Maximum Mini: Banham Sprint

Showing posts with label Banham Sprint. Show all posts

Friday, 13 May 2022

Market round up (Spring 2022)

Another market round up to see what is for sale for those wanting to buy a Mini based car right now. Once again there is lots to choose from, from the weird to the wonderful and from the cheap to the expensive. In alphabetical order I present to you:

A beautiful AEM Scout with 1965 registration. Ad here

Andersen Cub in the UK with hardly any miles. Ad here

Andersen Cub Six, a.k.a. Sundancer in St. Tropez. Oh-la-la! Ad here

Banham Sprint with 1275 engine and 1970 reg. Ad here

Gorgeous 1992 Domino Pimlico in The Netherlands. Ad here

Grantura Yak needing TLC but correctly registered. Ad here

GTM Coupe project in Austria. Ad here

1980 Hrubon Phaeton in sunny France. Ad here

Hustler 6 with 1965 registration in Wales. Ad here

Rare Jimini 1 with gull wing doors. Love it! Ad here.

Jimini 2 that was featured in Maximum Mini 2. Ad here.

Mini Jem Mk2, ready to go, in France. Ad here

One of 4 Mini Marcoses offered for sale in France. Ad here

And another Mk4 Mini Marcos in green. Ad here

And yet another Mk4 in white (that's not a '66 car!). Ad here

Plus a Mk3 Mini Marcos in red. Ad here

1966 Mini Moke with rare Barton hardtop in Spain. Ad here

Barn find Stimson Mini Bug in Northern Ireland. Ad here

Stimson Trek in bits at an eye-watering price. Ad here

Genuine Wood & Pickett Mini needing serious work. Ad here

For 100s more Mini derivatives seen for sale previously, have a look at previous market round ups:

And then there's the Maximum Mini Marketplace

Friday, 18 September 2020

The cars of Paul Banham

In the last few weeks a couple of cars from the Banham Conversion stables made it to the market and I thought that made it about time to show some of the creations of Paul Banham here also. I believe that Banham ceased trading by this time, but he used to be a particularly prolific designer who pumped out a great of number of kits and conversions, ranging from Aston Martin- and Bentley convertibles to Porsche 550 Spyder and Ford RS200 replicas.

Best known became perhaps his clever Banham Sprint which replicated the Austin-Healey Sprite Mk1 and closely resembled it, too, despite having a Mini base. Banham reputedly found out that the Sprite Mk1 was originally meant to be Mini-based, which gave him the idea. Banham reputedly sold some 300 kits, making the Sprint one of his best sellers. There was also the Mini speedster, which was a pretty straightforward conversion to turn any Mini saloon into a two-seater with chopped down roof, A-pillars and windscreen plus twin roll-hoops and removable rear cover panel.

The Mini Metro was another Banham favourite and could be turned into the Banham Superbug (a open buggy style car), the Banham X99 (Audi TT concept-inspired Coupe and Convertible), Banham Bat (futuristic-looking development of the X99). I went to Paul's workshop in Kent in 2013 to see and drive his latest (Jaguar based) creation at the time and spent a lovely day with the man full of great stories.

Paul Banham with the Jaguar based XK180 several years ago when we had a great day out

Picture courtesy Pieter E Kamp

Sprite? Nope, it's a Sprint. That's the Mini based Banham Sprint to be exact

Picture Ebay.co.uk

Banham is believed to have sold around 300 Sprint kits, making it one of his best sellers

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The original Sprite uses an A-series engine, but not placed like this one in the Sprint

Picture Ebay.co.uk

The Banham Speedster was a Mini saloon turned into a two-seater roadster

Picture Ebay.co.uk

While the Banham Superbug was perhaps a beach buggy for the 2000s. Not many were made

Picture Ebay.co.uk

And how about the Metro based banham Bat? Its styling was certainly unique

Picture Ebay.co.uk

Friday, 6 September 2019

Market round up (Autumn 2019)

Is it autumn yet? I'm not sure but fact is that there are plenty of cars offered for sale at the moment. So it's about time for a little look at what Mini derivatives are in the market right now.