IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Mr Bean's Mini (15k special!)

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Voiceover below!

So first of all, despite this Mini being the Mini most people think of when they think of Mr Bean, there were actually several minis used.

RNT 996H - which was an orange mini with a Sandglow passenger side wing. Due to receiving a lot of abuse in the first episode it was suspected to have disappeared as the years passed, although it has recently resurfaced. So we may see this featured on IDRIVEACLASSIC at some point in the future!

For TV and movie buffs, it’s really interesting to note after this appeared in the first episode, it became something of a donor car and the steering wheel cover, front seats, carpet and seat protector covers were later moved over to the green mini.

In fact, this steering wheel cover is THE actual steering wheel cover from the series - madness!

SLW 287R as we are testing today is probably one of the most famous Minis in the world and it’s a 1977 Leyland Cars Mini with a 998cc engine and 4 forward speed manual transmission unit. It’s painted Austin Citron Green with a Matte Black unspecified paint name colour bonnet and is painted the same shade of matte black inside.

Despite this being the Mini you probably think of when you think of Mr Bean, there were actually three minis painted this colour and used in the series and two additional cars but these had no engine and were crushed by the tank in addition to one of the main cars.

Although of course for the purpose of filming, all had the SLW plates on.

The reason they had multiple minis was to film additional footage and various other bits and pieces as we’ll discuss later, but as you’ll note, there are three different washer jets - this was for the Mr Bean visits the Dentist famous getting ready whilst driving scene - and was put onto the other Minis so as to not to be immediately obvious to the everyday viewer there were multiple cars.

Despite this colour scheme screaming Mr Bean from the moment you clap eyes on it, it actually started life as a Harvest Gold car - for reference the paint job on this is pretty good and I didn’t spot any giveaways whilst reviewing!

The first time Mr Bean’s green mini was used was in episode 3 of the series - however at the start of the episode you don’t see the padlock but by the end it’s present.

It’s amazing how TV continuity used to be so bonkers!

Another piece of trivia from that first episode is that in the traffic light scene the plates are different front and back - the back plate reads SLK 287R which actually belonged to a Ford Cortina used in another sketch.

Really interestingly, the episodes weren’t all filmed in order, so the production team often swapped bits between minis and all sorts of other little details - which explains why bits were borrowed from the original orange Mini!

Of course anyone watching this must remember the famous scene where Mr Bean steered from the roof. One of the other ‘green and black’ minis was given secret/hidden driver compartment and roof strengthening for the stunt work used in that scene.

So sadly, you won’t be seeing me recreate that today with SLW largely because I’m scared of heights but also because the roof on this is standard with no additional support.

In fact, when this scene was filmed, SLW was given a spruce up prior to filming and with that, the seats and carpet from the orange mini were done away with - the steering wheel cover was also removed but luckily that wasn’t binned.

So with Mr Bean being such an iconic series - where are they now?

SLW as we test here today is in a private collection, the orange Mini is also in a private collection and one of the other green and black minis YAN 939T as used in the driving on the roof scene has moved around a fair bit. It was originally owned by Peter Nelson who owned the Cars of the Stars museum and now it lives in Florida.

Now SLW, in my opinion, one of the most iconic cars of childhood TV is here before us today via a VERY kind offer from the current owner.

The car is about to go off for a no expense spared resto to preserve it for the future but it’s worth noting the car even today with a few small niggles is a breathtaking bit of history.

And in fact, it almost didn’t happen. We almost lost this car if it hadn’t been for the current owner who spotted it, badly painted Java Green and recognised it from a rubbish photo with a broken numberplate which he immediately realised was either THE Mini or close to it.

Upon arriving to view, the current owner realised what was sitting before him and he took the car on and has done extensive work to get the car to the point we see today. From shoddy parts needing replacing to lots of engine work - this car has been treated as the celebrity it really is.


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