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Link below to the film from the North East Film Archive:

Vaux Rolls Out 12 Mini-Minors
On 26th August 1959 the Morris Mini-Minor was officially launched to the press at the Ministry of Defence testing ground in Chobham. The new car was publicised as “Wizardry on Wheels” and received glowing newspaper reviews, with the Daily Sketch cooing “Some Baby!” By the 1960s the British “People’s Car” was proving a hit with the home market. In 1961 Frank Nicholson, the Chairman of Vaux and Associated Breweries Ltd in Sunderland, which then owned 800 pubs and clubs in the North East, had an idea for boosting beer sales. He offered 12 new cherry red Minis, sporting customised bumper grilles with a Vaux “V” branding, as prizes for a “Spot the Ball” competition. Entry tickets were free with every 1 shilling’s worth of beer bought in a Vaux pub. Winning customers from the Brandling Arms in Gosforth, Newcastle, and the Lambton Worm near Chester-le-Street, were happy with their prize Minis, although the sales gimmick wasn’t popular with the Association of Pledged Motorists (for reformed drink-drivers) or the RAC.
http://www.nefacalfilms.co.uk/2013/08/2 ... th-august/

Ahh the good old days

Nice clip

...the Lambton "Warm", love it BBC English meets Geordie.

Not too sure about the "Special Branding" it just looks like a V painted onto the grille as the car drove past.

Excellent clip though.

M

For a mini-morris the red color seems more like a tartan than a cherry.

Definitely Cherry, Tartan had not been released for Minis in 1960.

M

I think the clip is from 1961 which could explain it? The Minis do look more like Tartan Red to me too. Basic models, you can just spot the single sun visor! Not a penny wasted! Do you think they still had the cloth interior at that time - it does look a bit like it?

I bet most blokes who had spent a lifetime supping Vaux bitter wouldn't have been even able to fit behind the steering wheel of a mini.