The return of Wood & Pickett

Drink to the groundhog, a Mini special; lawks a mercy, how many of these have I seen/driven/written about over the years? What you are looking at here is a Wood & Pickett Mini coming right atcha from the 1960s flower power generation, reinterpreted by Callum, the design consultancy founded by Ian Callum, former Aston Martin and Jaguar design director.

I’ve not seen it yet, nor read the press release and, despite the mercury-bursting temperatures outside this anonymous Warwick industrial unit, I’m coming in cold and a bit nervous.

Some of these Mini restos, reimagined, reinterpreted or remade can be in the most dubious imaginable taste and I worried that I was going to absolutely hate this car, the first of a collaboration between Callum and the owners of the Wood & Pickett name, and destined for David Gandy, model and creative director.