22 May 09
Peter Sellers: 1963 Hooper Mini, 1965 Radford Mini de Ville GT
By the early Sixties actor and former Goon Peter Sellers was an A-list celebrity and about to star as perhaps his most memorable role as bumbling French detective Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
He was also a well-known car fan and was credited with the 60s celebrity craze of creating luxury Minis. He was the first to commission former Rolls Royce coachbuilder, Hooper, to build, what in effect, was a shrunken Rolls Royce costing four times the cost of the base car. The car was a huge hit, although Hooper refused to modify any more Minis other than for its existing customers.
This posed a problem when Sellers wanted to buy a luxurious Mini for his girlfriend Swedish actor Britt Ekland. Radford stepped in and were happy to sell Sellers a De Ville GT, complete with a very modern hatchback conversion.
Spike Milligan: Mini 850
No-one knows whether or not fellow Goon Spike Milligan got his love for the Mini from Peter Sellers, or perhaps the other way around, but in any case 'fanatical' doesn't even begin to describe this comedian's love for the Mini, who owned them for most of his life.
Rumour has it, when British Leyland approached Milligan to help advertise the little city car he promptly waived the fee such was his love for the Mini. By then Milligan was a convert in the values of environmentalism, something in which the small, efficient, but remarkably spacious Mini went hand-in-hand.
