66Traveller wrote:By the by, this car auctioned at Bonhams last year looks to have been fairly untouched - I thought the close up of the auxillary switch panel was interesting - both for the type of toggle switches (which look like Innocenti perhaps because the car was an Innocenti) but also for the labelling (what is a Trombo Horn I wonder)...
Photo (which you've seen before) of it as it was in 1966 below...
. I suppose through our eyes that will look horrendous but actually we could say that about the whole restoration. I doubt George would have seen it that way. The only relatively untouched Beatles Mini now seems to be the ex George/Peter Harrison 998 Radford Cooper.
The timeline of the Beatles' Minis has never really been properly documented, quite a few questions about the three survivors, even the 998. Like why was the Harrison car repainted years before it was restored? The '67 "psychedelic" paint job by the Fool is not the same as it looked in the 80s , differences all over the car!
No that car was home modified by all accounts. It appears in the Brydor ledger aswell, having been part exchanged by the Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelski on behalf of singer Keith Relf. He then bought a Radford Mini from them. The subsequent buyer of the part ex car (pictured) still has it's Brydor tax disc holder but the car appears to be long gone.
The Ringo Starr car has never been connected to Radford as far as I know.
Photo (which you've seen before) of it as it was in 1966 below...
. I suppose through our eyes that will look horrendous but actually we could say that about the whole restoration. I doubt George would have seen it that way. The only relatively untouched Beatles Mini now seems to be the ex George/Peter Harrison 998 Radford Cooper.
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."
Last edited by mab01uk on Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:43 pm, edited 5 times in total.
As a lifelong Beatle fan I had to get a photo of myself with the unrestored Peter Harrison Radford before my friend Dave sadly had to sell it on recently.....
For comparison here are some more detailed photos that I took after washing the dust off, just before it was sold on.....
Last edited by mab01uk on Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
BBC Radio 2 - Beatles Gary Barlow Meets Sir Paul McCartney
Release Date: 27 Sep 2019 - (1 hour)
Available for 28 days
"In a new interview, recorded in 2018, the Take That frontman, Gary Barlow talks to the legendary Beatle Sir Paul McCartney about his song-writing. Beginning with the earliest days of the Beatles, Sir Paul reveals that he and John Lennon only began writing songs because other bands at The Cavern were doing the same covers as they were! He discusses, how close the relationship between himself and John Lennon was, how they brought different, complimentary elements to their song-writing and how they prided themselves that no two Beatles songs were ever the same. Gary Barlow also talks about where Sir Paul's inspiration comes from, how he works and how he has managed a successful career over six decades ..." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07ky60t
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!
