Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

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Pete
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by Pete »

The press shot is on page 12 of this thread Nidge. I've got an original of it plus the press release from Radford for the Ekland birthday event which opened the new London showroom, I'll try and scan the blurb... It looks black on the photos but of course was blue.

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Four and a half minutes in :

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/out-t ... llers+mini

So I wonder why the Ekland car didn't have a Benelite grille? No sunroof either!
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

Looks great in colour! In the early '80s I lived just down the road in Cromwell Avenue and used to walk past the ex-Radford premises in King Street on the way to work, for quite a while there were usually two or three yank muscle cars on display at the front of the showroom.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by UHR850 »

:o found on the internet.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

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WMU 211G wrote:Looks great in colour! In the early '80s I lived just down the road in Cromwell Avenue and used to walk past the ex-Radford premises in King Street on the way to work, for quite a while there were usually two or three yank muscle cars on display at the front of the showroom.
Last year I managed to get some paperwork about that Ekland Radford Mini 'big reveal' which opened the new Radford showroom on King St. (Can't remember if I've posted this or not). It originally came from Nicholas Van der Steen the (then) new showroom manager and it describes the arrangements for the event and a letter which reports how the wax from candles on the cake dripped on to the car! I did find out that he went on to import and sell BMW. Mazda and Lamborghini in the early 70s from a couple of different London premises. In the paperwork there are copies of photos from that opening day, some of which are well known, some not so and he describes them as from his archive!

Now I did find out he passed away in 2015 but I suspect if anyone had a record of the cars ordered at the showroom it may well have been him! You never know so I've been looking into this through members of his family and will report back.

Incidentally, at Blyton Gordon Spice described how he'd bought a second hand Cooper S in the mid 60s that he took to Radford so there's another one! He did remember it was "midnight blue" but but little else as his ex Mrs launched all the pics. :?
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

Fascinating stuff as always Pete ;)

Did anyone see the retro / replica of the Robert Boulting green striped car at Himley Hall...? I took a few pics but can't upload anything at the moment. It's based on an '89 / '90 shell though not a Mk1.

Saw a very interesting W&P / Radfordesque Mini at Gaydon this morning, it started life as a '67 Mk1 but during its lifetime someone has enlarged the rear window aperture to fit a Mk2 screen, fitted Mk2 rear lights, deseamed it, fitted Shadolite tinted glass, fitted Frenched in vents on the outside of the C-pillars, fitted a homemade Radford style dash, reprofiled the bottom front corners of the doors, removed the exterior hinges and fitted interior ones, replaced the door handles with Vanden Plas ones, flared the wheel arches, and modified the front panel to accept rectangular indicators / sidelights (not Elf / Horney ones though), fitted a vinyl roof and electric sunroof etc... if I can load the pictures up I'll post them. While I was chatting to the owner a photographer from Minimag showed a lot of interest in the car so it might appear in print soon.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by rich@minispares.com »

UHR850 wrote::o found on the internet.
those 'carriage lamp' parking lights are a bit baroque! :lol:
should you wish, you can contact me on rich@minispares.com

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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by surfblue63 »

rich@minispares.com wrote:
those 'carriage lamp' parking lights are a bit baroque! :lol:
I just thought Munster Mobile when I saw those

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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by rpb203 »

Didn't the Boulting car appear on the front cover of Small Car magazine way back in '63/4?
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by Pete »

rpb203 wrote:Didn't the Boulting car appear on the front cover of Small Car magazine way back in '63/4?
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It was in Small Car I think you're right, not on the front though.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

The replica Boulting car I mentioned at Himley Hall the other week...

Image
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by Nevsmini »

WMU 211G wrote:The replica Boulting car I mentioned at Himley Hall the other week...

Image
I like that!
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by Pete »

Another 'new' photo of Macca and his Radford outside Abbey Road studio..1968 I think.

Image

One thing I've wondered is why did some cars have Benelite grills (usually with lamps) and others didn't. Some used a modified Austin (or Morris?) grille to house the lamps. Any ideas anyone? Ekland's had the latter.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

Nice shot Pete thanks for sharing it. Barefoot / flip flops and hair slightly longer than normal, Summer of '68 I'd say during the White Album and Hey Jude sessions.

You really ought to recreate the shot with your Raddie... ;)
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by surfblue63 »

Just "borrowed" these off of Ebay.
Sprint EDA 354A Front.jpg
Sprint EDA354C.jpg
Sprint Estate 5564KX Brands '67.jpg
Sprint Estate AOU 960C.jpg
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by surfblue63 »

And these
Sprint NGJ 999D.jpg
WP AMC 140H.jpg
WP CPF 3H.jpg
All original prints have just been listed, to find enter the plates into search.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

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Fantastic, seen these before but not the original prints! Thanks for sharing Stu!
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

Great stuff! The 'CPF 3H' photoshoot was done close to Wormwood Scrubs and the Great Western Mainline, not far from Radford's place at Park Royal. The Scrubs are off to the right of the picture. I've got some colour shots somewhere which (I think) appeared in Autocar in August '70.
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by mab01uk »

surfblue63 wrote:Just "borrowed" these off of Ebay.
Thanks for posting! 8-)
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Re: Radford mini de ville colour cards found!!!

Post by WMU 211G »

Last time I saw it advertised he was asking £40k for it, I wonder where it stands now...
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