A £1m crystal-encrusted Mini Cooper was carefully lifted out of the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in London

London’s West End was brought to a standstill this morning when a Swarovski crystal-encrusted Mini Cooper was craned out of the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! attraction, to be replaced by a hand-knitted Ferrari.

The £1m Mini was taken out through a smoke duct at the five-storey building in Piccadilly which houses the museum of the weird and wonderful.

It was removed ahead of a 5,000-mile cross-Atlantic adventure to its new home at the Ripley’s museum in Baltimore, USA.

The Mini boasts more than one million coloured gems in 50 shades to represent the 50 different US states, and took six months to create.

The American Icon car has famous landmarks across the bodywork, including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.

In its place is a life-size hand-knitted Ferrari which will be put on display for the first time after being delicately lifted into the attraction.

Created by British artist Lauren Porter, the fluffy Ferrari took 10 months to make, using 12 miles of wool, 250 squares of garter stitching and a hand-embroidered horse logo on the front.

Westminster Council gave special permission for the streets around Piccadilly Circus to be closed in the early hours.