Wednesday 28 September 2022
Morris Bishop dies at 92
Monday 26 September 2022
Summer's over but the pictures remain
That seemingly endless summer of 2022 has now really come to an end. These will probably be the last pictures of a lovely season, found on the web by myself or sent over to me by others. Enjoy.
Friday 23 September 2022
More Mini Marcoses and Mini Jems bound for France
Thursday 22 September 2022
What could have been: 1965 BMC Mini Sprint GT
Monday 19 September 2022
Bill Needham dies at 85
Another legendary name that will be linked to Mini derivatives forever has left us: Bill Needham died on the 27th of August at the age of 85.
Friday 16 September 2022
A McCoy (and Mini Jem) in France
Tuesday 13 September 2022
The Prisoner Moke - unraveling its past
Friday 9 September 2022
The Queen's Mini derivative
Queen Elizabeth has died and the nation is in grief. You shall be missed by many Majesty.
Not quite the kind of posting for Maximum Mini you'd think, but amazingly the late-Queen did have a link to a Mini variant. She appeared in a number of paparazzi pictures taken 60 years ago at Windsor in the summer of 1962 with... a Mini Beach Car.
From a newspaper clipping: "The Queen stands beside the most unusual of her stable of royal cars - a tiny beach Mini-car with cut-away sides and basket seats. Ideal for a sunny day in Windsor Great Park. The copper-coloured Mini is one of only three experimental cars built by the British Motor Corporation and has been lent to the Royal Family. The Queen, a knowledgable motorist, doubtless enjoys travelling in this unconventional little vehicle as much as she does in her Rolls."
The Beach Car was used on a few royal occasions, among them a state visit to Amsterdam in May 1965, when the car was shipped over to The Netherlands and driven by Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon in Amsterdam. It was never owned by the Royal family though, as they had it on loan from BMC. In 1968 the car was sold and it remains in the hands of the man who then became its lucky owner.
Thursday 8 September 2022
Zagato Mini Gatto in Jidéhem's Starter
Look what was sent to me! Another page from the old Belgian comic / motoring magazine Starter, which used to be so richly illustrated by the artist Jidéhem. I wrote about it before as some Mini based had made it to the magazine's motoring reports in the 1960s (Mini Jem, Ogle SX1000 and Quasar Unipower - click here). Somehow I'd missed out on the Zagato Mini Gatto, which was featured also in 1961. A great favourite car here and one I still regret not having bought many years ago. Thank you very much Frank Lannoye!