1997 Rover Mini Cooper MPI - From the Hollywood film The Avengers’ 1998

Background:
In 1998, Rover supplied six Mini Coopers for use in The Avengers, the British action film starring Ralph Fiennes as John Steed, Uma Thurman as Emma Peel and Sean Connery as Sir August de Winter. The cars appeared in a memorable chase sequence involving radio-controlled wasps, the Minis and Emma Peel’s E-Type Jaguar. Following filming, only four of the six cars survived. Rover later retrieved these and displayed them at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon as part of an educational programme promoting safer driving among young people.

All four surviving cars were subsequently acquired by professional stunt driver Russ Swift, who used some of them in his live stunt displays, including driving them on two wheels.

The Car:
This 1997 Rover Mini Cooper MPI (registration P797 JVP) is understood to be one of those six original film cars and one of the four known survivors. The vendor, who has owned the car for 19 years, purchased it directly from Russ Swift. During its time with Swift, the Mini was used in his well-known precision driving and stunt shows, where it was driven on two wheels.

Evidence of its original film identity remains, with a ‘No. 4’ sticker found behind the door card, corresponding to its designation among the six Avengers Minis.

Now showing 117,000 kilometres (approximately 72,000 miles), the car has had just two former keepers and is MOT’d until June 2026. The vendor reports spending c.£9,000 on the car last year, which included work to the underside and general refurbishment.

An important car in British film and motoring history, this Mini represents a rare opportunity to acquire one of the original Avengers stunt cars with direct provenance from the renowned stunt driver Russ Swift.