Enguerrand Lecesne, the French author of 'Mini Cooper et 'S' de la serie a la competition' and 'Mini histories inedited', has just come up with a new title: 'Mini Toute l'histoire'. And as the title suggests it is a book that covers the Mini in all its aspects. From the very early prototype stage to the last car off the line in 2000. It's not alone in covering this subject as others have made books chock full of any aspect of the Mini before, but it has to be the first in French. That it is virtually impossible to describe all aspects of the Mini is of course no news. Such a vast subject simply cannot even be covered on the 192 pages that Lecesne uses for it. Other then his earlier books, which focussed more on the French market and its drivers, this one simply is more general. One of its chapters is dedicated to Mini derivatives, though, telling the story of 33 of them in brief. And some have a nice slice of French history attached to them. My car is in it, too! The book is beautifully presented and available direct from the publisher ETAI here.
Mini Toute l'Histoire by Enguerrand Lecesne, available now
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The book covers a chapter on Mini derivatives, too. Here Marcos, Jem and Deep Sanderson
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And more… Biota, ABC, Aurora, Landar, Status, ERA, Midas…
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It's the first book that mentions the survival of the Le Mans Mini Marcos! Lecesne also (re)searched the car for years
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Meanwhile, I had also received not one but two books from New Zealand author Patrick Harlow, not brand new ones but ever so fascinating. Patrick focuses totally on New Zealand cars and wrote these two books about them. 'Alternative Drivestyles' covers a grand amount of New Zealand custom built cars, and features anything from Lotus Seven-clones to fantastic DIY-creations named Urba-Car, Tri-Via, Brownie's Joy and Four-B-Two. Not much Mini-based cars in here, though. That's the territory of Harlow's 'New Zealand Manufactured Cars'. A vast 307 pages encyclopedia covering just about anything on wheels made in New Zealand with the idea of being marketed and sold. That means a comprehensive history on the cars of Ferris De Joux (fascinating) but also full stories on the Magnum Spectre (Harlow owned one of them), the little-known Everson Cherub, the Ibis and RD Wasp. This is a reference work unlike any others.
Alternative Drivestyles - New Zealanders have some great DIY skills
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New Zealand Manufactured Cars - this is more of an encyclopedia
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Mini de Joux - the story of Ferris de Joux' Mini GT is told in detail
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As for the Magnum Spectre. Harlow owned one of the two cars made for a while
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