Maximum Mini: Biota restoration in Belgium

Rene Sontrop from France and the brothers Peter & Jos Niessen from The Netherlands aren't the only Biota owners on this side of Europe. Peter Morley is another. He lives in Belgium and has had his car for a very long time. I hadn't heard from him for years so thought it was time to drop him a line. A number of messages about the now beautifully restored 'Dutch demonstrator' followed. Peter wrote:

"Hi Jeroen, it’s nice that the one you found went back to the original family. I heard from someone who had mine at one time, but when I told him how much I’d spent on it he lost interest! Interesting that it was left hand drive but I shouldn’t be surprised because Minis are so easy to convert. And it has a chassis plate, mine just has an aluminium tag that they stamped, presumably in the second year they could afford some chassis plates! I will send you some photos of mine – soon (I promised a friend photos of something next week over a month ago and he’s still waiting!). Best wishes Peter"

I didn't have to wait long though as they arrived shortly afterwards: "Hi Jeroen, I was just rearranging the garage and took some quick photos of the Biota. I had some expensive trips to Minispares etc. and bought most of the mechanical parts. I also found parts like new rear light lenses and chrome surrounds and windscreen pillars. And there’s a rebuilt set of Speedwell instruments that I’m thinking of fitting. Pretty much everything is there it is just a case of getting stuck into and assembling everything. When I saw the Coldwell manifold I had to have it – of course there aren’t many people who will know the connection. Last time I saw Bill Needham I told him I had a Biota and he just said 'Why?'! Best wishes, Peter."