Whose Mini is this?

[BruceK]

Can you name the famous person who owned (still owns?) this Mini estate?

And do you think those rear nerf bars pivot so the doors can be opened?

[MPlayle]

Clint Eastwood's Mini and the nerf bars do rotate for the rear doors to open.

[BruceK]

You got it!   The one-piece rear windows are unusual too.  As are the flares under the wood trim.   Front windows look to have been converted to roll-up.

The wheels and tires look so 1970s - probably when he acquired the car. 

[BruceK]

I also heard that this Cooper S was his too, and he included it in a scene the Play Misty for Me movie he directed.

[MPlayle]

The Toyota van (silver with grey stripes) in the background of the profile picture with Clint driving the Mini should help date when the photo was taken.

It is my understanding that Clint's Mini wagon had some Radford conversion treatments, which would explain the windows.

[BruceK]

I spotted that Toyota van too. They came out in the mid-80s and were pretty darn scarce just 10 years later. Pretty much the same with the first generation Taurus in the photo.  So I'd guess the photos are circa 1990 or so.  About the same time as he was a mayor.

[BruceK]

Anyone know who owned this Mini?

[MPlayle]

Reminds me of the Minis done for the Beatles.  From the little you can see of the driver and front passenger, I'm going to guess John Lennon.

[BruceK]

It's been owned by several celebrities.  The Mini belonged to George Harrison, who later gave it to Eric Clapton, who later gave it back to George.   And it appeared in the Beatles' film, The Magical Mystery Tour. 

Apparently George had it painted in a 1960s psychedelic scheme, but Clapton didn't like it and had it repainted a little more normally.   After Harrison's death, the Mini was repainted back to the wild paint
scheme based upon period photographs (not unlike Janis Joplin's Porsche which was likewise repainted back to psychedelic based on old photos too).

There are even toy versions of this Mini.

[MPlayle]

Well, I got it partly correct with the Beatles part.  It looked like John and Yoko in the car in the first picture to me, so I got that part wrong.

[BruceK]

Well, I got it partly correct with the Beatles part.  It looked like John and Yoko in the car in the first picture to me, so I got that part wrong.

Yup, you got the band which was close enough.