Meet the Endrust International and Slideaway Monaco Mini

Endrust sounds like a rust converter, as Slideaway sounds like a sunroof company, don't they? Well, that's what they are. But the British companies wanted to be a bit more than just that and decided to team up and start coachbuilding in the late 1970s, too. Undoubtedly with Wood & Pickett as their prime example. 

Needless to say, the Minis they offered were well protected to rust and came with a full sliding roof. The car that Endrust had on display at the 1977 Motor Show was on top of that equipped with vinyl roof and rear, a striped interior, wooden dash, steering wheel and door cappings, alloys and nudge bars, while one seen in a Slideaway advertisement added the name 'Monaco Mini' on its doors. Anyone who knows more about them?

Endrust International Mini was seen at the 1977 Motor Show in London

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

While Slideaway Monaco Mini was its sister model. Do they survive..?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Is world's saddest Fletcher GT now really death?

As a babysitter for all things Mini based I receive pictures of cars lost and found every week - keep them coming! One car that has intrigued me from the first time I saw it is a particularly sad looking Fletcher GT. With just four made the Fletcher GT is a real rarity - three of the four have been described here before. 

But this one - number four - was even more of that, having been converted to electric power and three wheels! The first pictures flashed over to here came from Paul Ogle, who'd spotted it in a scrapyard in the Midlands in November 2006. Paul and I tried to set up a rescue but it was to no avail. 

Then I didn't hear from the car until new photographs of it emerged in April 2016. It had moved but was certainly still not being cared for. And from then on more pictures followed every few months or years. And every time it looked worse. The last one I received came in in August 2019, when the car looked to have been replaced once more - to a pile of scrap. I wonder if that spelled the definitive end of this car..?

November 2006. A Fletcher GT is found in a scrapyard in the Midlands

Picture courtesy Mark Butler

November 2006. But unlike the other Fletchers it is converted to 3 wheels and electric power

Picture courtesy Mark Butler

Odd conversion can be seen through where the rear window originally was. Why and by who?

Picture courtesy Mark Butler

April 2016. First appearance after 10 years. That beam didn't do body any good

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

May 2016. Moved over to another place in Wednesbury. Nose section broken off

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

May 2016. Restall seats still there but car is looking sadder then ever before

Picture courtesy Mark Butler

November 2017. Everything can be repaired but this is going to be a mighty challenge

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

November 2017. Broken body gives insight in three-wheel conversion at the back

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

August 2019. Last sight of it, dumped. Is this car now really gone forever..?

Picture Craig Perry

Turner Ranger to be resurected

If the global lockdown is good for one thing, it is for Mini variants coming out of the woodwork and restorations on them being started. Andy Downes dropped me a line about a rare Turner Ranger that's been unearthed recently. He wrote: 

"Hallo Jeroen, I got excited when I saw this today, it belongs to my local garage and they've dragged it out the shed to renovate it during lockdown (they love old cars and have many). It's a Calor (or Turner) Ranger and is a small runabout rather like a quad-bike. It has a Mini engine arranged front-to-back with one driveshaft driving the front wheels and the other the back wheels! Mini suspension with Triumph Herald differential on each axle and four wheel steering. You've probably heard of Calor Gas and the Calor in this vehicle's name is because some ran on gas others petrol, apparently they also featured in a James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only" I think. It seems 200-odd were made under licence from Calor. Please let me know what you think. Andy"

I knew of the Ranger and have it included in Maximum Mini 3, but it is splendid to see this survivor being taken care of. Thank you very much Andy!

The Turner Ranger used its Mini drivetrain placed vertically in the center of the frame

Picture Andy Downes

This rare survivor is going to be restored now that we're in a lockdown

Picture Andy Downes

Bit of the Ranger's body and more parts in boxes, it all seems to be there

Picture Andy Downes

Engines used were 1100s which ran on gas and mated to 4 BL axles driving all 4 wheels  

Picture Andy Downes

This is what a fully restored example looks like. This one owned by Gareth Thompson

Picture Gareth Thompson

And a front view. 28hp at 3,000rpm gives a 15mph top speed. A cab was optional

Picture Gareth Thompson

Book: La Mini de mon Père

French fellow-writer and Mini-man Enguerrand Lecesne pumps out his books at a considerable higher rate than I do! And I was both surprised as I was thrilled to find his latest work in the post this week. It's called 'La Mini De Mon Père', which makes it the latest volume in the French '... De Mon Père'-series. This series has proved to be a big hit in France for years now, starting with Citroëns, Renaults and Peugeots, but now expanding to non-French vehicles also.

It's not the first and most definitely not the last book covering the Mini's story from conception to the end of production in 2000 and using stock photography mostly. But at least Lecesne is trying to focus on the French market when he can, illustrating his words here and there with a picture of Alain Delon behind the wheel of a Moke or French singer Christophe (real name Daniel Bevilacqua) looking ever so cool leaning casually on his Paris-registered Cooper 'S' - this one really should have been on the book's cover!

It's when he focuses on France when things get interesting, I think. There's a spread on Taka-Hira's creations as there is one on the wacky Hrubon Phaeton / Schmitt and one on the Quasar Unipower. The derivatives chapter is not too long, focussing on the Mini Marcos, Broadspeed GT, Unipower GT, Mini Jem, MiniSprint and aforementioned Quasar, but it has some lovely photos of Marcoses and a Jem raced and rallied by Frenchmen which make it worth the purchase. 120 pages and you can find it here.

'La Mini De Mon Père' by Enguerrand Lecesne is out now

Picture Jeroen Booij

Coachbuilt Minis chapter includes the creations of Roger Taka-Hira

Picture Jeroen Booij

While the Mini derivatives one starts with Mini Marcoses being raced in France

Picture Jeroen Booij

More of them here. The psychedelically painted car was French also and is still missing

Picture Jeroen Booij

The Quasar Unipower was another French affair which made it to the book

Picture Jeroen Booij

That Deep Sanderson 301 again!

Remember the Deep Sanderson 301 that was crashed at the Nurburgring in 1964 and then rebuilt before being turned into a Triumph Spitfire based Specials by reader Chris Tamblyn's stepfather? Well, you can read all about it here if you can't. Unfortunately Chris' pictures were pretty hazy.

But it turns out that I did see a picture of the car before, as Chris Rees had shown it in his 1993 book 'British Specialist Cars'. I contacted him and got a swift reply as always: "Very interesting research! I’ve managed to find the original picture which I attach - in colour! I think this dates from my time working at Alternative Cars magazine. All it says on the back is '1963 Deep Sanderson'. Hope this brings more illumination."

I love it! And the other Chris, that's Chris Tamblyn, was happy to see it, too: "Hi Sherlock Holmes! I still shudder with what he did to that car! That photo would have been taken outside their house in Swanage, but how it got out I don't know. If you find any more you have my full permission to use them." Well, the car registered KPP 187C is actually still known in the DVLA database as a 1965 Triumph Spitfire, so it may well survive?

Meanwhile, more interesting Deep Sanderson news is on its way as a timewarp 301 has just resurfaced in one very unlikely place. More to follow soon.

KPP 187C is a Triumph with the modified body of a Deep Sanderson 301. Last taxed in 1990

Picture courtesy Chris Rees / Quiller Print

Japanese drawings show Mini variants

Although I am not able to read a word, I am a fan of Japanese motoring magazines, so often richly illustrated with atmospheric photography, historical material and not to forget drawings. Endo Izuru is one of the top illustrators and his work can be seen regularly on the cover of CAR magazine. Recently he made a couple of illustrations for an online publication named The Motor Brothers, showing Mini derivatives and I am sharing these here. I think I recognize some of the actual cars in them. Superb!

GTM Coupe

Illustration Endo Izuru

Mini Marcos 1966 Le Mans 

Illustration Endo Izuru

Mini Jem Mk2

Illustration Endo Izuru

Rob Walker MiniSprint

Illustration Endo Izuru

Ogle SX1000

Illustration Endo Izuru

Unipower GT

Illustration Endo Izuru

AF Spider seen Down Under

With just seven AF Spiders being built by Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser in rural Lincolnshire, UK, it is a real surprise to learn that one of these wacky three-wheelers ended up in New South Wales, Australia. But that's what happened, or so I learned from Aussie car fanatic Duane De Gruchy. 

It uses a 998 engine and in fashion with outback vehicles Down Under can be seen with massive front bumper and bull bar fitted at its front! Oddly, it is registered in New South Wales as 'Baston AB1 Convertible' and of 1948-vintage! Well, it may look vintage, but Fraser built these cars between 1969 and 1973, so that's a bit of an oddity. 

AB1 is the only thing I do recognize in that description as Fraser told me himself that the first Spider that he built was named so because his then very young son called Aslackby - the village where they lived at the time - ‘Aby’. That very first one used a 1275 engine with Shorrocks supercharger and was built by Fraser in the kitchen. Could it really be this one? And what is that Baston name all about? At the time I interviewed him, Fraser wrote out the chassis numbers of the cars he built with notes to them, but he wasn't sure about some of them. It would be great to learn which one this exactly is!

This surely has to be the only AF Spider in Australia

Picture www.shannons.com.au

It also has to be the only one with a massive front bumper and bull bar!

Picture www.shannons.com.au

Engine is said to be a 998 and is equipped with double SUs

Picture www.shannons.com.au

Apart from plywood, the first car 's body used aluminium panels, later replaced by fibreglass

Picture www.shannons.com.au

Build plate on the left of the dashboard. It would be nice to learn its chassis number

Picture www.shannons.com.au

The Lincolnshire built three-wheeler is in good company Down Under

Picture www.shannons.com.au

Swedish road test of Broadspeed GT shows FOH 500D again

About half a year ago I wrote about a Broadspeed GT registered FOH 500D, which was road tested by Motor in 1966 (see the article here). Thanks to some observant readers I learned that the same car was road tested in period by a Swedish magazine named Bilsport also. A Swedish website showed a copy for sale and Rainier de Klark, who runs Klark Classic Cars in Sweden was kind enough to buy it for me and send it over. I've copied the report and its pictures below - all for you, dear reader! 

Like Motor magazine, Bilsport's road tester Per Cewrien also mentions that the 1275 engine produced around 100hp. He made it over to Birmingham to drive the car and photograph it for a two-page report in May 1966. His article is mostly about Broadspeed itself, the technical details of the car and how it was built. But Cewrien concludes the article with a remarkable ending. He writes: 

"Som de flesta kanske förstår, ar Broadspeed GT en bil, som vem det vara månde bör kunna komma överens met och vi ser onikligen fram mot den dag då den kommer att importeras till Sverige. Vissa trevare har gjorts i den vägen, men mer är det väl inte." Google makes the following of that: "As most people may understand, the Broadspeed GT is a car that anyone should be able to agree on, and we are unequivocally looking forward to the day when it will be imported to Sweden. Some threesomes have been made in that way, but it is probably no more." What did he mean there? Was this only the third car made and did Ralph Broad really plan to stop production already at the time? That would rewrite Broadspeed history, wouldn't it?

UPDATE 17:30: No rewriting needed. Micke Pettersson helps us out of the dream.: "A quick translation: ... we certainly look forward to the day when it will be imported to Sweden. Some careful attempts has been done in that way, but more is it not" Interesting, though!

Swedish road tester Per Cewrien had a go in the Broadspeed GT, probably in early spring 1966

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

This picture of FOH 500D was seen before on Maximum Mini. It must be from the same shoot

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Better view on the picture in Per Cewrien's report, clearly made at the same place

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Bilsport magazine

Did Bilsport magazine really write that only three Broadspeed GTs were made in 

May '66 with no more to follow?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Bilsport magazine

From the original article: "The steering wheel has significantly more rake. The front part of the door compartment houses a combined compartment for cigarettes and other small items"

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Bilsport magazine

 From the original article: "The engine is said to have been machined outside and inside"

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Bilsport magazine

Killeen K16 - where are you?

Another long-lost Mini based sports car which triggers the senses is the Killeen K16. I wrote about the car before here, aided by Robert J. Allen who was - and is - keen to find the car long before I got interested. Since that write-up I never heard a thing about the mysterious sports car designed and built by Tom Killeen of Sutton Coldfield, not even the smallest hint or vague trail. So when I came across these slightly better pictures recently, seen below, I thought it was about time for another plea of information. Lest we forget the Killeen K16.

Designed by Tom Killeen the K16's symmetric body had an estimated drag coefficient of 0.27

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The car came with 1275 Cooper S' engine installed just ahead of the rear wheels

Picture Jeroen Booij archive 

Barbados Carimoke owners needs help

Shortly after the article about Andrew MacLean's far flung adventures of building Mini-based cars overseas got published (more here), I received a message from Barbados. Charles Fuller Cowles owns one of the 'Carimoke' Jiminis built there under MacLean's supervision. He wrote: 

"Hi Jeroen, Hope all is well with you in this difficult times. Hopefully I can get a little help in finding the parts I need for the Carimoke. Currently we need a carburetor. Original parts are made by Evolution cars. Any help on where to get parts? we have not been able to find correct engine numbers, so any help or leads would be great. Hope your are well in these odd times Keith."

Naturally, Andrew was the first man I thought of but unfortunately he couldn't help and so I passed Keith over to MiniSpares North, which has been of great help for me before. But somebody here may be closer to Keith on Barbados and may be able to help also?

UPDATE 4 February 2021: Reader Dennis van Eck recognizes the engine as a Maruti! And so does Andrew MacLean: "I thought it looked a bit different! That's a Suzuki Maruti based CariMoke! From the new moulds made in Barbados. Nothing Mini based there, apart from the styling. Note the 13" wheels and much taller windscreen. And the dead giveaway Evolution Cars nameplate on the Suzuki engine? The Maruti is manufactured in India. I think an internet search might find parts for it... Also... The Mini based CariMoke used the earlier A-Series power units of 998cc designated 'ULG' (UnLeaded Green) low compression also known as 'pre' A+. The units were sourced from Powertrain Products, a subsidiary of Unipart, at the time and were very old NOS!" 

Evolution Cars Carimoke was a version of the Jimini built on Barbados

Picture Charles Fuller Cowles

Keith owns one on the island but misses a few parts to get it running again

Picture Charles Fuller Cowles

Evolution Cars was set up by Graham and Andrea Reeves-Law in 1995

Picture Charles Fuller Cowles

The Carimokes used 998 Pre-A-series engines originally destined for the Mini Cord of Venezuela

UPDATE: But this one doesn't - see above

Picture Charles Fuller Cowles

It's unknown to me how many Carimokes were made. This looks to be number 12, built in 1998?

Picture Charles Fuller Cowles

Another Deep Sanderson survivor?

The exact number of Deep Sanderson 301s built may never be revealed, but still new information about these cars keeps on turning up. 

Over the years I photographed a few survivors in the UK, France and Germany and was lucky to interview founder Christopher Lawrence not long before he passed away in 2011. Lovely pictures and information from past owners turned up also (here and here for example) and last year I learned that the former Nurburgring racer was turned into a Triumph-based Special before being scrapped later in its life. 

So how about the picture of the yellow one registered CPP 929F that's been in my files for years? I think the picture was cut out from its background for use in an ad, and I even believe I've seen that ad, too, but can't find it back now. The DVLA has no information on the registration number, but you may..?

Deep Sanderson 301 registered CPP 929F. Who knows more about it?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive