Stop for Tea at Every Opportunity With A Mini Wildgoose
Space Efficiency? How about "Creative Use of Space"
Have you ever thought that traditional campers and RV's are too big? Have you ever thought to yourself, "The original Mini would be fantastic for camping..."? Well, neither have I, but apparently, some people in the 1960s thought it would be a fantastic idea, since the Mini Wildgoose was birthed from this idea.
Mini Australia
A wild man called Ted Bennett decided that a Mini RV would be perfect for the "retired couple", so, between 1963 and 1968, he converted a small handful of them in Sussex with his company, Wildgoose. Most sources say that around 50 were made, and the Mini Wildgoose Registry on Facebook says that 62 of them were made. An ad for one example listed in April of 2014 says that only 11 of them survived.
Every single Mini Wildgoose had a table, curtains, cupboards four seats, water carriers, and a double bed. In terms of options, the Wildgoose offered a spare wheel container, undersealing of the cabin area, a nice luggage rack, and some extended side mirrors, to make steering around your extended Mini easier.
Supposedly, there were many different options to get your Wildgoose in. According to a few sources, they could be purchased pre-built. What we know for sure is that they were available as a conversion with different option packs costing £445, £480, and £601. The higher the price, the more the options.
Mini Australia
Let's talk about marketing for a second. Wildgoose Ltd. decided that retired couples would be the best bet to sell their Mini RV conversions to. But, not just any retired couple, "Retired Couples who being freed from business, desire the carefree life." They didn't bother with space efficiency, but rather "Creative Use of Space."
Wildgeese (Wildgooses?) were powered by a 850cc four banger producing a whopping 34 entire horsepower, carrying the Mini Wildgoose to a top speed of 70 miles per hour. I don't know who in their right mind would drive a Wildgoose 70 miles per hour, but someone clearly did. The perfect cruising speed is around 50 miles per hour according to Mini Australia.
Mini Australia
The Wildgoose I have used pictures of has been named Brent, and Brent has quite the amount of amenities. Brent has an electrically powered telescopic roof with 59 inches of headroom, a sink, a gas stove, and curtains! Quite the setup for the 1960s.
Mini Australia
So, if you want to get yourself one of these fantastic creations, you'll run into a few problems. Obviously, with so little made, they rarely come up for sale. When they do, they can bring pretty big money. A mostly restored Wildgoose sold for £20,300 ($26,500) and a completely unrestored barnfind was auctioned off, and the winning bid was £7,700 ($10,000).
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Comments (15)
I’d heard of these before, really interesting vehicles👍
I NEED IT
Sorry, I got bored and then remembered this article. Hope you don’t mind:
That’s awesome!
Do you reckon it might be worth trying to talk BMW into doing a production run ?
Would be cool to see a concept or something, I doubt they would do anything with it...
There's over 500,000 homeless people in America, and millions globally , who would probably like just somewhere small, quiet and warm to sleep at night.
B16 vtec Type R swapped one would be cool. It could actually get up a hill then