Paul McCartney had a 1965 Radford Mini Cooper 'S'. It was an early Radford, not a GT version like Lennon and Harrison's. The car was finished in Aston Martin California Sage Green Metallic. It also featured rear lights from the Aston Martin factory. It also got non-stock features like a new black leather interior, inside map lighting, a sunroof, very rare halogen headlamps and built-in fog lamps recessed into the grille.
He was pictured in this Mini on a number of occasions on his own in 1965 and with Linda in 1968 (this picture is in the Beatles book 'The Beatles Files', see thumbnails right for picture). The Mini came up for sale in 1996 in the USA.
Paul's Mini GGJ 382C has been auctioned in Pebble Beach, California by Christie's. This took place on August 29,1999. After that it was again auctioned off again in 2002 by Bonhams, after being restored.



The Mini didn't exactly look like the Mini Paul drove, nor was the fact that it was owned by Paul McCartney mentioned by Christie's ! It has changed colour and the interior has been revamped.

Mike Fisher restored the car to it's original 'Paul McCartney' spec. See picture below, it looks just like it was. A truly brilliant job by Mike Fisher. The Mini is currently owned by Martin Godbey and displayed in Sarasota, Florida, alongside John Lennons 1965 mercedes-benz 230SL roadster. Please visit the website of the museum for more info.


Paul McCartney's Mini is now proudly displayed next to John Lennon's Mercedes at the Sarasota Classic Car Museum in Florida. A friend of mine visited the museum in October 2004 and made some pictures for me. I was particularly pleased to see two pictures taken from this website displayed on the window.


INTERESTING FACTS / STORIES

In a book about Paul, "Many Years From Now ", by Barry Miles, it says that the first night he met Linda, they and Lulu went back to Paul's house in his Mini.

Paul, Alistair Taylor, and Paul's sheepdog Martha climbed into GGJ 382C in early 1967 and drove to Primrose Hill, and saw a strange man walking about. This was later Paul's inspiration for "The Fool On The Hill" (Source is believed to be Hunter Davies). Thanks to Mike Weaver that info.

I was told that a book by a Beatles fan has a reference to Paul driving down the street in his Blue Mini reg. number LLO 804D (this is not the Green one he owned but LLO 836D, the so called Ringo Mini !). Will follow that up.