Monday 12 December 2011

Derivatives in 'British Classics'

When Bart Vanreusel of Belgium tipped me off about an article on Mini derivatives in German magazine 'British Classics' this weekend, I rushed to the main newsagent here in Amsterdam to get it. And I wasn't disappointed. The cover article is laid out over nos less then 10 pages with the 4 major players in the Mini derivatives market of the 1980s-1990s as stars: the Midas Mk1; GTM Coupe, Mini Marcos Mk5 and GTM Rossa Mk2. A good mix with two of them front wheel driven and two with the engines placed at the mid/rear. Above that they are beautifully photographed by Stephan Lindloff with words (richly quoting from a certain book) by Karin Riess. What surprised me most was that all cars, with their German and Austrian owners and photographed in Germany, are on British registrations. I wonder if you can simply insure and drive these cars in Germany on foreign plates? That would mean importing them is real easy.

UPDATE 12 December 2011: Andreas Klein adds: "Just a short answer about the foreign plates. It is not legal to own and use cars in Germany with British plates. I wondered about this too, but have no explanation. Maybe they did it just for the pictures?"

4 Mini derivatives in big article. 'Die kleinen Strolche' means 'The little rascals'

Featured Mini Marcos is an early Mk5 of 1992-vintage. Buy the magazine here

4 comments:

  1. And your book is mentioned in the article as well! Winner!

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  2. That was a bit of a surprise, too!

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  3. hello,
    these photographs were not taken in germany but in styria, austria, as all the cars belong to austrian owners.
    for the photo shooting only british plates were mounted just to make them look more authentic.
    best regards from austria
    wolfgang

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  4. Thank you for your comment, Wolfgang!

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