1962 Austin MINI Beach Car Sedan

Fiat had a successful beach car named the Jolly, so there was clearly a market for a leisure vehicle. Austin commissioned a run of 'Beach Cars' between December 1961 and March 1962. 15 examples were made during this period, all Export models with left-hand drive, though there is at least one right-hand drive version known to exist in the UK. 13 of the left-hand drive examples were sent to the United States, where they severed as dealer and distributor promotional vehicles.

The design of the Mini Beach Car, also known as the 'Riviera Buggy', was similar to the Jolly, with no doors, no B-pillars, and interior seats made of wicker. The Beach Car were built by hand in-house at Longbridge's Experimental Department. Four of the fourteen left-hand-drive Beach Cars were finished in Surf Blue with a Snowberry White roof.

One example of the Beach Car was loaned to the Royal Family and used briefly by the Queen at Windsor Castle.

This example is finished in Surf Blue, its original color scheme, and has a build date of March 19th, 1962. It was originally delivered to San Francisco's British Motor Cars, where it served as a dealership display car for Kjell Qvale's Austin franchise. Qvale, the showman, was determined to encourage sales. In addition to his Beach Car, Qvale took a fleet of new Minis to his Carmel Valley ranch and staged a 'road race' for which he invited some of the seminal names in motorsport: Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Pedro Rodriguez, Ronnie Bucknum, Innes Ireland, and Dan Gurney all participated, among others. The publicity stunt went well – until some of the drivers became a bit too exuberant and more than one of the new cars ended up on their roofs.

Qvale's Beach Car remained on display at Qvale's BMC Mini dealership of San Francisco. Qvale enjoyed the Beach Car at his ranch for a number of years before putting it into dry storage for some two decades. Near the turn of the century, Qvale gifted the Mini to Mr. Keith Simon, who sold it to the current caretaker in 2007.

The car currently displays 11,000 mileage. The car's subframes were refurbished and the car repainted in its original Surf Blue with Strawberry White top. The original non-synchro 1st gear has been exchanged for an all-synchro unit. Power is from an 848cc overhead valve four-cylinder unit fitted with a single SU carburetor and offering 34 horsepower. There is an Independent dry rubber cone spring suspension and 4-wheel drum brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2014