Adam Adamant's Radford Mini Cooper S...

[Villain]

Back in 1966 a new TV drama appeared called 'Adam Adamant' starring Gerald Harper as the lead character, an Edwardian swashbuckling gentleman who was cryogenically frozen in 1902 and thawed out in Swinging London, aided by his trusty sidekick Georgina Jones (played by the lovely Juliet Harmer). To get the characters about town the producers gave them a fully modified and very posh Radford Mini Cooper S with the reg' number 'AA1000'. About ten years ago the car was found in a lock up garage in a bit of a state and restored by ace Mini bloke John Kelly, a short film about the car was included in the DVD release of the series a couple of years later with John being interviewed by Mark Gatiss. This is how the car looks now...



I've seen it in the flesh several times now and spoken to the owner who told me what a nightmare they had restoring it, it's a real stunner though. I'll load up some more smudges of the car later, including some screen grabs from the series.

Villain

[Sam Tyler]

Any idea how long it had been left languishing in that lockup? Such a shame to hear so often that these cars get left to rot but equally so pleasing to see them rescued.

Sam.

[Villain]

I think it was mentioned in the DVD interview Sam, but I've not watched it for quite a while. It might still be on youtube though, it's about seven minutes long and shows a couple of photos of it sat in the lock up looking very sorry for itself.

Villain

[Villain]

Here's a quick screen grab from the series, the front screen has been removed from 'AA1000' to aid the filming, this happened in several scenes throughout the series to cut down on reflections etc...




In some episodes the car was fitted with Minilite magnesium alloy wheels (as in this pic) but later on it was fitted with Mk1 Cosmic alloys which it still wears now. These early Cosmics are the same as those fitted to Paul McCartney's and George Harrison's Radfords.

Villain

[Villain]

More 'AA1000' smudges...



















Villain

[The Saint]

Thanks for all the smudges Villain, great stuff!

Is AA1000 the genuine number plate for the car or just a dummy plate that was used for filming?

The Saint

[Batgirl]

Mar 1, 2016 16:26:31 GMT Villain said:

Back in 1966 a new TV drama appeared called 'Adam Adamant' starring Gerald Harper as the lead character, an Edwardian swashbuckling gentleman who was cryogenically frozen in 1902 and thawed out in Swinging London, aided by his trusty sidekick Georgina Jones (played by the lovely Juliet Harmer). To get the characters about town the producers gave them a fully modified and very posh Radford Mini Cooper S with the reg' number 'AA1000'. About ten years ago the car was found in a lock up garage in a bit of a state and restored by ace Mini bloke John Kelly, a short film about the car was included in the DVD release of the series a couple of years later with John being interviewed by Mark Gatiss. This is how the car looks now...



I've seen it in the flesh several times now and spoken to the owner who told me what a nightmare they had restoring it, it's a real stunner though. I'll load up some more smudges of the car later, including some screen grabs from the series.

Villain

It looks LOVELY ! What a top looking car. Love the b/w screengrabs too.

[Villain]

Mar 2, 2016 20:10:45 GMT The Saint said:

Thanks for all the smudges Villain, great stuff!

Is AA1000 the genuine number plate for the car or just a dummy plate that was used for filming?

The Saint

Yes Saint, 'AA1000' is the genuine reg' number, a lot of Radford Minis had private / ageless numbers from new

Villain

[Ministrone]

Great smudges as always Villain.
AA1000 seems to have had a swap from Minilites to Cosmic wheels sometime is it's life.

I think if you described a two tone brown and gold mini to someone, they'd never believe it could look as good as that. 

[Villain]

Mar 4, 2016 19:54:56 GMT Ministrone said:

Great smudges as always Villain.
AA1000 seems to have had a swap from Minilites to Cosmic wheels sometime is it's life.

I think if you described a two tone brown and gold mini to someone, they'd never believe it could look as good as that. 

It had the Cosmics on when it was found in the lock up Ministrone - it wore Miniltes and the Cosmics in the series at different times.

Villain