An experimental converted Mini, once owned by a controversial government minister, has caught motoring editor Andy Russell's eye.
Anyone who reads this column regularly will be aware that, even if I won the lottery, my fascination with unusual cars at auctions could quickly bankrput me.
What's caught my eye now is this Mini Cooper S, which doesn't look unusual, but was designed to take the golf clubs of Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples, a British Conservative politician who served as Postmaster General and then minister of transport from 1959 to 1964. It's estimated to sell for £70,000 to £80,000 at the H&H sale Imperial War Museum Duxford on July 26.
While minister of transport, he started the development of the country's motorway system, in which his company played a major part in the road and bridge building, while he ran down the railway system. He evoked intense dislike in the general public and the motoring magazines were full of criticism of his policies.
The 1964 so-called 'Marples Mini' he bought was one of three built by the Austin Experimental Department as a hatchback conversion and is the only surviving example. Legend has it he would only buy one if it could carry his golf bags or the wine stock he periodically bought in France in the back.
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