Mystery Mini derivative (33)

You know Mini derivatives are everywhere, but this Mini based mystery motor was the last thing I expected to bump into while on holiday in southern France last week. It is, however, exactly what happened. I spent some time there on the Cote d'Azur where you see many Mini Mokes zooming around, and spotted this cheeky little tangarine thing in the town of Ramatuelle, not far from Saint-Tropez. Parked in between dull euroboxes it is clearly very different to a Moke. I have no clue at all what it could be as it doesn't look like one of the many other Mock-Mokes that I have come across so far. I do quite like it though, including the very neat interior it came with, trimmed in the colour of the hood. When I returned later it was still there, with no sign of its owner. Now, who can throw a light on it?

British registration is of 1963 and classifies it as a Mini Moke, which it clearly isn't

Picture Jeroen Booij

It's slab sided and all very simple, but built and detailing appear to be very good

Picture Jeroen Booij

There's a somewhat strange looking offset between bonnet and the rest of the body

Picture Jeroen Booij

I saw many Mini Mokes on and around the Cote d'Azur, but what on earth is this?

Picture Jeroen Booij

UPDATE 14 May 2013: Mick Davey wrote: "I bought this car for my wife in 2002 and understood it was built for RAF Culdrose with a view to throwing it out of the back of a plane. It looked quite different when we first got it - no hood and a different screen surround... We sold it quite a few years ago - surprised to see it is still on the road... As far as I know, it was a one-off, built from a Mk1 Mini, spending most of its life in Cornwall. The log book states it is a Mini Moke, registered in 1963 (I do have a copy of the log book somewhere in the house) but Mokes date from 1964, so yet another mystery surfaces. I named it Mini Poke just to be awkward." Thanks Mick!

Was the 'Mini Poke' built for army purposes? One former owner says so

Picture courtesy Mick Davey

Another reader remembers it being previously green. Davey says it was red when he bought it

Picture courtesy Mick Davey