Where is John Lennon's Mini?

[MiNiKiN]

Is there a non Radford John Lennon mini he passed his test in in 1965?

This photo also shows how he passed his test. He just let the driving test examiner have a few puffs of his joint.
Such he would accept John's poor driving skills, whilst in a weed induced state of calm.

[Pete]

No pressure then. I mean who’d have the nerve to turn round to John Lennon and utter the words …”sorry mate but you’ve failed”

[mab01uk]

Screenshot below from an interesting 'Fake or Fortune' episode shown on BBC TV this week, of John and Yoko after they had moved into Tittenhurst Park in 1969. (Note the Mini parked outside in the background)....Fiona Bruce tracks down Apple studio engineer Mike O’Donnell and artist Dan Richter, two men who spent years in and around Tittenhurst Park, to ask whether they have any memories of a piano that is thought to have belonged to Lennon....one other memory of interest was that Mike O’Donnell said several cars were left behind by Lennon when he moved to New York along with many other items that were to be disposed of or given away when Ringo Starr moved into Tittenhurst in 1973 (including the possible 'John Lennon' piano which is the subject of this BBC programme). It would have been interesting to hear what memories Mike O’Donnell had of the cars John Lennon left behind to be disposed of and if one of them was the long lost Lennon Radford Mini!

Fake or Fortune - BBC1 - Music Memorabilia
"The team take on an entertaining new challenge when they plunge into the fast-growing market for rock music memorabilia. Can they prove that a curious silver guitar once belonged to Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – and could a baby grand piano now owned by 90s pop star Chesney Hawkes have once belonged to John Lennon of The Beatles?
It’s an investigation that leads them to some colourful characters from the 1970s music scene, but with memories very hazy in the era of The Beatles and The Stones, can the team get any closer to the truth?"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... emorabilia

[WMU 211G]

Screenshot below from an interesting 'Fake or Fortune' episode shown on BBC TV this week, of John and Yoko after they had moved into Tittenhurst Park in 1969. (Note the Mini parked outside in the background)....Fiona Bruce tracks down Apple studio engineer Mike O’Donnell and artist Dan Richter, two men who spent years in and around Tittenhurst Park, to ask whether they have any memories of a piano that is thought to have belonged to Lennon....one other memory of interest was that Mike O’Donnell said several cars were left behind by Lennon when he moved to New York along with many other items that were to be disposed of or given away when Ringo Starr moved into Tittenhurst in 1973 (including the possible 'John Lennon' piano which is the subject of this BBC programme). It would have been interesting to hear what memories Mike O’Donnell had of the cars John Lennon left behind to be disposed of and if one of them was the long lost Lennon Radford Mini!

Fake or Fortune - BBC1 - Music Memorabilia
"The team take on an entertaining new challenge when they plunge into the fast-growing market for rock music memorabilia. Can they prove that a curious silver guitar once belonged to Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – and could a baby grand piano now owned by 90s pop star Chesney Hawkes have once belonged to John Lennon of The Beatles?
It’s an investigation that leads them to some colourful characters from the 1970s music scene, but with memories very hazy in the era of The Beatles and The Stones, can the team get any closer to the truth?"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... emorabilia

Watched it last night after my other half recorded it, she said ''you'd better come and watch this'', turns out the Ms.Hassell who lived in SE London and first owned that baby grand piano is a relative of mine on my mum's side!

[WMU 211G]

Photo c/o Neville Smith, John's Raddie in the works...!

FABS JL RADFORD 1965 HAMMERSMITH W6.jpg

[mab01uk]

I saw an update recently from Nippycars

https://www.facebook.com/10005753721523 ... e=scwspnss

John Lennon's Radford Mini: a replica is in the making:-
https://maximummini.blogspot.com/2023/0 ... is-in.html

(LGF 696D is now on SORN - Date of last V5C (logbook) issued 18 August 2008)
Where is John Lennon's Mini?
https://maximummini.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -mini.html

[Pete]

Yet more unsubstantiated bogus claims to its whereabouts appeared on my page when I posted this up t’other day so I’ll add them to the list.

On a similar subject I met Paul McCartney on Sunday briefly (CLANG!!) but didn’t have the nerve to ask him about the Minis unfortunately.

[mab01uk]

Yet more unsubstantiated bogus claims to its whereabouts appeared on my page when I posted this up t’other day so I’ll add them to the list.

On a similar subject I met Paul McCartney on Sunday briefly (CLANG!!) but didn’t have the nerve to ask him about the Minis unfortunately.

I read on Sporting Minis you were lucky and were able to go to both his Manchester 'Got Back' tour dates, before he goes on to the O2 Arena in London for the end of the tour on 18th & 19th December!
I have been to most of his London shows since the days of Wings back in the 1970's and went to his previous O2 appearance in 2018 which I thought would be his last, bearing in mind his advancing age. Now 82 and still does a full 2.5+ hour show with dozens of songs from his solo, Wings and of course Beatles catalogue. Like you I just don’t know how he does it.

I was also lucky to get to see George Harrison (& Ringo) at the Albert Hall back in 1992 with front row tickets for a very rare performance in the UK, it was sheer luck as I was listening to the radio when they suddenly announced tickets were to go immediately on sale by phone (pre-internet days) and got to a phone very quickly! George's only ever "solo" UK gig, although Ringo and Gary Moore came out at the end to join the rest of the band.

This 'bootleg' footage in link below is the only recording of the show, although some say in the comments the rehearsals were professionally filmed.
No audience smartphones back then...even use of cameras by audience were usually officially banned at live gigs.

George Harrison - Royal Albert Hall 1992:-
"Multicam from 3 amateur shots mixed with a great hq amateur recording released as bootleg in 1993."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZVNLAA0Hz4

The Band:
George Harrison (Guitar)
Mike Campbell (Guitar)
Andy Fairweather Low (Guitar)
Will Lee (Bass Guitar)
Steve Ferrone (Drums)
Chuck Leavell (Keyboards)
Greg Phillinganes (Keyboards)
Ray Cooper (Percussion)
Katie Kissoon (Backing Vocal)
Tessa Niles (Backing Vocal)

Special Guests:
Ringo Starr
Gary Moore
Joe Walsh
Dhani Harrison

[snoopy64]

In answer to how does he do it,,,, the £420 for seat 307 at the CoOp must help!

[Pete]

My (really good) seat on Saturday was £143 (I was on the guest list on Sunday) but I thought that was pretty reasonable for such an epic event, and that’s the most I’ve ever paid for a gig ticket in my life!!

[Pete]

Can’t remember if I posted this before or not but it’s Epstein close assistant Peter Brown (foreground) with Ringo and his Mrs and yet another Beatles related low spec Radford Mini pictured in I think 1968. Brown’s two books on his time with the band have caused quite a stir , especially his most recent one which McCartney has been quite dismissive about.

[WMU 211G]

Can’t remember if I posted this before or not but it’s Epstein close assistant Peter Brown (foreground) with Ringo and his Mrs and yet another Beatles related low spec Radford Mini pictured in I think 1968. Brown’s two books on his time with the band have caused quite a stir , especially his most recent one which McCartney has been quite dismissive about.

Not seen that one before Pete, very nice. Definitely '68 looking at Ringo's attire and Barnet, probably mid way through recording the White Album, they did some demo's at George's psychedelic bungalow in Esher in May then got stuck into it at Abbey Road...

1968 MDO STP.jpg

[snoopy64]

My (really good) seat on Saturday was £143 (I was on the guest list on Sunday) but I thought that was pretty reasonable for such an epic event, and that’s the most I’ve ever paid for a gig ticket in my life!!

Yeah that was Saturday night… the dynamic pricing that Oasis got slated for seems to have slipped under the radar for this one. The football derby made the trams entertaining!

[Pete]

I just call it ripping off the fans. . The beer prices in there are also an absolute joke but I won’t be too bothered as that might have been my only visit there to be honest unless I get lucky again for another gig some day. Macca certainly can’t need the money that’s for sure, but I suspect Noel Gallagher has only agreed to tour next year for a humongous pay out. And no I wont be going, thankfully!

Back to the subject though.. :lol….. and I’ve sent the two guys emails that featured in the ‘Fake or Fortune’ programme who spent alot of time at Tittenhurst to ask them both about Lennon’s car. I’ll be intrigued to see what, if anything comes back. As the programme makers found out in the show getting anything from the original members of these bands about stuff like this is almost impossible, albeit they did get Ronnie Wood to say he didn’t remember that guitar! I’m absolutely convinced McCartney will remember what happened to his Radford when it got crashed in ‘67 but as I said before our meeting on Sunday was so brief that I just couldn’t have asked.

[Pete]

Well I did get a reply from Dan Richter who described the car as “a great little car with lots of power for its size” , seemed to remember it having black velvet seats, a state of the art sound system and explained that Lennon loaned him the car to run around in for about a year! (I have read somewhere before that Lennon thought it was too fast!) He doesn’t however remember what happened to it but I’m fairly optimistic that Mike O’Donnell will! More soon hopefully.

[WMU 211G]

Well I did get a reply from Dan Richter who described the car as “a great little car with lots of power for its size” , seemed to remember it having black velvet seats, a state of the art sound system and explained that Lennon loaned him the car to run around in for about a year! (I have read somewhere before that Lennon thought it was too fast!) He doesn’t however remember what happened to it but I’m fairly optimistic that Mike O’Donnell will! More soon hopefully.

It's well known that Lennon wasn't a particularly good driver and his chronic short sightedness didn't help, which is why he liked being chauffeured around rather than driving himself. His old school mate Pete Shotton often drove him about as he lived with John and Yoko for a while during '68.

[Pete]

Well Mike O’Donnell who worked at Apple studios and virtually lived at Tittenhurst has got back to me aswell which is impressive. He also backs up the story I’d heard from other unconnected sources over the years that Jo Jo Johns (Apple PA) bought Lennon’s Mini after he’d left for New York with Yoko. Her partner Jeremy Sumner is reported to have written it off and I’m fairly sure it’s he who auctioned off the keys to the car on their Brydor keyfob in 2015 which were auctioned again for over £4k a couple of years ago. No other story I’ve ever heard makes more sense than this one and is probably the only believable one concerning the sad end to John Lennon’s Radford.

[Jack of all trades]

How odd is that, from memory it was Barry Jarlett, Dot's son that brought the keys to auction in 2015 after his mother died and all the Beatles stuff was disposed off.
In December 1965 mrs Jarlett bought an Austin 1100 from Brydor car that was traded in by Lennon on his Porsche 912 purchase.....

[Pete]

Yes got my wires crossed there it was apparently Jarlett that originally auctioned those keys, the question is were they actually the keys to the Mini? Did Jarlett get the Mini or Jo Jo Johns? Did the car even get to Tittenhurst in ‘69 when Lennon moved because the last sighting (by me anyway) was on Lennon’s home movie at Kenwood in 1968, around the time Jarlett left her job as his cleaner. You must have a pirate copy of the Brydor ledger Jacco!

[Jack of all trades]

That's a lot of questions in one go Pete!

Those keys could very well have fitted the 1100 that the Jarlett's had purchased via Brydor and that would account for the key fob and John's info still on it. As the car was "sold on" with no profit by the firm it might have been that John wanted his son (Julian) to be transported nice car. As we all know the Union keys fit to most British products of those days. The fact it has house keys fitted too makes all the sense as Dot was practically living at Kewood the 4 years she was "in service" but only at Kenwood. In fact she was the "house keeper" and general minder of Julian, she was fired or took resignation in 1968 when the John / Yoko thing was happening somewhere in 1968 probably the June/ July timeframe.

Did the car make it to Tittenhurts, well the fact it can be seen in the shots from the white room who could deny that (and it was still 2 tone painted like on his Kenwood home movie). As Jarlett didn't make it to Tittenhurst the chance of her having the keys to the Radford seems VERY slim as John bought the property in May 1969.

So although those keys might well have been the property of Lennon at some point in time i guess they wouldn't match the lock numbers on his Radford (as we all know they would probably fit good enough to open them anyway ) but that's just my opinion

Didn't Mark Nolan offer copies of the Brydor ledger for sale years ago?

And by the way line B586 shows the Austin 1100 Dlx Sal bought by Lennon in December 1966, i'm sure you know what the reg of that car was.