Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #107

Beautiful new pictures of Unipower GT racer

This is the Mk1 Mini Marcos of the 1966 Racing Car Show

More 4-wheel steering Minis

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #24

Restored Méan Sonora BMC spectacularly presented

Events: from Blyton Park to Shelshley Walsh

New film footage of MoBi-One found

Morris Bishop dies at 92

It's with great regret that I just heard of the passing of Morris Bishop on last Thursday, the 22nd of September, at the age of 92. Morris was the man behind MoBi-One - the Mini based car that proved to be virtually unbeatable in autotesting in the late 1960s due to its clever design with four-wheel steering.

Alastair Moffatt, who owns MoBi-One and is a multiple autotest champion himself, made me aware of Bishop's death. Morris lived both in the UK as in Spain, but was in England on Thursday, or so Alastair told me: "He went out for a walk with his wife and on return home sat down and fell asleep in front of the tv not to wake. Morris' son added: "He and mum had been out for a walk, and he had just settled down to watch telly, air high-fived mum (as they did) and died. Not a bad way to go."

Moffatt rediscovered MoBi-One some two-and-a-half years ago (click here) and reunited the car just in time with its creator last summer (click here). The car was based around the chassis' of a burnt-out BMC 1100 and built with the Flather Star championship in mind. Bishop told me: “The first few events were mainly to discover how to drive the beast. It quickly became clear that I was suffering from a lack of power, so I wrote Alec Issigonis at Longbridge to see if he had a spare Cooper ‘S’ engine laying around. And to my surprise and delight he organized one to be sent to me via their development facility Downton works! I converted this to run on propane, mainly because I was a manufacturer of gas calibration equipment, and it was a winner. I achieved a back-to-back win of the championships of 1969 & 1970. In 1975 I sold the vehicle to someone who used it for autocross.” I wish all the best to Bishop's family and friends with the loss of Morris.

Morris Bishop in MoBi-One in 1968. The car proved to be virtually unbeatable

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

A letter from Alec Issigonis, happy to supply Bishop with a special tuned engine

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Repainted in yellow and with Downton-engine running on propane, MoBi-One was even faster 

Picture Jeroen Booij archive 

Autotest champion Alastair Moffatt (left) reunited MoBi-One with its creator last Summer

Picture courtesy Alastair Moffatt

A picture taken at Morris' 90th birthday party in Spain, August 2020, his wife Dizzy on his side

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Morris' cup cabinet, all the silverware was won with his MoBi-One!

Picture Morris Bishop

Morris Bishop reunited with MoBi-One

A while ago I received a message from a reader who'd spotted MoBi-One at Prescott Hill, and wondered if stunt driver, multiple record holder, motorsport champion and the car's owner Alastair Moffatt (do have a look at his website here) had any particular plans with the car. 

He replied: "Morris came over last year with his wife for tea and let me borrow his book on MoBi. I’m thinking of getting it going and documenting it with a friend to maybe doing a small book on the car and it’s story." I love the idea of that. I also happened to be close to Morris Bishop's place in Spain a week later and wondered if we could arrange a little meet and greet. Unfortunately Morris (now almost 92 years young) happened to be away: "Just to let you know that we are in England at the moment - It would have been lovely to see you!", he wrote.

Better next time. Alastair did send over a few pictures of Morris being reunited with his old car though, which was fantastic. Thank you chaps!

Alastair Moffatt (left) reunited Morris Bishop with his old autotest car MoBi-One

Picture courtesy Alastair Moffatt

The car was shown at Prescott Hill recently, where a reader spotted it

Picture Andy Parkinson 

MoBi-One is saved

It's almost been 10 years when the mysteriously disappeared MoBi-One was mentioned on these pages for the first time. Meanwhile, the car was found in a barn last year (click here) after which a number of interested parties reported themselves. However, it did take almost another year before it finally found its new owner in Alastair Moffatt,  who wrote:

"Hi Jeroen. I have just purchased MoBi-One for my autotest Mini car collection. Having won 8 BTRDA Gold Star championships and 6 RAC/MSA championships and owning two of the most successful cars in history already, the car could not be in better hands. Now with MoBi-One I have the most iconic car, too. I will start on it very soon with plans to get it out for a demo or two next year."

Shortly later the car's original builder and designer Morris Bishop contacted me also: "Hi Jeroen, I have just received this email and photo from Alastair Moffatt and am delighted that MoBi-One is now in a collection. Naturally I will be in contact with Alistair with a view to visit him when the Covid 19 pandemic is over. At the moment we are in lock down in in our Spanish home with no immediate possibility of returning for our summer break in the UK. It would appear the steering configuration gaff has been fixed, and I am pleased to hear that the new owner will be restoring  MoBi-One to its original colour, though probably not the last fuel set up, which was Propane powered, This was to publicize the LPG calibration equipment that I designed and manufactured, mainly fore industrial equipment such as forklift trucks many years ago. Regards, Morris"
Happy days will be here again.

MoBi-One is now in the hands of a trials champion and will be restored to its former glory

Picture Alastair Moffatt, via Morris Bishop

MoBi-One found: the Bishops speak

MoBi-One has been found (click here) and its creator, Morris Bishop, contacts me from Spain:
"Hi Jeroen. Wow, that is a surprise. I am just coming up to my 89th birthday so it is not now of any interest in acquiring MoBi-One, but I will spread the word of its existence. Warm regards, Morris"

His son Graham messaged me also: "Thanks for spotting MoBi One still lives. Now we have to work out what to do with it if we (his kids) can club together and buy it. It needs a loving restorer. Any ideas? Graham Bishop."

Morris continues on the state of it: "Just to update you with what I believe the four-wheel steering attribute was the last time I was involved with MoBi, which was when the previous owner had it - he had replaced one of the twin steering racks on the compound front system, but he had not realised that it was a left hand drive rack and he had used a right hand drive. So when I reassembled this onto MoBi Its steering became Crab not complementary which made the car useless! This was just 5 days before I was due to compete in the BT&RDA Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1988. I went up there anyway, only to find that there was three 4 wheel steering cars competing and one of these drivers ask me to drive his car. however being unfamiliar with the car I came in second."

So... Morris is not interested in restoring the car but his children are. Perhaps anyone out here who think he could help Graham with that?

Morris Bishop in his MoBi-One in 1968. His children would love to restore it now

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Mobi-One found in a barn

Stop Press!
Mobi-One has turned up in a barn in Heathfield, UK and is for sale. The ad reads:
'The world's most manoeuvrable competition car MOBI ONE. Condition is acceptable. As used by Morris Bishop to win the British Trial and Rally Driver's Association championship 2 years running. This car is capable of a 40mph opposed steering turn within a 10 ft diameter turning cycle. Mini Cooper engine.'

It seems to wear a tax disc of 1984, so hasn't probably seen the streets since 35 years. I'm sure Morris will be delighted to see it survives. See the ad here, where eagle eyed readers will spot another gem in the background. More to follow. More on Mobi-One, including film footage and an interview with Morris Bishop here.

'Motor Sport tries Motorail' - the full film

It's been over eight years ago that I wrote about a promotional film named 'Motor Sport tries Motorail' about the 1968 Motorail Trophy (click here). I bought a dvd with the film at the time, showing a number of cars which were transported by train from London to Torbay to do a hill climb and an autotest event. It was filmed in early May 1968 and two cars of particular interest in the movie are Morris Bishop's clever four-wheel steered MoBi-One and a fine Camber GT / Maya GT (this one). Well... the full movie can now be found on the internet in a good quality and I thought I'd include it here also. Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Movie British Transport Films

Mystery Mini derivative (37)

This has been a while - no mystery motors have appeared here for some time. But the Mystery Mini derivative is back with a funny four-wheel steered creature which made a brief appearance in two advertisements, supposedly dating back to 1969. At first thought I believed it could have been Mobi-One in a much chopped-up state. Fortunately it isn't. Mobi-One creator Morris Bishop (who is still looking out for the car) told me it could well be 'one of the many copies that there are around'. That leaves us with the question: which one? Do you know it? Share your knowledge here!

Square tube frame, aluminum body, Mini mechanicals. But who built it? 

Picture courtesy carandclassic.co.uk 

Full four-wheel steering would make it a winner at every auto test 

Picture courtesy carandclassic.co.uk 

Morris Cooper S powered, too. Please do not scrap it for the engine alone 

Picture courtesy carandclassic.co.uk 

Much more on MoBi-One

More news from Morris Bishop, the man who built the Mini based car that 'can virtually park on a postage stamp'. See more here or even watch a great little movie of the man himself demonstrating 'MoBi-One' here. Morris wrote: "Hi Jeroen. We are now back in Spain and I have had time to sort out the inevitable problems after being away for three months. I attach some of the pages from a draft of my memoirs that I am writing - there are more but I do not want to become a bore!"

"One of my favorite pastimes was competing in what used to be called 'driving tests'. This consisted of a series of tests to negotiate a complex course laid out with pylons against the clock, and whoever could do it fastest was the winner. The national championship was run by the British trials and rally drivers association (BT&RDA) and consisted of about 20 rounds held all over the country. Back in 1967 I was elected to the driving test committee and got permission to seek a sponsorship deal so that we could popularize the sport, and raise its profile in the eyes of the general public. Because I knew Stuart Turner, the sports director of Castrol, I secured sponsorship from them, which allowed for a much more professional series of event to take place. We rebranded the sport 'autotesting' to get away from obvious connotation. At the same time, I had my sights set on winning the Flather Star which was for the overall 'fastest time of the day' (FTD), so I decided to design and build a special: a car that does not have to comply with any production car restrictions, but is put in a separate class, and only competes with other specials and the times are loaded with a 10% penalty."

"Analyzing what would make a winning car I dreamed up a four wheel steering vehicle that would have an inside turning radius of approximately 4 foot. I decided to base the build on BMC 1100 mechanicals and bought a burnt out wreck. Some 6 weeks later it was ready for testing. The first few events were mainly to discover how to drive the beast. It quickly became clear that I was suffering from a lack of power, so I wrote Alec Issigonis at Longbridge Birmingham to see if he had a spare Cooper S engine laying around! And to my surprise and delight he organized one to be sent to me via their development facility Downton Works. Two weeks later I competed and won – and never looked back I achieved a back to back win of the championship 1969 & 1970. Since then many of the special drivers have built four-wheel steering vehicles." Nice story, isn't it? I really have to thank Morris once again. Now, wouldn't it be good if we could track the actual car down, too?

MoBi-One in full four-wheel lock on its way to another win

Picture courtesy Morris Bishop

MoBi-One's four-wheel steering works surprisingly simple

Picture courtesy Hot Car magazine

A letter from Alec Issigonis, much to Bishop's surprise

Picture courtesy Morris Bishop

Bishop's prize cabinet. He won the BT&RDA championship in '69 and '70

Picture courtesy Morris Bishop

MoBi's Morris Bishop speaks

Remember this one? Well, the whereabouts of the amazing MoBi-One remain unknown, but the good news is that the car's builder, Morris Bishop, got in touch with me now. He writes:
"Hi Jeroen. My name is Morris Bishop, the designer and builder of MoBi-One, which was originally built to win the Flather Star trophy which was presented by the BTRDA (British Trial & Rally Drivers Association) to the winner of a series of "Autotests" (High Speed Manoeuvrability against the clock) held all over the UK. In 1969 I was fortunate to get a Cooper S engine from Alec Issigonis (the designer of the Mini) and I then converted this to run on propane, mainly because I was a manufacturer of gas calibration equipment used mainly for industrial vehicles, taxi’s and the like. In 1970 I won the Flather Star and in 1975 sold the vehicle to someone who used it for autocross. He then sold it to the current owner, as far as I know, Mike Wilsdon (JB: another chap I'd love to speak to, see here). Some time in the 1980’s He contacted me to say that he had remade the double rack which was an important part of the four wheel steering system, and would I help him with the re-assembly, to which I agreed. Unfortunately he had purchased a right hand drive rack instead of a left hand drive version for part of the double rack assembly, and thus, when re assembled, MoBi One became CRAB steering instead of complimentary steering – which made it totally useless! And that is the last I thing that I know about the car. I have photos and a scrap book devoted to MoBi-One, if you would like anything from this I could email it to you in about two weeks time as at present we are in the UK, and the book is in Spain. If ever you do find MoBi-One, it would not be impossible to correct the error that MW has made! Regards, Morris."

Morris Bisshop in MoBi-One: the turn-tale car

Where is Mobi-One?

Now what have we got here?

It is Mobi-One, an 1100cc engined Mini based vehicle created by Maurice (Morris) Bishop in 1968 that came with four wheel steering! And British Pathe have a lovely little clip on the car, with Bishop demonstrating it: "It has a ten foot turning circle and can virtually park on a postage stamp".

But where is the car now? I found out it was owned by Mike Wilsdon in the 1990's. Wilsdon ran a small transport museum just opposite Kew Garden's entrance then, but the museum is gone and I cannot find a trace of the man. And how about Bishop? The clip is said to have been filmed in Langley. Does anyone know if mister Bishop is still there? He may have actually built the 1275cc Mobi-Two that is mentioned in the video... (click on picture to view clip)

UPDATE 29 August 2011: The car itself remains unfound, but its creator calls in! Click here
UPDATE 22 September 2011: Much more news from Mobi-One's creator. Click here

UPDATE 2 JULY 2019: The car is found! Click here.