Radford/Wood&Pickett Minis
Discussion
Hi all... browsing through the board, I got wandering about custom-built minis, especially the Radford and Wood&Pickett cars of the 1960s and 1970s.
I was wandering if anyone knew how many of each were made, whether they come up very often, and how much they go for?
Especially of interest was the hatchback Radford cars - anyone driven one? How did chopping off the rear parcel-shelf affect rigidity and handling?
Anyway, thanks in advance for any info...
I was wandering if anyone knew how many of each were made, whether they come up very often, and how much they go for?
Especially of interest was the hatchback Radford cars - anyone driven one? How did chopping off the rear parcel-shelf affect rigidity and handling?
Anyway, thanks in advance for any info...
No idea how many of either were made at all. Although in some vague form or other, both companies still exist today (On 2nd thoughts, Radford?). Wood & Pickett themselves likely have a good idea how many were made.
However, the work they did to cars was so varied.. Full on bespoke car conversions, to cars with just a few modest "WP" branded accessories. What constitutes a real "WP" car?
I'd be surprised if either company produced more than a few dozen high spec Mini's. I expect if you count WPs conversions on other cars, like Range Rovers and Rolls Royce/Bentley's etc, then WP likely produced the more cars out of the 2 companies.
Hatchback Mini's will certainly have been a very limited production. Ringo Starr was a famous owner of one however, and that car still exists today. Paul McCartney also had a Radford mini. Indeed my late father (also a well respected muso back in his day) had a Radford Cooper S. Although it was stolen, and later partly returned in 3 boxes.
As you probably gathered from the other thread, im the owner of a good spec WP Mini. But im ashamed to say i've not used it for some time, so its laid up in my garage. I've toyed with selling it, but never got around to prepping and advertising it properly yet.
Naturally being rare cars, they don't appear for sale often. This and such varied specs make them hard to put a value on also.. Shabby cars occasionally appear for £2k or so. Pristine high spec examples are more like £15k+
P,
However, the work they did to cars was so varied.. Full on bespoke car conversions, to cars with just a few modest "WP" branded accessories. What constitutes a real "WP" car?
I'd be surprised if either company produced more than a few dozen high spec Mini's. I expect if you count WPs conversions on other cars, like Range Rovers and Rolls Royce/Bentley's etc, then WP likely produced the more cars out of the 2 companies.
Hatchback Mini's will certainly have been a very limited production. Ringo Starr was a famous owner of one however, and that car still exists today. Paul McCartney also had a Radford mini. Indeed my late father (also a well respected muso back in his day) had a Radford Cooper S. Although it was stolen, and later partly returned in 3 boxes.
As you probably gathered from the other thread, im the owner of a good spec WP Mini. But im ashamed to say i've not used it for some time, so its laid up in my garage. I've toyed with selling it, but never got around to prepping and advertising it properly yet.
Naturally being rare cars, they don't appear for sale often. This and such varied specs make them hard to put a value on also.. Shabby cars occasionally appear for £2k or so. Pristine high spec examples are more like £15k+
P,
most radford and wood and pickett cars were to coustomer order so the spec vareys ... all records regarding w p were lost arter it was sold to moss but at the moment thay will have a look at what you have and let you know if thay consider it a "wood and pickett" and let you have a letter to say so , however this is mainly for the full convershion cars only as regards radford there are no records other then the famous who could afford them,being photographed with there pride and joy .... ill inclose what pics i have on the pc ...but i have hundreds of them .... please note the vauxhall pa cresta .... i only came accross these pic last week ...worked by radford
W & P did the very first 4-door Range Rover back in about 1979. I know because my company did the structural engineering and stress analysis on it.
I recently built an 'S' engine for a Radford de-Ville to give c.90 bhp.Very nice looking car as well.
The problem was that the W & P cars and the Radfords were a bit heavy. Nice and quiet, though.
I recently built an 'S' engine for a Radford de-Ville to give c.90 bhp.Very nice looking car as well.
The problem was that the W & P cars and the Radfords were a bit heavy. Nice and quiet, though.
rougeleo said:
Steve Burkinshaw is very knowledgable on this subject and is the Coach built mini registrar for the Mini Cooper Register ..he does a fair bit of restoration work on them as well .
Wow! It doesn't half look pretty...I'd be interested to know how the extra weight affected the handling of the cars. One of the beauties of the mini is the feeling of lightness - how does it translate when that's removed?
urban_alchemist said:
Wow! It doesn't half look pretty...
I'd be interested to know how the extra weight affected the handling of the cars. One of the beauties of the mini is the feeling of lightness - how does it translate when that's removed?
Its a nice Radford indeed I'd be interested to know how the extra weight affected the handling of the cars. One of the beauties of the mini is the feeling of lightness - how does it translate when that's removed?
As for handling, I cant see why that car would be significantly worse than a standard car.Some custom mini's do get very heavy though. My WP hasn't been weighed. But it certainly feels heavy as Mini's go. There is a benefit to this however... It smoothes out the ride quite a bit. And thanks to a really good suspension set-up, it still handles well for a mini too. But will slide a little more on the track. The drawback is acceleration. The weight holds it back. But still, with an injected 1380 it's still a fun drive.
P,
Hi and woauw what a collection you have there, where did you find the picture of the dark blue? black?
Wood & Pickett Clubman with photo taken in through open drivers door (under the pic with the Radford sill plate)? it looks like it needs a little attention(no front bumper-side indicator broken-and grill coming of? hope its getting attention as these cars are rare.The reason for this question is to be found on www.showcars.dk as you can see its the sistercar to mine it is close to same spec as my W&P, if you can get access to it, just pull out the ashtrey, and flip it over, underneath it will be marked with its built/order no from W&P,(all parts have black pen numbers on the back), my cars built/order no is 2196, it is written on all parts(exept the headrests). Unfortunally the number on body can only be seen when the dash is completely removed from car(took a picture when dash was out), switch layout was also still sitting on dashrail, left by the wire guy at W&P back in 73. As for the Xtra pounds of leather-wood-soundinsulation-etc-and on my car also the turbo setup, I can only say that the car drives/feels VERY good with the added weight, it feels much beefier and sits nice on the corners, its a little heavy on the parking though. My car has only been on the road for 30/40 minutes so far, to the MOT thursday, and to the local carmeet friday.
Wood & Pickett Clubman with photo taken in through open drivers door (under the pic with the Radford sill plate)? it looks like it needs a little attention(no front bumper-side indicator broken-and grill coming of? hope its getting attention as these cars are rare.The reason for this question is to be found on www.showcars.dk as you can see its the sistercar to mine
it is close to same spec as my W&P, if you can get access to it, just pull out the ashtrey, and flip it over, underneath it will be marked with its built/order no from W&P,(all parts have black pen numbers on the back), my cars built/order no is 2196, it is written on all parts(exept the headrests). Unfortunally the number on body can only be seen when the dash is completely removed from car(took a picture when dash was out), switch layout was also still sitting on dashrail, left by the wire guy at W&P back in 73. As for the Xtra pounds of leather-wood-soundinsulation-etc-and on my car also the turbo setup, I can only say that the car drives/feels VERY good with the added weight, it feels much beefier and sits nice on the corners, its a little heavy on the parking though. My car has only been on the road for 30/40 minutes so far, to the MOT thursday, and to the local carmeet friday. Some Radford / W&P stuff from the archives...
Ringo's Hooper hatchback and Macca's Radford in the car park at Abbey Road in '67... both cars have been restored since then, Ringo's was modified and repainted silver and blue for a while before being painted again into it's current silver and burgundy...
Macca getting into his Radford on 8th August 1969, the same day the Abbey Road cover shot was taken...
Macca's Radford again taken in '69, note the Aston Martin rear lights (Lennon's Radford also had these lights)...
George's Radford was black before it received its psychedelic makeover in '67, this shot was taken on 20th May '66 as George arrived at Chiswick House in West London to shoot the Paperback Writer / Rain promo video...
At Abbey Road in early '67...
On George's lawn in the Summer of '67 with its unique bumpers which it doesn't have now...
Lennon driving his Radford in '68... there are different stories as to what became of this one, nobody seems to know for sure...
Lennon arrives at Abbey Road driven by his chauffeur on 20th December '66...
Macca arrives home on 27th December '67 after an interview with the Beeb defending the Magical Mystery Tour which was first shown the night before...note the original Mk1 Cosmic alloys...
Not a brilliant pic but in the background is Lennon's Radford 'LGF 696D', this is the only colour pic I've ever seen of it, probably taken in '66, no later than early '67 as the Rolls went away to Fallon's works to be repainted in full psychedelic mode...
George's Radford parked up at the side of Abbey Road studios in '68, he sold it to Eric Clapton but bought it back a while later...
Ringo's Hooper after its first restoration, it's possible it went through Radford's or W&P's workshop at some point too...
My rubbish shot of it at Coombe Abbey in '94...
George's car again, as it appeared in a European car mag in it's 1967 state, the more recent restoration was done from a handful of photos and the paintwork is slightly different today...
A Mk2 Radford Cooper S...
The Radford Cooper S Peter Sellers bought for Britt Ekland at Radford's Hammersmith showroom in October '65...
1965 Brochure...
Early demo car with one of Harold Radford's personal reg' numbers...
Mike Nesmith's '67 Radford with all the trimmings...
A pair of early hatchbacks...
Another early Radford with Cibie headlamps, it may have also been through W&P's hands...
Britt Ekland also had a W&P Mk2 Cooper S, originally it was silver but had a repaint at some point...
Jeff Banks had a W&P Mk2 S too, painted to match Sandie Shaw's Bentley...
Twiggy had a few Minis including this Mk2 1000 (not a Cooper) with W&P mods...
W&P 1969 advert...
W&P Mk2 Cooper S...
Actor Lawrence Harvey had a very early W&P Mk1 in '66...
The Mk2 used in the '69 advert...
Ringo's Hooper hatchback and Macca's Radford in the car park at Abbey Road in '67... both cars have been restored since then, Ringo's was modified and repainted silver and blue for a while before being painted again into it's current silver and burgundy...
Macca getting into his Radford on 8th August 1969, the same day the Abbey Road cover shot was taken...
Macca's Radford again taken in '69, note the Aston Martin rear lights (Lennon's Radford also had these lights)...
George's Radford was black before it received its psychedelic makeover in '67, this shot was taken on 20th May '66 as George arrived at Chiswick House in West London to shoot the Paperback Writer / Rain promo video...
At Abbey Road in early '67...
On George's lawn in the Summer of '67 with its unique bumpers which it doesn't have now...
Lennon driving his Radford in '68... there are different stories as to what became of this one, nobody seems to know for sure...
Lennon arrives at Abbey Road driven by his chauffeur on 20th December '66...
Macca arrives home on 27th December '67 after an interview with the Beeb defending the Magical Mystery Tour which was first shown the night before...note the original Mk1 Cosmic alloys...
Not a brilliant pic but in the background is Lennon's Radford 'LGF 696D', this is the only colour pic I've ever seen of it, probably taken in '66, no later than early '67 as the Rolls went away to Fallon's works to be repainted in full psychedelic mode...
George's Radford parked up at the side of Abbey Road studios in '68, he sold it to Eric Clapton but bought it back a while later...
Ringo's Hooper after its first restoration, it's possible it went through Radford's or W&P's workshop at some point too...
My rubbish shot of it at Coombe Abbey in '94...
George's car again, as it appeared in a European car mag in it's 1967 state, the more recent restoration was done from a handful of photos and the paintwork is slightly different today...
A Mk2 Radford Cooper S...
The Radford Cooper S Peter Sellers bought for Britt Ekland at Radford's Hammersmith showroom in October '65...
1965 Brochure...
Early demo car with one of Harold Radford's personal reg' numbers...
Mike Nesmith's '67 Radford with all the trimmings...
A pair of early hatchbacks...
Another early Radford with Cibie headlamps, it may have also been through W&P's hands...
Britt Ekland also had a W&P Mk2 Cooper S, originally it was silver but had a repaint at some point...
Jeff Banks had a W&P Mk2 S too, painted to match Sandie Shaw's Bentley...
Twiggy had a few Minis including this Mk2 1000 (not a Cooper) with W&P mods...
W&P 1969 advert...
W&P Mk2 Cooper S...
Actor Lawrence Harvey had a very early W&P Mk1 in '66...
The Mk2 used in the '69 advert...
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