A Canadian Ogle, and a chance meeting with Stirling Moss

Canada has a bit of an odd relation to the Ogle SX1000 with one of its distributors turning the British Ogle Mini into the Canadian Reptune GT (story here). But there were more Ogles in Canada and one of these was bought second-hand by Martin Golder. Golder was a great Mini enthusiast who owned and raced a number of them in the 1960s. He got in touch about the Ogle and wrote:

"I bought it from a used car lot in Toronto for $150 in a rough shape. The dealer had no clue what it was. This must have been at around 1967. It was still with the 'soup stirrer' shifter and the car was red when I bought it with the interior black with red piping. I think the seats were Microcell or something like that. As I said it was rough when I bought it and I redid the whole body and sprayed it with a Ford Mustang burgundy metal flake paint."

"At the time I worked at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation-JB) in Toronto, which is where I met Stirling Moss. This was when he was on the board of Ogle and he was being interviewed for the CBC when he saw my Ogle in the parking lot and came to talk. We talked about his association with Ogle and a bit about mine."

Unfortunately Martin didn't know anything about the car's previous history and doesn't remember the chassis number. I might have found something on its past - more to follow on that soon. Martin: "I was just thinking about recreating the front bumpers when circumstances led to me selling it. I sold it after having it for a year or two. I kind of wish I had paid more attention way back and kept copies of the papers or indeed the car..."

Martin bought his Ogle SX1000 for $150 in a rough shape. "The dealer had no clue what it was"

Picture Martin Golder

It was red when he bought it but Martin repainted it in a Ford Mustang burgundy colour

Picture Martin Golder

Martin Golder with the Ogle he owned for about two years "I never raced or rallied the Ogle"

Picture courtesy Martin Golder

He did race several of Minis between 1962 and 1967 though. Here with two of them

Picture courtesy Martin Golder

In 2009 he was in the UK and saw this Ogle SX1000 at Goodwood. "That's me beside it and wondered if it was mine reimported to UK as the paint looked like the same..."

Picture courtesy Martin Golder