In praise of the Bond Minicar

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In a time when the world of advertising was not so developed, or exploited perhaps, as it is today, no one thought it strange to see Stirling Moss praising the Bond Minicar as ‘a very likeable little car’. From a period advertorial: “My first surprise came immediately - what a lot of room there is for both driver and passenger, and there is room for a child in between them, though in the Family Model which I borrowed there are two seats at the rear which comfortably accommodate two children!” He goes on about the great pulling power of the 197 cc engine and liveliness being ‘handy in the extreme’, adding cheekily “It is, of course, inadvisable to use too much lock when travelling at fast speed.” Well, you get the point.

We couldn’t quite identify the Minicar seen here, an estate or possibly a commercial model with its closed sides. It’s not in Nick Wotherspoon's superb Bond book, but this photograph simply has to be a public relation shot. You tell us what the car is. The fact is, it’s from another era again. Our lady shopper may be representing the 1950s independent woman in high heels (not exactly handy to drive the Minicar), but perhaps it’s just a little over-the-top. Mind you, in 1958 the Life Peerages Act had only just allowed female peers to sit in the House of Lords. The birth control pill was introduced a year or two later but for married women only. There was a lot to explore many moons before it would be exploited.

Oh, there's no way all those boxes will fit in the little three-wheeler. What’s in them, by the way? Bond spare parts, surely to be needed? Sorry. Making jokes about that would be way too obvious. We love it.

Words Jeroen Booij

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