Celebrity time once more, here on Maximum Mini. I just happened to come across some pictures of one of my favorite bands: the Beach Boys. This time with modified Mini Mokes, which made me wonder whatever happened to these cars. The built of the special Mokes was commissioned by Capitol Records and carried out by 'King of Kustom Kars' George Barris in 1966 (Barris had previously built the Mini based Surfite - click here). Supposedly 5 were built for the boys themselves and they were called 'Mini Surfers'.
These special Mokes came with candy stripes both in and outside, a special fringed canopy, golden record wheel discs, 8-track sound systems with removable speakers, chromed bumpers and fake air intakes on the bonnet. But that wasn't all. Supposedly another 20 were built to give away to radio stations throughout the US to be raffled in special Beach Boys competitions. One of them was auctioned off in the 1970s together with more Barris creations. But whatever happened to the rest of them?
UPDATE 29 june 2017: one survivor appears to be found! Click here
UPDATE 9 March 2018: survivor now sold, restoration planned. More here
The Mini Surfer certainly had some unusual features such as golden records for wheel discs
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
A Moke for all of the Beach Boys. left to right: Brian Carl, Dennis, Mike and Bruce. Al on top
Picture courtesy George Barris
Barris and the Beach Boys were in their heydays in '66. What happened to these cars?
Picture courtesy George Barris
I have one of these in my garage. It is needing to be restored. I would like to talk with someone about it. I don’t know much.
ReplyDeleteHappy to talk to you about it! Drop me a line a line on jeroen at jeroenbooij dot com if you like.
Delete