ROYAL RESTO
When you think about ‘rare’ Mini variants, you no doubt immediately summon up images of the sporting and the luxurious. At any show, a pristine Cooper S is guaranteed to attract an endless stream of admirers, anything with Works provenance more so. But unlike the Cooper S – which can boast many survivors today – the Clubman Estate on these pages can claim to be genuinely rare. And it’s its age and its paint code that set it apart.
The fact that it’s a surviving Clubman Estate also should be added to that list. For many years, they were not particularly loved, but were exceptionally useful. And as a result, their status as cheap load lugger was cemented and many were used, abused and driven into the ground. And this is where Liz White, owner of this beautiful Estate and head of the Clubman Estate Register, enters the picture. With the register, she set out to encourage owners to preserve and protect the Clubman Estates that survived.
This Estate is special for many reasons, but most of all, because Liz suspects that it may well be one of the first off the production line. The Clubman range was officially launched in
