Mr Bean car: every Mini from the TV series and where they are now

The Mr. Bean car is a Mini: a 1977 Leyland Cars Mini 1000 Mark IV in Austin Citron Green with a matte black bonnet, registered SLW 287R, which Rowan Atkinson's character drove from the third episode of Mr. Bean (ITV, 1990–95) to the last. It was never a single car. At least eight Minis carried the part in the series, the two films and live appearances, from an orange Mini wrecked in the 1990 pilot to the yellow one in Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), and the survivors and the cars shown as his are with a private owner, museums in Britain, Germany and the United States, and Universal Studios.

What car does Mr. Bean drive?

Mr. Bean drives a Mini 1000, the plain 998 cc version of the British Leyland Mini, not a Mini Cooper. MINI's own history of the car names it as "a 1977 Leyland Cars Mini 1000 Mark IV in Austin Citron Green, with the bonnet painted matte black, and the number plate SLW 287R", and adds that it "is not a classic Mini Cooper, even though many online sources refer to it as such." The car first appears in "The Curse of Mr. Bean", the third episode, when Mr. Bean arrives at the swimming pool car park.

The man who owns and restored SLW 287R set out what he had learned about every screen Mini in a long post on The Mini Forum in July 2018. He gives the paint code as Austin Citron Green (BLVC73), says the bonnet was painted matte black inside as well as out, and lists extra chrome wheel trims among the few changes. Every green Mini used in the series, he wrote, was a Mark IV built between 1977 and 1980, and none was an automatic.

What colour is Mr. Bean's car?

Citron Green, a factory British Leyland colour, with a matte black bonnet. The shade sits between green and yellow, so sources describe it both ways: the Radio Times 25th-anniversary list (15 February 2015) calls it "citron green", BMW Group calls its own car "'Citron' yellow", and Goodwood's 2009 press release called it "pea green and black". The one Mr. Bean Mini in a different colour is the film car of 2007, painted Nissan Amarillo Yellow (see below). The orange pilot car never had the black bonnet.

Mr. Bean's car number plate

SLW 287R is the plate of the main TV car, and the production put it on every green Mini it used, so several cars wore it on screen. The pilot car carried RNT 996H. In one shot of "The Curse of Mr. Bean" the rear plate reads SLK 287R, the real registration of the red Ford Cortina in the "Parking at the Park" sketch, according to the car's owner and restorer, who adds that the plate has never been sold at auction.

Mr. Bean's car: specifications

The Mini 1000 has a 998 cc four-cylinder engine, and every TV car had a manual gearbox, according to the main car's restorer. The figures below are the ones the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu gives for its 1979 Mr. Bean Mini, with BMW Group's for the 1974 car in its collection.

Why does Mr. Bean drive a Mini?

Atkinson chose it. MINI's history says he picked the Mini and its colours himself, "because of the car's inherently funny nature, and because he had learned to drive in his mother's Morris Minor", and that he chose a colour he would never have chosen for himself. Mr. Bean had begun as a stage character with almost no props, so a car gave the television series new material to build sketches around.

The National Motor Museum describes Atkinson as "an accomplished historic racing car driver" and one of the few people trusted to demonstrate the 24-litre Napier-Railton of 1933. In August 2011 he crashed his own McLaren F1 into a tree and a lamppost near Haddon, about 85 miles north of London; he left hospital the next day with minor injuries, Associated Press reported on 6 August.

How many Minis were used in Mr. Bean?

Six Minis were used to make the 14 television episodes, by the count of the owner and restorer of the main TV car, writing on The Mini Forum in 2018: an orange car for the pilot, three green-and-black cars that did the driving, and two engineless cars painted to match for the tank to flatten, along with one of the three. MINI's own history puts the total at "at least six" across the series and films. Parts moved from car to car throughout filming, he wrote, "including bonnets, wheel trims, grilles, steering wheels, rear lights, occasionally the drivers door and the seat covers", so one car on screen can be two cars in real life.

The orange Mini in the first episode

In the pilot episode, broadcast on 1 January 1990, Mr. Bean drives an orange Mini, and the running fight with a blue Reliant three-wheeler starts in the same episode. The car does not survive it: after Mr. Bean drives down a dead end it crashes off screen, and the last of it seen is a wheel bouncing back into shot, as MINI's history describes. Radio Times called the car "an orange 1969 BMC Mini MKII". The restorer says the number plate came from a Mark II Morris but the car was a Mark I Austin, given a Mark II grille and rear lights; he points to the Austin shield on the horn push.

The green Minis of the series

For "The Trouble with Mr. Bean", the episode in which Mr. Bean dresses and brushes his teeth while driving to the dentist, a second car, YAN 939T, was built, and both were fitted with a windscreen-washer jet drilled closer to the driver so that Atkinson could reach it. The dentist drive was shot for real, he wrote, with filming rigs, "push me pull you type mounts", perspex and angled cameras. A third car, a Russet Brown Mini rebuilt from spares, did the episodes filmed in Southsea ("Mr. Bean in Room 426" and "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean"), "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean" and the armchair stunt; the restorer calls it one of the worst of the cars, with "the body filler amount" visible on screen.

Was Mr. Bean's car crushed by a tank?

Yes, in "Back to School Mr. Bean", the 11th episode. Mr. Bean swaps his Mini for an identical one parked in a reserved parking space at an army demonstration, without realising that the space was reserved for that car because it was to be flattened; a tank then drives over his own Mini, leaving only the padlock, as MINI's history tells it. In the compilation episode "The Best Bits of Mr. Bean" the wreckage lies under a blanket in Mr. Bean's attic. Three engineless cars were painted for the scene and all three were crushed, he wrote: ACW 497V, the Russet Brown armchair car and an unnamed red Mini. The main car itself was not one of them, and it is back on screen in "Goodnight Mr. Bean", the 13th episode.

Mr. Bean's Mini on screen, episode by episode

The Mini is in almost every episode. BMW Group counts 14 episodes filmed between 1989 and 1995, in which Mr. Bean "had several comic adventures and near misses behind the wheel". The table lists the main scenes; the episode summaries come from MINI's history and the cars from the owner and restorer of the main TV car, writing on The Mini Forum in 2018. Radio Times recorded 19 million viewers in Britain for "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean" in 1992, and the restorer calls "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" the most watched episode of the original run.

How did Mr. Bean drive from the armchair on the roof?

He did not: a stunt driver hid inside the car. In "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" Mr. Bean buys an armchair in a New Year sale, finds it will not fit inside, straps it to the roof and drives home sitting in it, working the pedals with a mop and broom and the steering with string, until he runs into the back of a lorry full of pillows. For the shots of Mr. Bean on the roof the production used the Russet Brown Mini, which was given a strengthened roof and "the secret/hidden driver compartment" with altered controls, wrote the restorer. No green screen or CGI was used in the series, he wrote.

The padlock, the steering wheel and Teddy

Mr. Bean locks his Mini with a bolt and padlock fitted to the outside of the driver's door, not the car's own lock. BMW Group's description of its car lists a "detachable steering wheel and a padlock" among its television fittings, "vital to Mr. Bean in ensuring that he never became separated from his favourite four-wheeled friend". The padlock is missing in the Mini's first scene in "The Curse of Mr. Bean" because the car was not ready when filming started, and it is in place by the traffic-light sketch later in the same episode. Teddy, Mr. Bean's teddy bear, rides with him; Atkinson owns the original Teddy, the restorer wrote.

The blue Reliant three-wheeler

Mr. Bean's victim is a light blue Reliant Regal Supervan III, a three-wheel van: the Mini runs it off the road in the first episode and tips it on its side in the third. MINI's history calls it a Reliant Robin, but the van on screen is the earlier Regal Supervan, as Just Cars and the main car's restorer both say. Two vans were used. The second was cut up after filming; the first, LMM 59K, was then painted yellow for an Only Fools and Horses scene in which the Trotters' van was to be blown up, a scene its writer, John Sullivan, dropped, so the van survives. To make the Reliant topple with its roof towards the camera in "The Curse of Mr. Bean", a hydraulic cannon was fitted inside it, and the cannon is still there.

Mr. Bean's Mini in the films and after the series

The Mini went on working after the last episode was broadcast on 15 November 1995, the date Coys' 2010 auction catalogue gives.

Bean (1997) and the Harrods scene

For the first film, Bean (released as Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie), the production shot Mr. Bean driving his Mini through the doors of the Harrods department store to escape a traffic jam, and the scene was cut. The main TV car was too worn to restore in the week before filming, its owner and restorer wrote on The Mini Forum in 2018, so another Mini, C607 EUW, was built for the part with SLW 287R's grille, steering wheel, rear lights and mirrors. The film car later hung from the ceiling of Planet Hollywood at Niagara Falls. Profiles in History sold it as lot 1909 of its Icons and Legends of Hollywood auction on 8 June 2018 for $70,000 plus a $19,600 premium, with the engine and fuel tank removed and a note that it was "acquired from Lord Mayor's Appeal charity event in London, 1998".

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

In Mr. Bean's Holiday the Mini is yellow. MINI's history says the film car was painted Nissan Amarillo Yellow and appears only briefly; the restorer puts it at about 20 seconds, at a church raffle in the rain. Its plate is YGL 572T. A similar left-hand-drive Mini belonging to the character Sabine, played by Emma de Caunes, has far more screen time. Atkinson arrived at the London premiere in March 2007 in the yellow car, in character, and it then went on display at Universal Studios.

The animated series and Comic Relief

In Mr. Bean: The Animated Series, first shown in 2002 and revived on CITV in February 2015 (Radio Times), the cartoon Mini wears the plate STE 952R, as the National Motor Museum's 2011 sign shows. MINI's history counts a Comic Relief sketch in 2015 as Mr. Bean's latest screen appearance in a Mini, the sixth by its count.

Goodwood Revival 2009 and the 25th anniversary

Mr. Bean's first live public appearance was at the Goodwood Revival on 18 to 20 September 2009, driving a green-and-black Mini round the circuit from an armchair on its roof each day. Goodwood's announcement tied it to the Mini's 50th anniversary and said Atkinson would steer "using a mop and string". The post-event release records the car in a parade of 50 Minis before a record crowd of more than 134,000, and Bean greeting Lord Mandelson with "Ah, Prime Minister", to which he answered "Not yet". The car, registered F885 RRY and British Racing Green from the factory, was built for Goodwood on the pattern of the TV armchair car, with a hidden driver; it wore SLW 287R plates. In 2015 the same car drove through St James's Park and up the Mall toward Buckingham Palace for the series' 25th anniversary, the restorer wrote, and the official Mr. Bean YouTube channel carries its film of the drive.

Where is Mr. Bean's car now?

The main TV car, SLW 287R, is privately owned and restored; the others are spread between museums and collectors in Britain, Germany and the United States. BMW Group and the National Motor Museum both show cars they present as TV cars; the owner and restorer of the main TV car, writing on The Mini Forum in 2018, says neither was used in the series.

SLW 287R: privately owned and restored

After a last outing in the opening of the Comic Relief sketch "Torvill and Bean", the main car was left outside, and by 1997 it had no driver's door and its engine did not work, wrote its owner. He found it in the south-west of England, badly painted Java Green, bought it after its elderly owner died, and has restored it to its screen look with parts from a box of spares that came with it, including pieces salvaged from the crushed cars. The original steering-wheel cover from the orange pilot car is still on its wheel. He showed the car to Atkinson in 2014, the year it appeared, unfinished, at the Classic Motor Show, and it has been signed by Atkinson.

YAN 939T: Keswick, then Florida

The second TV car was sold without its engine to a screen-car hire company, given an 850 cc engine and shown at what is now the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, then sold to Peter Nelson's Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick, Cumbria. The restorer says it now lives in a museum in Florida. BBC News reported on 10 May 2011 that the Keswick museum had closed and that Nelson had sold "Mr Bean's Mini" among other cars in February 2011; the Palm Beach Driving Club announced in June 2011 that the collector Michael Dezer had bought the museum's 100 cars for his Dezer Collection in North Miami.

BMW Group Classic's Mini in Munich

BMW Group Classic, the heritage department of the company that owns the MINI brand, has a 1974 Mini 1000 Mark III in Citron with a black bonnet that it describes as "one of the classic Minis driven by actor and car enthusiast Rowan Atkinson in his role as Mr. Bean" and "one of the few Minis featured in the series to survive the on-screen antics". BMW Group's press release of 26 September 2013 announced it as the centrepiece of the 12th Creme 21 Youngtimer Rally, which started at Spa in Belgium on 25 September 2013 and was planned to run seven stages and 1,000 km through Germany until 29 September, with 180 cars built between 1970 and 1990. SkiddMark reported the start the next day. The restorer of SLW 287R disputes the claim: he wrote that the BMW car is "just a 1974 Mini 1000", the only car on his list that was Citron from the factory, that it was exported to Germany in 2013, and that the TV cars were all Mark IVs. BMWBlog published photographs of a Mr. Bean Mini at the BMW Classic museum in August 2022 with an armchair on its roof, Atkinson's signature and a second set of controls.

The National Motor Museum's Mini at Beaulieu

The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire, shows a 1979 Mini loaned by a private owner. Its page says the car "featured in the character's third series" and first appeared on television on 1 January 1991, the date "The Curse of Mr. Bean" was first shown. The car wears STE 952R, the cartoon car's plate, and the museum's 2011 sign named Tiger Aspect Productions, the company that made Mr. Bean, as its owner. The restorer gives the car's real registration as DRW 221T: a Mini originally Blaze Red, built in 2002 for Tiger Aspect to promote the animated series and never used in the live-action series.

Every surviving and claimed Mr. Bean Mini

Nine surviving cars are recorded as Mr. Bean's screen cars, or are shown or taken as them. The table sets out who presents each one as Mr. Bean's car and who disputes it; "the restorer" is the owner and restorer of Mr. Bean's main TV car, writing on The Mini Forum in July 2018.

Sabine's left-hand-drive Mini from Mr. Bean's Holiday was given to Emma de Caunes after filming and sold at auction in 2015 for €3,600, the restorer wrote; another member of the forum put the price at €3,000. The Goodwood car was listed for Coys' Spring Classics auction in London on 11 March 2010.

How much is a Mr. Bean Mini worth?

The Bean film car, C607 EUW, made $89,600 with premium in 2018, and Sabine's Mini from Mr. Bean's Holiday €3,000 to €3,600 in 2015. A replica with no screen history made £6,440 in 2023.

The best-recorded replica is a 1976 Mini 1000 that had been part of the London Motor Museum collection. Bonhams offered it in its MPH online sale in March 2021 as "a good replica", with an armchair, Atkinson's signature on the roof dated January 2015 and a sign claiming it was one of the TV cars; its automatic gearbox gave it away, since the TV cars were manuals, Just Cars noted. It came back on the online auction site The Market in autumn 2023 on the instruction of a High Court ruling, with 36,139 miles, a 10 cm hole rusted through the floor and no reserve, and sold for £6,440 including premium after 32 bids on 2 October 2023, against an estimate of £5,000 to £8,000.

How to tell a real Mr. Bean Mini from a replica

The owner and restorer of the main TV car, writing on The Mini Forum in 2018, gives two checks. The green TV cars were all Mark IV Minis built between 1977 and 1980, so an earlier Mark III or a later Mini is not one of them, and none was an automatic. Each was repainted for the part: YAN 939T, for one, left the factory Pageant Blue. He also names a 1984 Mini with black door handles and fixed rear windows that is often taken for a TV car and was never used in the series.

Questions

Is Mr. Bean's car a Mini Cooper?

No. It is a Mini 1000, the basic 998 cc model; MINI's own history of the car says it "is not a classic Mini Cooper, even though many online sources refer to it as such."

What engine does Mr. Bean's Mini have?

A 998 cc four-cylinder with overhead valves. The National Motor Museum gives its 1979 Mini 39 hp at 4,750 rpm and a top speed of 82 mph; BMW Group quotes 34 bhp for its 1974 car.

Who drove the Mini when Mr. Bean sat on the roof?

A stunt driver hidden inside. The car used for the armchair shots in "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" had a strengthened roof and a concealed driving position, and the Goodwood car of 2009 was built the same way.

Was the Mr. Bean Mini really destroyed?

Three Minis were flattened by a tank for "Back to School Mr. Bean", but the main car, SLW 287R, was not one of them. It survives and has been restored by a private owner.

Is the Mr. Bean Mini at Beaulieu real?

The National Motor Museum says its 1979 Mini featured in the series and first appeared on television on 1 January 1991. It wears STE 952R, the cartoon car's plate, and the owner of SLW 287R lists a car built in 2002 to promote the animated series among those not used in the TV series.

Can you buy Mr. Bean's car?

Screen cars rarely come up: the Bean film Mini sold for $70,000 plus premium at Profiles in History in June 2018. Replicas are easier to find; one with Atkinson's signature on the roof sold for £6,440 in October 2023.

What is the blue three-wheeler in Mr. Bean?

A Reliant Regal Supervan III, often misnamed a Reliant Robin. Two were used; one, LMM 59K, survives.

Sources

• MINI, "Mr. Bean's Mini", MINI One-Off series, 9 August 2022: the 1977 Mini 1000 Mark IV, SLW 287R, why Atkinson chose the Mini, the episode scenes, the film cars.
• The owner and restorer of SLW 287R, "Mr. Bean's Mini", The Mini Forum, 19 July 2018 (archived 28 July 2018): every car, its factory colour, episodes and fate; the Reliants; replicas.
• BMW Group PressClub, "Back to the 70s with Mr. Bean's classic Mini", 26 September 2013: BMW Group Classic's 1974 car, its specification and the Creme 21 Youngtimer Rally.
• National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, "Mr Bean's Mini", collection page, read 28 October 2026: the 1979 car and its specification; Atkinson as a racing driver.
• Radio Times, "Mr Bean: 25 facts and figures for his 25th anniversary", 15 February 2015: the orange and citron green cars, viewing figures, the animated series.
• Goodwood press releases via Racecar.com, "Mr Bean at the Goodwood Revival", August 2009, and "Buzz, Bombers and Mr Bean at Goodwood Revival", September 2009: the armchair drive and the Mini's 50th anniversary.
• Mr Bean (official YouTube channel), "Mr. Bean | 25th Anniversary | Mr Bean Drives His Car Again!": the anniversary drive.
• Profiles in History via iCollector, lot 1909, "Rowan Atkinson 'Mr. Bean' British Leyland Mini 1000 from Bean", sold 8 June 2018: C607 EUW and its price.
• sv1ambo, photograph of the National Motor Museum's sign for its Mr Bean Mini, 7 June 2011, Wikimedia Commons: the owner named on the sign and the cartoon car's plate.
• Coys via Classic Driver, "The 2009 Goodwood Revival 'Mr Bean Mini'", Spring Classics, London, 11 March 2010: F885 RRY and the series' broadcast dates.
• BBC News, "Lake District's Bond Museum and Cars of the Stars close", 10 May 2011: the sale of Mr Bean's Mini from Keswick.
• Palm Beach Driving Club, "Palm Beach Driving Club founder purchases the Cars of the Stars Museum automobile collection", 30 June 2011: Dezer's purchase.
• Just Cars, "Mr. Bean Mini replica going to auction", 12 March 2021: the Bonhams MPH replica and the Reliant Regal.
• The Market, "1976 Leyland Mini 1000", sold 2 October 2023: the replica's condition and price.
• Associated Press via Gulf News, "TV's Mr Bean leaves UK hospital after car crash", 6 August 2011 (the date in the page's metadata): Atkinson's McLaren F1 crash.
• SkiddMark, "Mr Bean's classic Mini goes racing", 26 September 2013: the BMW car at the start of the Creme 21 rally.