Nimrod on its way to recovery in Austria

A Nimrod that was seen for sale in Germany has now finally found a new owner in Austria: Jan Krieger, who contacted me about the project. He wrote: "I found it by scrolling through Ebay to find an engine for my Mini convertible. There was an old engine with this buggy and so I found it... and bought it. Than I started Googling what this thing actually is, and read more about it. I knew Mike Jupp's (the Nimrod's designer-JB) jigsaw puzzle designs but knew nothin about the car. But the more I read the more I got hooked. So after two days I knew enough to decide it is not just an engine donor - it was one more project! And after 3 days I wanted to build one which can swim/float, too! Now that it is here I must say it looks pretty horrible, with the condition being worse than expected, although it is repairable. I might try to mould some gull wing doors for winter use, we will see. But first I need to weld a new chassis frame, repair the body and engine and rebuild the interior. I think the engine is a 1300 Innocenti with the wrong carburetors but then with this car nothin is original."

"Meanwhile I started a little research too. This Nimrod is the black one that was shipped over to Germany. It is not one of the original 4 built, Mike Jupp believes, but it's a 1983 TACCO (Talbott Alternative Car Company) made Nimrod. I found the guy who built this car as he was a member of the Nimrod Owners Club and it's the black one on the left on the picture with the 4 cars in 1985. He said it's the second and last car Nigel Talbott laid himself. All kits after that were made by professional layers so this is supposedly not the best quality one."

"I also found that the mouldings still exist by Fiberglass Applications and they are refurbishable. Anyway... when I get the car fixed I want to drive it from Austria to Mike in the UK as he wants to do some graphic on it and I want to meet some other people and look for some spare parts. Perhaps I build a new chassis, buy an old Mini and build a new Nimrod, moulding a bottom plate and laminate it together to one piece. Greetings from Austria, Jan"

The Nimrod as it was seen for sale in Germany

Picture Autoscout.de / Jeroen Booij archive

Q24 NYA is believed to be the 2nd Nimrod built by Nigel Talbott

Picture Autoscout.de / Jeroen Booij archive

Jan thinks the engine is an Innocenti 1300 but he's not sure

Picture Autoscout.de / Jeroen Booij archive 

It is now in Austria with Jan: "I must say it looks pretty horrible!"

Picture Jan Krieger

Jan wants to restore it never the less and drive it over to the UK when finished

Picture Jan Krieger

Plywood floor is mostly gone. Chassis is very very rusty, too

Picture Jan Krieger

"First I need to weld a new chassis frame, repair the body and engine and rebuild the interior"

Picture Jan Krieger

Q24 NYA had been off the radar for ages - it was seen here at the 1985 Stoneleigh Kit Car show

Picture Mark Thursfield / Mini Marcos Owners Club

More snow bound Mini derivatives

Keeping with the snow-theme (Tuesday's Canadian ice racer here) let's have a look at a few more Mini based cars which were used or meant to be used in snow. First photograph comes from Scamp-boss Andrew MacLean. He added: "It's a publicity picture of one of the most successful Mini based RTVs, bought by Scottish Hydro-electricity in 1987/'88. Mini 1000 Automatic running through a pair of Triumph differentials with slightly modified and beefed up Mini suspension, LHD steering rack with extended arms and... drum-brakes all round! 15x15" Dunlop Treadlight Flotation Tyres leaving a footprint of only 3psi, so ideal for snow, shale, sandy beaches and mud!" More recently this car has been fully restored. 

Second there's the Mini-Trac expedition vehicle, designed and built in 1965 for the Australian researchers based at the Wilkes Antarctic Station: one of the coldest and windiest places on earth. The Mini-Trac was built by Terry O’Hare who ran a coachbuilding company in Sunshine (!), just outside Melbourne. O’Hare used an Austin 850 and removed its original driveshafts, universal joints, hubs and suspension and had drive sprockets fitted to the differential output shafts, providing its 850 power independently to both tracks via chains. Two more Mini-Tracs were built, one went to New Zealand and the other to Canada, but all three haven’t been seen for decades. The Wilkes base was abandoned in 1969. Could they survive?

Last in line here is the Stimson Snow Bug, as it was drawn in 1969 or 1970 by the great Barry Stimson (he can't remember exactly). Barry was approached by an Austrian company to design a snow vehicle that could carry four people over snow and that would be cheap to build. Barry: “Snow mobiles were out there but they could only carry two persons. I did it as simple as I could make it. It would have had two rubber based tracks and to make it turn left you just put the brake on the right hand wheel, or the other way 'round'. Unfortunately it never left the sketch stadium after the Austrians lost interest."

The RTV used by Scottish Hydro-electricity in the 1980s - 'Ideal for snow'

Picture courtesy Andrew MacLean

One of three Mini-Tracs, built for expeditions on Antarctica, in New-Zealand and Canada

Picture Jeroen Booij archive via Craig Watson

The Stimson Snow Bug never materialized. The request came from Austria

Picture Jeroen Booij archive, courtesy Barry Stimson

Ascender ancestor to Austria

Two and a half years ago, when work on the body shell of my Mini Marcos was still meant to be carried out in the UK (things went differently...) - I found out about a three-wheeler which looked remarkably much like the Silcoates Ascender (click here). I asked its builder, Les Brown, if there ever were two cars and this is what he wrote to me at the time:

"Hi Jeroen. This is a strange. Well, I'm not sure I DO know what's going on! I built a Mini trike around 1975 from a 1962 Cooper that had rusted past economic repair at that time - 653 UMA. I kept as much as I could of the original Mini, and the car couldn't believe its luck when completed! All that weight gone, just 3 wheels to turn, and it absolutely flew! The red car looks substantially what I had done, though it still had a Mini floor pan originally. I sold it around 1990 to one of the students who had worked on the cars and I knew he decided to 'improve' on certain aspects of the design that he didn't approve of. My chassis was not symmetrical as I used a standard Mini rear arm, which meant the tubes were offset to follow the new load paths as far as possible. He started to make a new (symmetric) chassis which looked very heavy to me, but I thought the whole lot had been abandoned and scrapped years ago. I certainly made the front end that you see, and possibly some of the surviving chassis is mine also. Just to avoid confusion, I painted them all different colours, and the one we knew as 'Ascender' was essentially a development of the red car. It does still exist and was down around the Devon area in the last 12 months, though this also had now lost the original '653 UMA'."

Fast forward to last April when I was contacted by August Thurner of Austria, who bought the three-wheeler and brought it over from the UK to his own country. He asked if I knew anything more about the vehicle and so I told him what I knew. I now understand August wants to restore the car and eventually try and get it road registered in Austria. He'd love to get in touch with the owner of the other (yellow and black) vehicle, so if you own that and read this, feel free to drop me a line and I will forward your message to Austria.

This Mini based three-wheeler is not 'a' or 'the' Silcoates Ascender but actually a forebear to that

Picture August Thurner

Originally registered '653 UMA' it used a Mini floorpan and most of its parts, too

Picture August Thurner

However, it was sold at around 1990 to a student who made a new chassis from square tubing

Picture August Thurner

The car as it was original, made by Les Brown in 1975 or '76 and used as a daily driver

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Kingfisher Sprint shell wants to be turned into a car

A virtually new Kingfisher Sprint body shell that remains unbuilt and thus never turned a wheel since it was made in Northumberland in the 1980s has turned up for sale in Vienna, Austria. Christian Schmidt made me aware of the car that is owned by a friend of him, who lives locally. He wrote: "He is in the process of streamlining his collection of classic vehicles. Main reason is as usual - too many projects, too little time! He asked me to help him with the sale and I was immediately thinking of your Maximum Mini Market."

The shell was bought with the intention to build it up as a functioning car but it never happened. Somewhere in the shell's life the body's front end had gone missing at some point and therefore a new mould was made. This mould comes with the lot, together with the bonnet, both doors and the rear hatch panel. A new owner will have to source all the rest of the (Mini) mechanicals and further parts to finish the project, including VW Beetle 1303 windscreen, Datsun 120Y Coupe rear screen and Ford Capri rear lights as these were fitted to the cars built by Kingfisher instigator Roger King. King sold approximately 35 Sprints between 1981 and 1984.
For more details see the ad here.

Waiting to be built from the early 1980s-on - this Kingfisher Sprint body is virtually new

Picture via Christian Schmidt

A mould was made to create a new front end for the car - it comes with the lot

Picture via Christian Schmidt

What have I done..? Kingfisher body shell when it was picked up many years ago

Picture via Christian Schmidt

About 35 Kingfisher Sprints were made, and this one never turned a wheel

Picture via Christian Schmidt

Quasar Unipower returns to the roads in Austria

Good news from Austria! The Quasar Unipower found in a shed in the UK and brought over to Vienna by Wolfgang Buchta is ready to be enjoyed on the roads once more.
Wolfgang wrote: "The Eagle has landed! A small step for mankind but a giant leap for the Buchta Family! After a long time of being quiet I finally can report on some progress on the Quasar. The Cube is thoroughly cleaned, partially repainted and up and running! Next it will be road registered and then... Then you will be most welcome in Austria! All the best, Wolfgang. That's just perfect. Now let's see when I can make it over to the Buchta's place.

Thoroughly cleaned, partially repainted and up and running once again

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

 And this is what it looked like a year ago when dragged from a shed in the UK

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

 The 850 Automatic is refurbished and now up and running again

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

 A repaint in its original bright white was necessary also

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

 The Quasar's interior needed lots of cleaning and a repaint also

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

 But now 'The eagle has landed!' as Wolfgang says

Picture Wolfgang Buchta

Austrian derivatives are looking for new owners

I know of a few Mini derivatives in Austria, but overall they are pretty scarce there. Michael Kaufmann contacted me from that country and wrote: "Hi Jeroen, I am still looking/dreaming for a Mini Marcos or a unique Mini kit car but with our Austrian regulations it's not easy to import them."

"By the way, there is a GTM here for sale. This one is since over 15 years in Austria and comes in spare parts for a full rebuild. I know the person who bought it in the UK and the current seller is now the third person who hasn't done any work on the car."
"There is also a Mini Marcos in Austria that is for sale, but it's too expensive for me, see pictures. I didn't see any UK registration papers and know only the reseller, who I think you know him, too, as he has an orange Jimini. Best regards, Michael"

Thanks Michael! These were two cars I didn't know about! If anyone is interested in them, let me know and I'll see if I can get you in touch with the sellers.

Austrian GTM Coupe is a 1986 car and is said to come with a 1275 engine

Picture via Michael Kauffmann

Work on it was started, with the fibreglass body removed, but that seems to be it

Picture via Michael Kauffmann

In Austria too: a Mk4 Mini Marcos bare shell. Surely a nice project to somebody

Picture via Michael Kauffmann

Austrian rules make it hard to import cars such as these to the country, says Michael

Picture via Michael Kauffmann

Spectrafloat Special - an update

In last week's Quasar Unipower piece (click here) I wrote 'I'd love to hear from the new owner'. Well, as it turns out now the car wasn't sold but was on its way to Austria for a revamp. Wolfgang Buchta, who is editor of Austro Classic magazine and the owner of a unique Mini-based roadster, the Ashley Gnat, knows all about it and contacted me. He wrote:

"Dear Jeroen, I have just seen the the entry about the Quasar Unipower in your Maximum Mini Blog which prompts me to to send you this mail. Thanks for the interesting information! May I venture two corrections: First it was not found in a French barn in 2009. This very car was 'hidden' in the South of England since at least the mid 1990 (maybe even since 1984). Secondly it not going to a new home in Germany, but to a new home in Austria."

"How do I know: This is our trailer and our Land Rover in the ferry from Dover to Calais in the afternoon of October 22nd. The Quasar Unipower has been owned since 1984 or 1995 or sometime in between by a very good (English) friend of ours. He used it only just locally in the 1990s and early 2000s. When I had a chance to drive it in 2002 it was still running but no more taxed and insured and MOT'd. Shortly afterwards it was taken off the road... Now we have agreed to put it back to the road, which hopefully it going to happen in the next few month..."

"I'll keep you updated! All the best, Wolfgang"
That's awesome, thank you!

The location was certainly not too easy to reach!

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

But there it is: the Triplex Spectrafloat Special sees the light of day after being hidden since 2002

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

Car's owner hasn't used it for many years, but stored it in his barn. Wolfgang Buchta on right

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

A Land Rover was used to drag out the Quasar Unipower 

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

It looks complete and fully intact. Buchta is going to give it some tlc though

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

On its way to Austria for a renovation. With updates to follow... 

Picture courtesy Wolfgang Buchta

Your Cox and Heerey GTM projects

Reader Peter Skitt is not on his own, working on his Cox GTM. After I wrote about his project earlier this month (click here), a number of people followed, showing their Cox or Heerey GTM project car.

Parked next to his GTM Coupe, this very early Cox is owned by Douglas Anderson

Douglas is planning a restoration on the car, but has quite a few other projects

Picture courtesy Douglas Anderson

This Heerey GTM has just made it to Austria, where a restoration is about to start by its new 

owner Alfred Schönbauer. It is said to be a 1970 car

Picture courtesy Alfred Schönbauer

And it rubs shoulders with this car, also due to be restored by Alfred in Austria. 

The car's registration is of 1969 but the V5 says it's a Cox GTM

Picture courtesy Alfred Schönbauer

This car was owned by Chris Clifford until recently, but he sold it only last week

Feel free to keep me posted on the restoration if you are the new owner

Picture courtesy Chris Clifford

While this car was also owned by Chris. He wrote: I've had it for many years, but 

have too many projects!" It's gone to France now

Picture courtesy Chris Clifford

Recently spotted somewhere on a UK driveway by Simon Pike - another GTM 

overdue for a restoration! More info is welcome

Picture courtesy Simon Pike

Simon Grist wrote: "I am not even starting the build till this winter, but the photo 

gives an idea of what I have so far, a long way to go!"

Picture courtesy Simon Grist

UPDATE 19:50 - Dimitri Cornet contacted me, writing: "Hello. My name is Dimitri I am the new owner of the blue Cox and the red one without the front end. I bought the lot from Chris. The Cox is an ex-racer and the red one is a 1971 Heerey GTM. I am going to leave the red one alone but I will restore and race the blue one, hopefully end of this year or beginning of next year. I am French but I live in England so both cars are still there.

I also went to see the car in Belgium, I think it's a Cox but this car doesn't have a V5, I think it was lost. I am pretty sure this car in Belgium had a crash in its previous life as the chassis is all twisted. It's the reason why I didn't buy it. I will let you know and keep you updated on the restoration of the blue car."
Thank you Dimitri!

Metron designer speaks

It's always the best to get information from first-hand sources. And it's a bit of a break-through to find such a person that single-handedly designed and built a Mini based car, or more of them. But I had not been able to get hold of Scotsman Terry Smith so far. Terry is the man behind the 1971 Metron, which is fully featured in Maximum Mini 2. A fascinating car with gullwing doors and Mini power. I photographed it with its current owner in Austria and was lucky to find out more of it thanks to an old clipping from a local newspaper. But so far, I had not been able to track down the man himself. 

Imagine my surprise when a Terry Smith dropped me a line recently about a Unipower GT project he was working on. Did he happen to be the Terry Smith of Metron-fame? Yep, he was. And he turned out to be still a great enthusiast, too, with several projects at hand. He bought my books and a poster and they arrived on time before Christmas. Terry wrote: "Many thanks for the Maximum Mini books which have been a great read over the holidays. I was very impressed with your entry on Metron, which brought back many happy memories! The poster is wonderful also, lovely to see Metron joining such other impressive creations. Incidentally Motor magazine also printed a two-page article about Metron at the time. I have a copy somewhere and will send you a scan when I locate it. I also noticed that you mentioned Circa in the Metron article. I went on to build several Circa models. The first had a central driving position (several years before the Mclaren F1) with passenger either side, and two small children's seats behind. It had a transverse Ford mid engine layout. A further evolution had a twin-turbo Rover V8 mid engine and ground effect aerodynamics. I tested this in the MIRA wind tunnel, and it generated significant downforce front and rear. My latest Circa is the Charterhall Speedster which is an update on the Jaguar E-Type, with more modern lightweight Jaguar parts."

It's good to finally be in touch with you Terry!

Terry's creation, the Metron, made it to a two-page spread in Motor in 1972, seen here

Picture Motor magazine, via Terry Smith

The actual car survives but needs a full restoration now. It lives in Austria

Picture Jeroen Booij