MINI Fun Fact of the Day!

All four Beatles owned Minis, the most famous being George Harrison's psychedelic version which appeared in the 1967 film the Magical Mystery Tour (and has been remade in the new model of Mini - see photo below). Built by Harold Radford Ltd in 1965, Austin Cooper S LGF 965D was originally black but was painted in psychedelic colours in 1967 using ideas from an art book. George Harrison also had a wall of his house painted in the same style, much to the annoyance of his neighbours. It was in that mini that Goerge, John, Cynthia Lennon and Patti Boyd apparently had their first LSD trip after leaving the home of a freind who had slipped it into their cups of tea. George recalled driving very slowely because they didn't know what was happening to them. After Magical Mystery Tour, the car was given to Eric Clapton, but George got it back in the 1970's, lovingly maintained it and showed it at Goodwood as recently as 1998, three years before his death.

John Lennon brought his wife Cynthia a Mini in 1964 but because he didn't pass his driving test until 1965, he waited until then before getting a black Radford-built Austin Cooper S (LGF 696D). The following year he told a journalist: "I decided I'd been a bit extravagant and brought too many cars, so I put the Ferarri and the Mini up for sale. Then one of the accountants said I was all right, so I got the cars back". On August 28 1967, Lennon arrived at Apple Studios in his Radford Mini after hearing of the death of the Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

In 1965, Paul McCartney aqcuired a sage green Radford Mini Cooper S (GGJ 382C), which boasted rear lights from the Aston Martin factory, black leather interior, inside map lighting and a sunroof. He drovethe Mini to Primrose Hill, North London, in early 1967 and saw a strange man walking about. This was the inspiration for his song "The Fool on the Hill". The car now resides in a museum in Florida.

Ringo Starr owned Radford Austin Mini Cooper S (LLO 836D). The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein brought it originally in 1966 and the next owner shown in the logbook in Richard Starkey, who took possession of it on June 15, 1967. Epstein had an arrangement with dealer Terry Doran to get cars for the Beatles at trade prices. Doran is the 'man from the motor trade' referred to in "She's Leaving Home" on the Sergeant Pepper album.

Courtesy of Johncooperworks.net