what I ordered,’ he said resignedly. He wanted the bottom to be a mirror. ‘It’s an amazing household,’ he said. ‘None of my gadgets really work except the gorilla suit – that’s the only suit that fits me.’
Occasionally he is driven to London in the Rolls by an ex-Welsh guardsman called Anthony;
The day I visited him he had been invited to lunch in London, about which he was rather excited.
We bowled along in a costly fashion through the countryside. ‘Famous and loaded’ is how he describes himself now. ‘They keep telling me I’m all right for money but then I think I may have spent it all by the time I’m 40 so I keep going. That’s why I started selling my cars; then I changed my mind and got them all back and a new one too."
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1966/03/04 ... en-cleave/

[johnv]

it's easy if you try, John

[mk1]

it's easy if you try, John

download.jpg

[Pete]

Safe to say though whoever owns it has never talked about it publicly.

Not quite! There is a newspaper article dated 2000 about it.
Sorry, but I'm not sharing it.

I’ve seen the newspaper article with a car claiming to be the Lennon Radford, I’ve never seen anything from the person who owns the logbook though (different person) which was my point Jeroen.

[mk1]

I own John Lennon's Mini & so does my wife!

[mk1coopers]

This better not turn into an I am Spartacus style thread

[Peter Laidler]

I've got to come clean and register an interest here. I definitely DON'T know where John Lennons mini is.

[mab01uk]

The burning question now is, if it's last known change of ownership was in August 2008, where is it now....?

Well the reg is on Mr Nolans car, and I think he got the reg back because he has the chassis number, so if that is the car its lost its hatch, aston rear lights etc. The only thing I can see on that car that looks similar to the lennon min is the quarter lights!

Photo above from 'The Radford Mini' comments section (scroll down)....
https://drivetribe.com/p/the-radford-mi ... 5IgdSCC5jQ

[mk1coopers]

Maybe that roof covering is there to hid all the welding and filler from getting the hatch removed....

[coopersean]

Looks like XJ6 rear lights?

[iain1967s]

Extract from James Ruppert’s 2013 Mini book, passing comments regarding the Nolan car

[WMU 211G]

I'm almost certain that when I went to look at that car back in August '99 it was described to me as a very late Mk2 S....! I sat in it and had a good look round it but nothing about it shouted ''Lennon's formerly all black Mk1 Radford S''.

Curious!

[Old English White]

Strange that the rather distinctive red Mini pictured above was previously shown in 1999 wearing the registration number VSY 944. This is still registered as a red Mini and the last V5 was issued as recently as last October. Confusing isn't it

[mk1]

Strange that the rather distinctive red Mini pictured above was previously shown in 1999 wearing the registration number VSY 944. This is still registered as a red Mini and the last V5 was issued as recently as last October. Confusing isn't it

Ha, ha, very confusing indeed!

[Exminiman]

The burning question now is, if it's last known change of ownership was in August 2008, where is it now....?

Well the reg is on Mr Nolans car, and I think he got the reg back because he has the chassis number, so if that is the car its lost its hatch, aston rear lights etc. The only thing I can see on that car that looks similar to the lennon min is the quarter lights!

Photo above from 'The Radford Mini' comments section (scroll down)....
https://drivetribe.com/p/the-radford-mi ... 5IgdSCC5jQ

Am I alone in thinking this is an awlful blousy looking mini ?
It as if, when asked what options he would like, John Lennon just said “ all of them”
EDIT, assuming this is his car........or even looks remotely like it.....

[Hipwell]

The VSY reg comes back as a 61 850.

You can see the now removed Mk2 Austin Cooper badge in those book pics.

[WMU 211G]

Black & white footage of Macca being picked up in a Cooper in 1965 or 66 by 'the man from the motor trade' Terry Doran at 1min 30secs....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imuILm5WYKg

Not to mention our illustrious leader's lovely Mini sprint of course