Stimson cars tribute at Restoration Show

Have there ever been five different Stimson designs together on one display? I don't think so. Paul Wylde and his team of Minikits enthusiasts have been working for ages to get just that together and they've finally succeeded, too. This weekend you can see a most colourful display of Stimson vehicles brought together at the Classic Car & Restoration Show in the NEC in Birmingham. The Stimson Mini Bug is there in two variants, joined by a Stimson Scorcher, Stimson Trek and Stimson Safari Six as a grand tribute to their creator who passed away on the last day of 2022.

Paul added: "I will send you some with Roger Fauchon's family (Roger was the man who built many of the bodies for Stimson) who will be here tomorrow and with the Stimson family on Saturday." Well done guys!

A colourful display of Stimson vehicles can be seen in Birmingham now

Picture Paul Wylde

This as a tribute to Barry Stimson, who died on December 31st last year

Picture Paul Wylde

Paul's Mk2 Stimson Mini Bug

Picture Paul Wylde

Barry Tibury's Mini Bug, as used in 'The Freewheelers'

Picture Paul Wylde

Colin Baines' Stimson Safari Six

Picture Paul Wylde

Philip Lyons' Stimson Scorcher

Picture Paul Wylde

Barry Tibury's Stimson Trek

Picture Paul Wylde

Bonus - 1960 Mini with ultra rare LMB boot. One owner from 1960 to 2020!

Picture Paul Wylde

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos (3)

If you have managed to read though part 1 here and part 2 here of this intriguing story about the Mini Marcos that made it to the 1967 Targa Florio race, you may like this part 3 too. Take a deep breath!

As we found out earlier Swedish racer Jan-Erik Andreasson, who entered his Mini Marcos in the 1967 Targa Florio, owned two Mini Marcoses in 1967. They were both built in the workshop of Ragge Håkansson in Köping, the one used on the Sicilian road race was the first to be finished with a 1299cc engine with twin-choke Weber carburetor good for 130hp and a Jack Knight five-speed gearbox, an integrated roll-over bar plus a low weight due to 'a lack of interior trim, soundproofing, Perspex glass in all windows except the front screen.' The second car was built later. Quoting again from the Bilsport article, which was published in November 1967 - six months after the Targa Florio race: "Of Andreasson's two cars, one is on wheels and has already been seen in the Swedish Championship races where it has competed against thoroughbreds like Porsche Carrera 6 and Lola T70. The other car is still just a shell resting outside Ragge Håkansson's workshop near the city of Köping, waiting for a new owner."

Question was which chassis numbers these two cars wore, and which of them was the Targa Florio car? Fact is one of the cars survives in Sweden and has been restored in more recent times: chassis number 7064, which does fit in with the dates. Interestingly, some pictures of it in its pre-restored condition were made by Richard Porter in 1995 and show it in white with a broad red stripe over its body. According to Swedish Marcos historian Per Haegermark that's correct: "As we all know the Targa Florio car was white with a green stripe and the sister car looked exactly the same but had a red stripe." That car wasn't built up as a racer though and being a slightly later car it has some different features also, among them details in the body's engine bay area.

I must admit that the reason for this whole quest in finding out which the Targa Florio Marcos exactly is, was born out of an advertisement of a car offered for sale near Lille in northern France recently. This car wears chassis number 7034 and the Swedish registration 'FHD 465'. Translated from the French ad: "Put on the road in October 1967, after having had a first life in competition in Sweden as well as a participation in the 1967 Targa Florio, with racing number 176, before being registered. A justifiable history that needs to be studied in greater depth". I have to admit that I was skeptical at first when I contacted the current owner James. He wrote to me: "Thank you for your interest. I send you some evidence of his past life.". What followed in the next few weeks was a most interesting exchange of e-mails which got deeper and deeper into the subject. It must be said that James had taken the whole thing seriously and tried to turn every stone in his quest for proof. He'd contacted the FIA, the Targa Florio organization, the registration offices and several clubs and specialists, some with success, some not so, but he sent me copies of all this correspondence. He also added: "The marks of the accessories have left traces on my car. I have a whole history of these previous Swedish registrations, although unfortunately the first ones are still missing. I do have addresses to deepen and complete this history but I do not have the health for it. The co-driver of the 1967 Targa Florio (Johnny Lundberger-JB) tried to cheat by passing off a car, not yet built at the time, for that of the race in Sicily. I remain at your disposal for further information." 

Although it seems to have wiped out its checquered past, this car, chassis number 7034, fits in just right with the dates also. And while being red in colour now and missing some of the original features on it, I got more and more convinced that James could very well be right. And Per Haegermark agreed. He wrote: "Hi Jeroen, Many thanks for getting in touch with me concerning the Mini-Marcos #7034. Yes, I can agree with you that it's kind of a mystery that the Targa Florio car has been hidden away for so long. I have suspected for may years that #7034 really was the TF car but it wasn't until I made some enquiries at the National Swedish Archives who keep records of the old style (pre-1973) automotive registration documents, that I managed to link the car to the car mentioned in the Bilsport article. At the same time, I also happened to find the sister car #7064 which was built by Ragge Håkansson at the same time."

Ad he continued: "The original registration document (a copy of which I was sent also by James-JB) shows that the petrol tank contains 75 litres and the engine output is 105 SAE bhp. The sister car #7064 had a petrol tank containing only 28 litres and the engine output was 90 DIN bhp. The TF car definitely needed the long range petrol tank. Before I can tell you with 100% certainty that #7034 is the TF car, I have to see one more document which I have ordered from the National Swedish Archives. They normally need three to four weeks to find the requested documents. Will get back to you a.s.a.p. One thing which I would like you to change in your article is that chassis #7034 is a Mk2 and not a Mk3 body shell. Apart from this, I think everything is correct. If there are any difficulties to understand what's written in the Swedish articles, please do not hesitate to contact me for translation aid. For your information, I'm attaching some photos of #7034 in various guises. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Per"

So that's it for now. Let's await Per's answer before we finalize with a conclusion, but I'd say things look as good as can be for chassis number 7034. Let me finally ad the list of subsequent owners the car has had, as they may be recognized by readers here and lead to more. Apart from Jan-Erik Andreasson (unconfirmed) these are: Anders Lindahl, Lars-Göran Ridell, Ohlson Bilfirma, Hasse Nörgaard, Claes Grönbäck, Lennart Andersson, Morgan Karlsson and Patrik Kaufmann. Before receiving 'FHD 465' it wore the registration numbers 'L 55135' and 'OA 70785'.

And one final thing that struck me from another report was that the car maybe didn't even make it into eight kilometres of the Targa Florio race. Translated from Swedish I found the following: "The first of the ten 72 km laps was not long before one of the Swedes disappeared with a bang. It was 'Nenne' Andreasson, who after just eight corners put his Mini Marcos in a pole."...

First outing? Jan-Erik Andreasson racing at Knutsdorp on 30 April 1967

Picture Åke Wremp via Per Haegermark

Another early picture at a race in Röfors with Börje Österberg at the wheel

Picture Lars Liifw via Per Haegermark

The other Mini Marcos of Jan-Eric Andreasson before restoration: chassis number 7064 

with its then-owner Viktor Kärrkvist in 1995

Picture Richard Porter

This Mini Marcos, for sale in norther France, ticks all the boxes to be the Targa Florio car

Picture Lesanciennes.com

It comes on a Swedish registration plate FHD 465, issued in October 1967, which fits in also

Picture Lesanciennes.com

Targa car wasn't red originally but "marks of the accessories have left traces on it"

Picture Lesanciennes.com

The early style dashboard also fits in with the build date and the Targa Florio

Picture Lesanciennes.com

Butterfield at Brands Hatch - new picture

Hey, I haven't been writing about the Butterfield Musketeer for some time now (5 years to be exact, way too long). And we wouldn't want to have this lovely if not mysterious model fade into obscurity completely, don't we? 

That's just when this lovely picture was flashed over to here by Simon Greatham, supposedly taken at the circuit of Brands Hatch where Christabel Carlisle famously (?) drove the Musketeer against a whole force of Lotuses. She spun the car in the race, thus ending the sporting career for the Musketeer. 

There's no doubt this is the red car driven by Carlisle there, which was in fact the aluminium bodied prototype made by Williams & Pritchard and rebuilt with a Cooper 1000 engine for the race and registered '292 MJH' at the time. Is it also her standing behind it here? Together with the other two fibreglass bodied Musketeers, this car seems to have vanished from the earth since that racing day now more than 60 years ago. Let's keep hope in finding at least one of them back one day.

Butterfield Musketeer at Brands Hatch in 1962. Is that Christabel Carlisle behind it?

Picture courtesy Simon Greatham

Siva Buggy has been hiding since '82

I received a message from Graham Hill last week. Graham runs a company which makes crankshafts and has been a Mini enthusiast for much of his life. Recently he has been helping a friend to clear one of his sheds and stumbled upon a nice surprise: a Siva Buggy! He wrote: "Hi Jeroen. I have extracted a beach buggy from its resting place (since 1982!). I didn't know about it until quite recently despite going to his house regularly since about 1985. It was at the back of his tool shed (it's a big shed!) and I uncovered it while we were talking about machinery, which he had in his shed too. He bought it in 1982 from somebody who had a car pitch, we think, from his description, at Blyton Park. He took it for a spin and took it back to his place near Sheffield, then took some bits and pieces off. He was in the middle of converting the new alloy wheels to fit when he stopped working on it. I'm not sure why... He can't remember either."

"The sheds are in great condition and have kept everything in them in good order, including piles of engineering drawings. Apart from being dusty, the buggy's condition is very good, too. I don't know yet if the engine is free, but I'm sure it's an MG 1100 engine as it starts '10' on the plate and has locating rings for the inlet manifold which tells me it's a 12G 295 head. 3 sync box too. It did roll quite happily when we pumped the tyres up. No other history remains, and it has to go because of my friend's age and 'too many projects', so I'm helping him with that. Yes there is a V5. The wheels are quite unusual 2 piece. The outer rim is cast, and bolts to the inner like a split rim, but they are much stronger. In principal it is up for sale at the moment, however I'm not sure whether to auction it because it's so unusual. If anyone is interested can we ask them to contact you through the site? It would be a really fun thing to finish off and use in the summer, but I have too many projects as well!"

Well, there we go. This looks like a very nice Siva Buggy indeed and I now understand it comes on the plate of a 1964 Mini Super. Do drop me a line if you want and I'll put you through to Graham. 

UPDATE 16:00: Graham writes: "Hi Jeroen A quick update on the Siva, the roll bar, rear seat and the original MG twin SU’s have surfaced too!"

Graham Hill unearthed A Siva Buggy that had been hiding since 1982

Picture Graham Hill

The car is a non-runner but it is complete and does look good

Picture Graham Hill

It comes on a 1964 Mini registration but the history is mostly unknown

Picture Graham Hill

The engine is believed to be a MG 1100 with 12G 295 head and 3-sync 'box

Picture Graham Hill

Split rear wheels are most unusual. I have never seen these before on a Mini

Picture Graham Hill

This is how Graham found the Siva Buggy in the back of a large tool shed

Picture Graham Hill

Another Dutch Peel Viking reappears - and disappears again

You may remember the Peel Viking GT that was built by Dutchman Ben Konst back in 1966/1967. I was very eager to find that car back and my search was finally rewarded in February 2018. What was even better about the whole saga: Ben bought it back himself and so was reunited with his old car after almost 50 years (all about that here).

But this car registered '88-49-EP' notably wasn't the only Viking Ben imported to The Netherlands. There were at least two more and I have been digging into these for quite a while also. There were some rumours that one had ended up with a man in the south-west of The Netherlands but I was unable to locate it. One person who told me he knew more was Aad van Beekum. As a matter of fact Aad told me years ago he'd seen it and even made some pictures of it. Trouble was he couldn't find these anymore. I wasn't expecting much. So imagine my surprise when he dropped me a line earlier this week with some good news. He wrote: "After a lot of searching and thinking I found the photos on an old phone and hope you can use them."

The pictures show a rolling shell, left hand drive, that's been modified with wider wheel arches and sills. Was this car ever on the road? It seems unlikely. Apart from its bonnet the shell seems to be unpainted, primer only, while there's no glass and no holes for lights and a petrol tank. Apart from a few gauges there's no interior either. It does have a larger than usual cut-out for a rear screen, just like Ben's own car, which used a Fiat 850 Coupe's rear screen. Could it be the body shell sold by Ben to a customer in the late 1960s? (click here). 

What's a real pity is that the thing has disappeared from its hiding now once more. Aad added: "Meanwhile the garage has been closed and emptied and I understand from the stories that the cars were moved to Belgium with an address unknown. Whether the owner had control over the cars I don't know. His daughter took the Mini Moke, which was there also, and she probably paid for the lease debt. I have tried to find out details but in vain."

And so the search is on. Belgian friends, keep your eyes out please!

A Peel Viking GT is a real rarity. This one has been hiding for ages

Picture Aad van Beekum

Apart from the bonnet it seems to be in its primer and remain unbuilt

Picture Aad van Beekum

Arches have been widened but I wonder if it was ever on the road

Picture Aad van Beekum

Sills, too, are a lot wider than usual. Who undertook these modifications?

Picture Aad van Beekum

Back shows there are no holes for rear lights and tank

Picture Aad van Beekum

While a larger cut-out was made for a (Fiat 850?) rear screen

Picture Aad van Beekum

Steering column has been fitted but furthermore the interior is empty

Picture Aad van Beekum

Could it be this lhd empty shell, sold by Ben Konst in the late 1960s?

Picture Ben Konst

And how about this car registered 'FZ-04-14'? A Dutch plate of 1968

Picture Ben Konst

Jeremy & Burt drive the Ranger Cub

I don't know about you but I could do with a little sunshine! So let's get over to Happy Valley, Oregon once more, where Jeremy Thorpe runs Jet Motors and makes a nice video every now and then about the cars he builds and enjoys. I particularly liked this one about the Ranger Cub that Jeremy had for some time and eventually sold to Burton Reif. Burt is a great character who has no fear to drive the little three-wheeler everywhere in the north-west of the USA. He drops me a line regularly with things of interest he sees on his travels. In the video Jeremy joins him for a ride in the Cub. Enjoy!

One-owner Biota Mk1 sold

While I'm still chasing the Biota Mk2 that was seen recently in a garden (this one), another long-lost car has resurfaced. Amazingly this one is a one-owner Mk1 car that was built in 1971, registered 'GOT 134K' in 1972 and put away in storage in 1974! It has always been with the man who built it in the county of Hampshire since.

Biota owner Peter Niessen made me aware of it and told me that the car made it to the market after 52 years of ownership. The car, chassis number 21, is equipped with an 850 engine with some tuning bits and pieces and is in need of a restoration now. It is complete though and the owner has given the body a polish recently, which turned out remarkably well. No surprise it was sold swiftly.

 

Built 1971, registered 1972, put away in 1974 - this is a one-owner Biota Mk1

Picture via Peter Niessen

It spent the last 49 years in storage in Hampshire, but has now moved from there

Picture via Peter Niessen

850 engine with stage 1 head plus bigger valves, camshaft and carburetor

Picture via Peter Niessen

Complete and can be made running no doubt, but I'd go for new wiring

Picture via Peter Niessen

Comfy 'clam seats' are a lovely period thing so very specific for the Biota

Picture via Peter Niessen

Simple dashboard lay-out with Biota's unusual gear lever position and pattern

Picture via Peter Niessen

The original owner has given it a polish and look how well it came out!

Picture via Peter Niessen

Monika and the Unipowers: more pictures

I have found some new pictures of the two Unipower GTs that were on display at the 1967 Racing Car Show, and several of these show our lovely model Monika Dietrich in the cars and notably on their bonnets. Yes, some of these have been shown here before. But hey, with these new ones, why not show these again and now the whole collection of them?

Monika Dietrich was born Monika Haberkamp in Cologne, Germany but came to London in the mid-1960s as an au-pair before she was asked to model for a number of advertisements. She had a few minor movie roles also and I understand she is still going strong.

The Unipower GTs on display at the '67 Racing Car Show were the ones wearing chassis number 1 and 9 and are both still alive and well also. The red car (number 1) is owned by Tim Carpenter, who takes it out to events and shows regularly; the white one (number 9) is a competition model, which was purchased by Jan Odor of Janspeed fame in '67 and was raced by Geoff Mabbs under the Janspeed banner before being sold to Cars & car Conversions magazine and repainted in red a year later. Like Tim's car it has been fully restored, too.

UPDATE 13 March: Unipower GT Owners Club & Register front man Gerry Hulford contacted me and he's not amused. He is convinced the red car is not chassis number 1 but chassis number 8. He may very well be right but I am not sure.

Olympia, London, January 1967. That's the Unipower stand in the front

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The white GT is a competition model, the red one is chassis number 1

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Things start prim and proper. Monika joins Moss - on the bonnet of the white car

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Now get rid of that racing driver and apply the sexy look

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

More clothes off and in the door opening please

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

No, back on the bonnet and back to the sexy looks

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Now over to the red car, finding position first (note Pirelli Centuratos, too)

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

And smiles again

Picture Richard Hesseltine archive

And now in full colour!

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Suitable for a cover shot! That's Bilsport magazine of Sweden

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Bye for now!

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos (2)

I wrote about the Targa Florio Mini Marcos recently (see here) and added that I do believe the car survives also. I still do, but finding out which of the Mini Marcoses with an early history in Sweden it is exactly, is no straightforward job. I'll try to explain my researches as simple as possible, but warn you that it's still full of side-steps and other details!

The article in the november 1967 issue of the Swedish magazine Bilsport is a great starting point for the search, as it describes the car in some detail. But it doesn't give away a chassis number and in fact mentions three Mini Marcoses being in Sweden at the time - two of these were owned by Jan-Erik Andreasson and his company Babea Racing while a third car was owned by Bo Elmhorn at the time, who ran Elmhorn-Troberg Racing Service of Stockholm (more here and here). That last car is in fact the easiest one to track down. It is chassis 7073, a car that is in the USA now (see it on the Mini Marcos Owners Club website here). So that leaves us with two. 

But now things get blurry. Remarkably, the Targa Florio car is generally believed to wear chassis number 7418, registered 'BSU 400' in Sweden. That car claims to have spent all of its life in Swedish racing circles and had been restored once in 1983 in Sweden before making it over to the UK in 2010 and be restored once again as a FIA Historic competition car (see here). However, this is a highly unlikely claim as the chassis number 7418 has to be that of a later shell. According to Joost van Diën, who knows his chassis numbers, this one is likely to have been built in late 1969 or even early 1970 and has all the features of a car of that age, too. So with the Targa Florio taking place in May 1967 it seems unlikely to be that. 

But what can be the reason for its claim then? Swedish Marcos Club man Per Haegermark provides the answer through a letter of which I have a copy. In it he writes: "This car (#7418 - ed) is definitely not the Targa Florio car. It was imported to Sweden in 1979 and registered as BSU 400 in Sweden on March 4th 1979. The person who imported the car was the co-driver at the Targa Florio. Johnny Lundberger. He formed a Mini-Marcos Historic Racing Team in the early 1980's together with two other Mini racing guys. I think it was easy for him to claim that this 'new' car was his old Targa Florio car. No one could argue about this then. Bearing in mind its higher chassis no. it is more likely it was built in 1969 or 1970 and definitely not in 1967 that's for sure. Regarding the requirement of the cars being road registered for Targa Florio in 1967, it seems that it was not mandatory, since there were no registration plates on it at the race."

So now it's the question which were / are the two cars owned by Jan-Erik Andreasson in 1967 and which of the two was or is the Targa Florio car. Look out for that in the next article.

1967 Targa Florio race saw a Swedish entered Mini Marcos run by Jan-Erik Andreasson

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos came with a number of distinctive features

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The november '67 Bilsport article, which featured it tells about it in some detail

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Babea Racing AB was Andreasson's company

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Co-driver Johnny Lundberger in 1994. He died in 2009 but imported a Mini Marcos to Sweden in 1979

Picture Micke Pettersson / mpmoke.se

This car: 'BSU 400'. It is generally claimed to be the Targa Florio car but I don't think so 

Picture Platesmania.com

It has quite a comprehensive competition history also and is in the UK since 2010

Picture Jeroen Booij archive