Editing Austin Maxi (section)

==Popular culture==
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On 1 July 1969, John Lennon crashed a white Maxi on the single track A838 road near Loch Eriboll in the Highlands of Scotland. He was on his way to visit his uncle in Durness with Yoko Ono, his son Julian and Yoko's daughter Kyoko. Originally they had set off from Tittenhurst Park, his home near Ascot in his Mini Cooper, however it soon became apparent that it was too small for them to drive all the way to Scotland, so they stayed overnight at his relatives' home in Liverpool. From there, he rang Apple Records and arranged for a driver to bring the "staff" car; a recently acquired Snowberry White Austin Maxi registered RLA 888G. It featured a full-length white webasto roof and also had a silver apple mounted on the radio speaker top of the front fascia. The following morning, Ono and Lennon transferred all of their luggage over to the Maxi and his driver took the Mini back to Tittenhurst, and the four set off north again to Northern Scotland; stopping briefly in Windermere and [[Edinburgh]].

Whilst driving along the narrow A838 road, Lennon panicked when he saw another car approaching him and sent the Maxi headlong into a ditch. While the children escaped relatively unhurt, Lennon received a gash to his forehead and Ono injured her back, resulting in a hospital stay in Golspie's Lawson Memorial Hospital for five days where he was treated by Dr. Michael Simpson. After they returned to London, Lennon arranged for the Maxi to be placed on a plinth outside his Tittenhurst home as an homage to their luck. The vehicle remained there for the next few years. During this time, Julian took the silver apple from the dash and kept it as a keepsake, though it was auctioned many years later. John Lennon also had the Maxi's steering wheel removed and hung up in the house's billiards room. When Lennon and Ono finally left the UK for the United States, Lennon sold Tittenhurst to friend and former bandmate [[Ringo Starr]] who had the Maxi scrapped. In October 2016, James Walshe, the deputy editor of [[Practical Classics]] car magazine retraced Lennon's journey in his 1969 Maxi. The feature later received a top award as 'Best Feature' at the 2017 Bauer Awards.

In 1972, a married couple escaped the Soviet quarter of [[Berlin]] at [[Checkpoint Charlie]] in the back of a Maxi. Once over into the western sector, the British [[Royal Military Police]] and the West German Polizei were so surprised that two people could fit into a Maxi's boot, that it was then taken up by Leyland West Germany and re-created in a television advert shown across West Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

[[File:Maxi-based Aquila Show Car.jpg|thumb|Maxi based Aquila at 1973 Motor Show]]
Also in 1972, at the [[Earl's Court Motor Show]] a competition was staged by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', the Institute of British Coachbuilders and Motor Manufactures (later incorporated into the [[Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders]]) to design a futuristic concept car based on a Maxi. The winning design was by a young designer, Chris Field, and the prize was to have his design on paper turned into reality. The "Aquila" was constructed by Woodhall Nicolson of [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] with help from [[Lucas Industries|Lucas]], [[Smiths Group|Smiths]] (Motor Accessory Division & Radiomobile) and [[Pilkington|Triplex]]. The resultant car was exhibited at the 1973 show and then given to Field.

From 1975-80, British Leyland supplied the Lawn Tennis Association every year with official "Wimbledon" Maxis. These were standard single carburettor 1750s but fitted with HL velour seat trim and extra sound proofing. Afterwards, they were sold through local Surrey dealers as ex-demonstration cars.
[[File:Fabulous car and malcolm mclaren 1992 martyn goodacre 03.jpg|thumb|right|Malcolm McLaren and the Fab Mobile]]
In 1991, punk revival band Fabulous used a Maxi as their "Fab-Mobile" decked out in Punk-art graffiti. It also made an appearance in a video of The Farm's cover version of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me". The 1750 was registered as FRK 315T and according to the DVLA website was last taxed in April 1993.

The Maxi, grumbled [[AC/DC]] singer [[Brian Johnson]], "was like a matchbox on [[Anabolic steroid|steroids]]. The only reason you knew it was a car was cos it had a steering wheel. It was the most basic form of frickin' transport! But it could have been worse. My next-door neighbour had a [[Lada]]."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Paul|last=Elliott|title=Q&A: Brian Johnson|magazine=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]|date= November 2009 |page= 36}}</ref>