May I present you another DIY Mini based creature of which at least some information is known? The car below made it to Cars and Car Conversions in 1967 and according to a little article in the mag it was made from a Mini Van by a man named Mike Gorman 'for his own personal use', altough Mike planned to put the car into production, or so they wrote.
And I'm quoting the mag now: "Mike chopped off the rear, lifted the roof off and lowered it by four inches. He then built an all-steel rear end and fitted a suitably modified Scorpion front (see here what that looks like) - now a part of the car rather than just a bolt-on accessory. With all the ugly body seems from the Mini Van eliminated, a coat of gunmetal paint completes the finish. The car's engine is bored out to 1071cc but it is planned to use a standard 1100 cc engine in production. Inside the car is superbly trimmed in black with a sports-type steering wheel and bucket seats."
"It is planned to build the production models with a fibre glass rear end to cut the weight down (present weight is about 13 cwt) but apart from that everything will be as shown - including the wheels." According to the article the cost for a production version "hasn't been worked out in detail yet, but the complete car should sell for around 700 pounds." And they continued: "Remember, no definite plans are afoot yet, so don't expect to ring up and buy one tomorrow. However, if you are interested, drop a line to M. Gorman, -----, Herts." I did check the address, but unfortunately there's no Gorman around there anymore. However, I'd be much interested in acquiring one, so if you do read this mister Gorman...
Mike Gorman's Mini special started life as a Van. It was meant to reach production
Picture courtesy Cars and Car Conversions
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