Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #128

 

Broadspeed GTS ends up on ots pretty roof

Coldwell Twin Cam Mini for sale

Coldwell GT for sale

See you at Le Mans!

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #106

Racing Car Show 1966: launch of the Mini Marcos

More historical pictures of Coldwell GT found

Le Mans Mini Marcos - roundel lights connected

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #98

Biota newsflashes

Update: Mini Marcos at the Nurburgring

Coldwell in colour - at Shelsley Walsh

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #95

Getting ready for Poland 2026: 3 men, 3 project cars

Coldwell GT in its earliest stage

Happy Halloween 2025!

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #86

Meet the Broadsprint Coupe

Deep Sanderson 301 sells

New pictures of the lost Coldwell GT of Macau

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #50

Moulds to make the Coldwell GT body turn up after decades

Picture Mark Needham

Towns Microdot makes it to Los Angeles exhibition - registered

Picture Petersen Automotive Museum

The Mini based cars at the NEC Classic Motor Show

Picture Paul Wylde

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #49

ABC Tricar - another one now saved

Picture Shane Black

Fibresports Mini Superfront found

Picture Tony Bucknall

Sheffield 1968: unseen images of building the Coldwell GT

Picture Bill Needham / Jeroen Booij archive

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. 

Needham set up Coldwell Engineering Ltd. in 1961 and debuted in racing that same year. He entered his first race in a Mini two years later and developed a great and enduring passion for the small car. Bill was the first to develop and build a revolutionary 1000cc twin cam A-series engine for his own racing Mini in 1967, but it was the Coldwell GT that will appeal most to Maximum Mini readers. This rear engined and Mini powered car debuted at the Racing Car Show in January 1969 and had been fully designed and built in Needham's Sheffield's workshop on Coldwell Lane, hence the name.The GT’s chassis was built up from a multitude of round steel tubes and came with full independent suspension, using double wishbones and coil springs all round. Its fibreglass body was ultra light and ultra low, coming with tiny doors. At a certain stage the twin cam Mini-engine was fitted to Needham's personal GT racer, but it was later swapped for a more conventional Cooper 'S' engine. This GT was later sold to Singapore. Bill told me it may well still be there (more here). Just three more GT's followed. 

But Needham was also involved in the development of the Biota, dreamt up by John Houghton in 1968 in nearby Rotherham. This is how Houghton Coldwell Ltd. came about - the name seen on Biota's badges, brochures, letterheads, chassis plates and advertising. Needham wasn't very keen on the whole Biota project "I never liked the idea", he told me in 2007. That year I met him for the first time in his Lincolnshire home. He didn't seem too keen on a journalist coming over and didn't think he had anything interesting to share when I walked into his workshop. But with the passing of the hours he became more and more enthused. He also told me he didn't have any old pictures or material left from his Coldwell Engineering days, but then his (second) wife remembered a shoebox in the attic. She found it, too, and with the snapshots and old paperwork the memories flooded back over lunch. We were just in time to copy it, too, as the mice had already started feeding themselves on them! 

Since a few years Bill's son Mark has been working on the restoration of the fourth and last Coldwell GT and he tells me he is getting started on the project again after a long period in mothballs, now from a new house with workshop. Mark: "The GT project will continue and I hope he would have been pleased with the result when it is finished. I also have the twin cam Mini, which I hope to run next year. I'll update you with some pictures soon." In the meantime I wish Mark and the rest of Bill's relatives and family all the best with their loss of a special man.

September 2007, Bill Needham in his workshop with his twin cam Mini racer

Picture Jeroen Booij

June 1968: Bill (left) with the same twin cam engined Mini at Shelsley Walsh

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

And the same engine in the same car once again some 40 years later

Picture Jeroen Booij

Winter 1968: Bill trying out the seating position of the first Coldwell GT

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The company as well as the car were named after Coldwell Lane in Sheffield where it was built

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The pretty Coldwell GT made it to the tracks in the late 1960s, early 1970s

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Just four of the ultra low GTs were made. This was Needham's personal racer

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Coldwell 1968 price list, found just in time before the rodents had eaten all of it!

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Houghton Coldwell Ltd. didn't last very long. Needham "never liked the idea"

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The ultra rare Houghton Coldwell steering wheel center that was made for the Biota

Picture Jeroen Booij

Blyton Park 2017: the best of the rest

After yesterday's GTM galore, let us now have a look at the rest of he Mini based cars that made it over to Blyton Park on the 30th of April for the terrific 4th Mk1 Performance / Maximum Mini Action Day. Enjoy them.

When you've read Maximum Mini 1 you may recall mention of the 4th and last of the Coldwell GTs, which is under restoration. I have asked the owner every year to bring it over… and finally there it was!

Picture Jeroen Booij

Owner Mark Needham, seen here with a bright smile, is the son of Coldwell instigator Bill Needham, who was also present at Blyton - mostly on the track

Picture Jeroen Booij

That's Bill Needham's Mini he's owned since Human memory. It is famously fitted with the twin cam cylinder head of his own design, dating back to 1967

Picture Jeroen Booij

Robert Scott is the new and very enthusiastic owner of this Mk2 Biota, which looked superb

Picture Jeroen Booij

Kevin Murray came all the way from the Scottish highlands, and treated himself to a new project on his way down south. It's a fully space framed sprinter built by Philip Oram in the 1980s

Picture Jeroen Booij

The car's body resembled a Riley Elf, but not as you know it. The race engine plus the moulds for the car's body came with the sale, too, and Kevin managed to fit them into his van. More to follow soon

Picture Jeroen Booij

There's my own little pride and joy: the Le Mans Mini Marcos, next to two siblings: the Mk1 street car of Peter Skitt on its left and the Mk1 racer of Gary Marlow on its right

Picture Jeroen Booij

What was the last time you saw three Mk1 Mini Marcoses in a row? Peter's white car has ben beautifully restored by himself over a period of time

Picture Jeroen Booij

Gary's car is quite special, too. It is completely as it was raced back in 1966 and has never been on the road. Gary told me it is one of supposedly six competition shells, of which mine has to be another. His car's roll bar and floors formed excellent reference to my car and I took a multitude of detail shots of it for that reason. I'll post some of them here, with explanations, in the near future

Picture Jeroen Booij

And… it won the Maximum Mini Award for the best Mini derivative of the day! That's Gary on the left, handed over the award by Mini racer extraordinaire Gordon Spice

Picture Jeroen Booij

Another winner: the Maguire Mini of Barry Long which won the title of Best Track Car of the day. It was indeed beautifully prepared and could be seen/heard screaming on they track for much of the day!

Picture Jeroen Booij

The flying Dutchmen who have been supporting me since the first Blyton Park Action Day back in 2014. Thanks for coming over once again chaps!

Picture Jeroen Booij

And we had a great contingent coming over from Ireland, too. Here inspecting the 

engine bay of Goff Allen's Mk2 Mini Jem. Great to see you too, guys!

Picture Jeroen Booij

That's Goff. He gave me a short lecture on how to tackle the gell cracks on my Mini Marcos' body. 

He restored his Jem beautifully, and is currently working on another, a Mk1

Picture Jeroen Booij

Steve Burkinshaw brought over one of his Radford Minis and not the least: this is a rare Radford Traveller. He told me there may have been up to 12 built. A bit more info here

Picture Jeroen Booij

Like all of Steve's cars this one is absolutely beautifully restored with all he right bits and details

Picture Jeroen Booij

And it wasn't on its own. Unipower GT-man and Blyton's co-organizer Pete Flanagan took another Radford to the event. One he recently found in the US

Picture Jeroen Booij

It's a 1965 car that was converted by Radford in '66 into a hatchback. It comes with lovely patina and spent most of its life in sunny California. Pete is still looking for more info on its past

Picture Jeroen Booij

Tim Carpenter drove his gorgeous Unipower GT - chassis number 1 - over from London to Lincolnshire and eagerly campaigned it on the track, too. That's the spirit!

Picture Jeroen Booij

And that's my old friend Geoffrey Hunter and the Ogle SX1000 he owns since 1963!

He used it as a daily driver for many years and drove it to the event, too. Thanks Geoff

Picture Jeroen Booij

Parting shot. See you there next year!

Picture Jeroen Booij