Maximum Mini: Hooper Moke seen in public for the first time

Not too many Mini Mokes were coachbuilt, but a very special example has now been seen in the public for the first time since it was built in 1967. We've seen the Wood & Pickett 'Beach Buggy', which was later turned into the famous Prisoner Moke, and there were the Pavesi Mokes coachbuilt in Italy as well as a few cars made for movies. But I never knew that Hooper & Co made one too. Paul Brown is the man to know as he just became the lucky owner of the 1967 car seen below.

From what Paul has been told the car was built for Sir Gerald Glover, a solicitor, property developer and racehorse breeder who only used the car sparsely and on his own land in Northamptonshire. The car's odometer has just crossed the 7,150 miles mark in almost 55 years!

The Hooper link comes from Sir Gerald's property development business since he supposedly owned the land in London upon which the factory for Hooper & Co was built. This association led to him asking Hooper to add the additional coachwork, special paint job in his racing stable's colours and sign writing on the Moke. After Glover's death in 1986 the car went to his wife and moved to another family member upon her death in 1995. Still in family ownership it was fully restored in 2011.

Paul has become the first non-Glover family member to own this very special Moke and he told me he had to buy it in a rush due to the fact of its rarity. He also added: "It’s not been out in the public eye since it was built. I have asked for the last owner to write down anything she knows about the car so it may take a while." Well, congratulations Paul. What a way to start the year!