Famous Mini owners

[timell]

Drat, I was hoping it might have been a shot of him in his 65 Radford Cooper, FGO 592C before he gave it to his brother Pete.

27E24422-5952-4831-8385-037BEF7CB08A.jpeg

[mab01uk]

Drat, I was hoping it might have been a shot of him in his 65 Radford Cooper, FGO 592C before he gave it to his brother Pete.

Some photos here before restoration:-
http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?p=227461#p227461

Is your photo above of the Mini currently under restoration?

[Pandora]

I assume the red parts reflect the original, and that Radford, widely regarded as the creme de la creme of quality craftsmen just didn't bother to paint the bits that were hidden?

A bespoke back street blow over? ( the back street being somewhat akin to Saville Row)

Al

[mab01uk]

I assume the red parts reflect the original, and that Radford, widely regarded as the creme de la creme of quality craftsmen just didn't bother to paint the bits that were hidden?

A bespoke back street blow over? ( the back street being somewhat akin to Saville Row)

Al

A friend of mine bought it at auction in 2013 for £22K (£26K including buyers premium) but has since sold it on unrestored.
https://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/ ... s-weekend/

Another previous owner of the Peter Harrison Radford from 1979 to 1983 has just posted some photos below on the 'Surrey New MINI' forum. Not sure non-members can view that forum, so I have copied the post and photos by SNM forum member 'RadfordCooper' below:-
https://surreynewmini.forumotion.com/t7 ... 014#229813

Quote from the Surrey New MINI Forum
Posted by 'RadfordCooper' on 26-09-2019:-
"I owned this Radford Cooper 'FGO592C' in my youth, from 1979 to around 1983, My father helped to do it up a bit, I was always skint so the partial restoration was done on a shoe string. It was originally metallic black. I loved the car and would never have parted with had it not been for cash flow problems. I never got around to restistering it in my my name, as I thought I would have to give up the original Green Log Book, bearing Brian Epsteins signature."

.

That’s a great little piece of the jigsaw of this car’s history filled in! Makes perfect sense that the owner after Peter Harrison would have been in Surrey as Peter moved down there to help look after George’s Estate. What we didn’t know about the car until recently though was that the original buyer of that car from Brian Epstein Autos is recorded as George Harrison in the Brydor ledger. It’s possible that the missing parts of the original Radford GT dash were removed during the partial restoration between ‘79 and ‘83. The black paint mentioned may well have been the repaint Peter Harrison gave it in the late 60s when Radford’s blue paint microblistered! (according to Peter’s wife Pauline). He was also irritated by the original Tartan Red paint in the boot!

Note Pete's quote on the 'original tartan Red paint' in the boot above. Apparently it was standard practice back in the day for Radford to only paint the outer panels and even to mask up things like headlights, etc rather than remove them before painting.

[timell]

I assume the red parts reflect the original, and that Radford, widely regarded as the creme de la creme of quality craftsmen just didn't bother to paint the bits that were hidden?

A bespoke back street blow over? ( the back street being somewhat akin to Saville Row)

Al

Having been present during most of it’s strip down, the best expression I can think of to describe a Radford is “all fur coat and no knickers”
Things like the said paint work, plus the central switch panel enlarged to take a radio with what must have been a hammer and cold chisel! Along with wood screws used to fix interior trim, and so on.
However, when finished with all the corner cutting covered up, they looked great!

Tim

[timell]

“Some photos here before restoration:-
http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?p=227461#p227461

Is your photo above of the Mini currently under restoration?”
[/quote]

Thanks Martin, I did manage to lift the pics from the other forum when they were first posted, but nice to have them archived here.
The car is very much a work in progress, I do have some immensely dedicated and skilful helpers though thankfully
Interestingly, according to the Brydor sales ledger, this mini is the only one actually owned by two of the Fab Four. Bought first by Paul, and then he must have changed his mind as his name was crossed out and George’s inserted, along with a different sales date……..

[Pete]

Could just have been a simple mistake in the ledger, doubt we’ll ever know and there were several other crossings out in that ledger but safe to say the buyer of the car was certainly recorded as George. Contrarily though however Pauline Harrison was adamant when I spoke with her that Peter bought it himself after visiting the Radford stand at the 1965 Motor Show! Will we ever know for sure, I doubt it but no doubt the boys did buy other cars for their family members and partners via Brydor, especially George so I can only assume George bought it for Peter, though ownership from Epstein Autos (Brydor as it became) wasn’t changed to Peter on the logbook until nearly a year after registration! So who knows. I’ve never seen that George photo with his car colour looking so blue! The version I first saw (fan photo) was indeed black.
Hope to have some Beatles Mini news soon!

[WMU 211G]

Could just have been a simple mistake in the ledger, doubt we’ll ever know and there were several other crossings out in that ledger but safe to say the buyer of the car was certainly recorded as George. Contrarily though however Pauline Harrison was adamant when I spoke with her that Peter bought it himself after visiting the Radford stand at the 1965 Motor Show! Will we ever know for sure, I doubt it but no doubt the boys did buy other cars for their family members and partners via Brydor, especially George so I can only assume George bought it for Peter, though ownership from Epstein Autos (Brydor as it became) wasn’t changed to Peter on the logbook until nearly a year after registration! So who knows. I’ve never seen that George photo with his car colour looking so blue! The version I first saw (fan photo) was indeed black.
Hope to have some Beatles Mini news soon!

You're such a tease Pete...!

[timell]

The Beatle mini's....a Magical Mystery Tour!

The pic is from Scorsese's documentary on George, Living in the Material World. I literally snapped the TV screen as it popped up.
Maybe they re-colourised it....it's certainly much 'cleaner' than the shot Nidge posted?
If you look closely, you can even see a reflection of what may be a 420 Jag parked next to him, almost as if the photographer was sitting in the Jag.

[Pete]

That’s interesting, I’ll take a look at the film tonight!

[WMU 211G]

The Beatle mini's....a Magical Mystery Tour!

The pic is from Scorsese's documentary on George, Living in the Material World. I literally snapped the TV screen as it popped up.
Maybe they re-colourised it....it's certainly much 'cleaner' than the shot Nidge posted?
If you look closely, you can even see a reflection of what may be a 420 Jag parked next to him, almost as if the photographer was sitting in the Jag.

I think the car in the reflection is probably Mal Evans' Humber Snipe, Mal took a lot of photos during the filming they did at Chiswick House that day, there are other photos knocking around showing his Humber in the car park at Abbey Road.

[mab01uk]

Screenshots below are from the new BBC documentary....
BBC iPlayer - Roy Orbison: In Dreams:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... -in-dreams

In the BBC documentary Roy Orbison and his wife Claudette are seen getting into an 'Austin Mini Cooper S' in 1963 during his UK tour with the Beatles.....however you may have noticed the Mini has a 1965 registration CBL 386C....which makes it more likely this was actually during his 1966 UK tour!







"As "In Dreams" was released in April 1963, Orbison was asked to replace Duane Eddy on a tour of the UK in top billing with the Beatles. When he arrived in Britain, however, he realized he was no longer the main draw. He had never heard of the Beatles, and annoyed, asked rhetorically, "What's a Beatle, anyway?" to which John Lennon replied, after tapping his shoulder, "I am". On the opening night, Orbison opted to go onstage first, although he was the more established act. The Beatles stood dumbfounded backstage as Orbison simply played through 14 encores. Finally, when the audience began chanting "We want Roy!" again, Lennon and Paul McCartney physically held Orbison back. Ringo Starr later said, "In Glasgow, we were all backstage listening to the tremendous applause he was getting. He was just standing there, not moving or anything." Through the tour, however, the two acts quickly learned to get along, a process made easier by the fact that the Beatles admired his work. Orbison felt a kinship with Lennon, but it was George Harrison with whom he would later form a strong friendship in 1988 as part of the Traveling Wilburys."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_Wilburys

[mab01uk]

Cathy McGowan

1968 and Cathy McGowan rips up her L plate and received her new Mk2 Mini from John Sprinzel Racing at Lancaster Mews, West London.
Cathy presented the weekly music show ‘Ready Steady Go’ on TV every Friday night from 1964.

[spoon.450]

Am I right in thinking that she is married to Michael Ball….the ..erm…singer ?

[Old English White]

They are devoted partners rather than actually married I think. She must be 20 years older than him too.

[mab01uk]

I believe Cathy McGowan is 80 years old this year.

[Old English White]

Yes, that would be about right. Where did all that time go eh?

[Peter Laidler]

Was she the girl who's catchphrase was '..... I'll give it foive.....' Didn't she marry one of the Monkees? OIr am I thinking of someone else? But I'd certainly give her one..........

[Ronnie]

Was she the girl who's catchphrase was '..... I'll give it foive.....' Didn't she marry one of the Monkees? OIr am I thinking of someone else? But I'd certainly give her one..........

NO Peter she was a Janet/Janice Juke Box Jury, Cathy McGowan was Six Five Special I think

[mab01uk]

Best known as presenter of the 1960s pop music television show 'Ready Steady Go!' from 1964.
With its slogan, "the weekend starts here",RSG was shown on TV on Fridays from 6 to 7 pm.