Market round up (Autumn 2015)

Let's make a little round-up on what is on the market at the moment. Quite a lot Mini based vehicles to choose from, ranging from plain weird to pretty wonderful. At your service!
PS: You know where to find more of them - click here for Deep Sanderson, Unipower, Ogle et cetera...

A Jiffy project, this one comes with six wheels! Jiffy registrar Glen Bowden says: "I dont think Indespension built it. I havent heard about 6-wheelers and I have only seen two." 

See the ad here

A very nice Freestyle, built with auto testing in mind. Not cheap though but ready to go

See the ad here

Or do you fancy a buggy for the rough? Then this NCF Blitz with off road tyres is yours
See the ad here

Speaking about rough: this Mini Marcos is advertised as a Mk1 or Mk2. I'd say it's a Mk3

See the ad here

Another part of the DART family: a rare Kingfisher Sprint, this one is in Ulverston

See the ad here

Built at the Goodwood track in the 1980s and with 1100 underpinnings: a Langridge Navajo

See the ad here

I really like this Mk1 Scamp. For sale in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. Combine it with a holiday!
See the ad here

And it's not the only one seen for sale at the moment. This Mk1 is offered for sale from Louth
See the ad here

For wicker men: An Innocenti Mini Mare, seen in central France but until recently in Italy (click)
See the ad here

Also in France (Colmar): a beautiful and pretty rare Mk3 Mini Jem. Tres chique but not cheap

See the ad here

This gorgeous 1964 Radford Mini de Ville has been featured in Maximum Mini 2 before

See the ad here


Or do you prefer a coachbuilt Mini by Wood & Pickett? This 1988 car was built for Sir Jeffrey Archer
See the ad here

While this Mini Marcos Mk3 racer is in Bradford on Avon - where Marcos Cars were based

See the ad here

Also close to where it was built: an AEM Scout on a stones throw from Merthyl Tydfil in Wales
See the ad here

This Nimrod is in the USA. It was in a good state until recently (see here), but look at it now…

See the ad here

A very nice Minus Mini here with 1275 engine and comprehensive work carried out

See the ad here

Last but not least, over to New Zealand, where a Terrapin has made it to the market

See the ad here

And there's Mini Mare number 6!

At first I believed there were only two Mini Mares, built by Carrozzeria ORO but I soon learnt that three were built. Then came along number 4 all the way in the USA. Not much later followed by number 5 - as believed in sunny Portofino. Now, guess what kind of car was just seen on the Auto e Moto d'Epoca show in Padua, Italy? Yep. A Mini Mare. Another! Richard Heseltine, enthusiastic as ever, spotted it at the show and sent over the picture below. He wrote: "I thought you might be amused by the attached. I saw it at the Auto e Moto d'Epoca show in Padua (Padova) at the end of October. I'm afraid I don't have any info to go with it. The car was on display alongside a Ghia beach car and a Viotti-bodied Fiat 600." The car looks pretty similar to the one of John Stanmeyer, including the ship's wheel on its bonnet. I asked John if he'd hastily restored his and shipped it over to Italy, but he hadn't: "Can't be mine… our Mini Mare is sitting 10 meters away from me here in the barn!" So who knows more about this one?

An Innocenti Mini Mare on display in Padova. It looks to be the sixth car known now

Picture courtesy Richard Heseltine

Here is Mini Mare No.5!

I've been away for a while. It was getting too hot behind my desk and became about time for a cool breeze. I was not on my own. Nazzica from Rome went to Portofino to do a great discovery there: the 5th Innocenti Mini Mare - an Italian sibling of the Mini Beach Car. And he was kind enough to share it. But let's start at the beginning. At first, from Italian information, I believed only three Mini Mares were built. But then, not long after I wrote an article about them here (click), a message came in from the USA by John Stanmeyer who told me he owned such a car, too (see here). That was number 4! Furthermore John said he thought he'd seen another in Portofino 'back in about 1985'. Well, well. Some 27 years later that car, too, has now resurfaced and so number 5 can be validated. It is still out and about in Portofino where it is still in use, or so it seems. This one may not wear a mysterious marine decal on its bonnet but there is no doubt that this is another Mini Mare. Love it! 

But now, will there ever appear a 6th? John Stanmeyer adds: "Regarding a potential 6th... as mentioned before, I recall my father saying there were two Mini Mares on the island of Nassau, Bahamas, where my family had purchased outs back around 1974/75. Would be surprised if this second Mini ever returned to Italy where all the other Mini Mares appear to be located. There's a very vague recollection of my father saying this second car on Nassau was in poor condition, acting more as a parts mini, but do not hold me to that memory... I was only about 11 years old. If there are any readers of your blog in Nassau, it couldn't hurt to ask them if between say 1977 till today, has anyone ever seen one of these rare Minis out and about. It's a mighty small island (7-22 miles in size) making it very possible someone else might have seen it..."

In Portofino, Innocenti Mini Mare No.5 is even properly badged as such

Picture courtesy Nazzica

Not all the cars have wicker seats with frame surrounds. This one does

Picture courtesy Nazzica

Wood used throughout the car is said to be of Libanese cedar trees

Picture courtesy Nazzica

Wicker bumper, bamboo grille and Inno logo. Is that a Milan plate?

Picture courtesy Nazzica

The mysterious decals of the Mini Mare

While chatting with Mini Mare owner John Stanmeyer about his car (more here), we drew the conclusion that three of the four cars that are known now come with a different decal on their bonnets. The white car resides on the isle of Sicily has none (but it wouldn't surprise me if originally had one, too); the other three do. They are an anchor (light yellow car), a ship's wheel (John's white car) and a clover leaf (bright orange car). Apart from that last one there appears to be a nautical theme here, which would fit the story as the cars were supposedly commissioned as tender to Fernandino Innocenti's yacht 'Anitella' in 1972.

John wrote: "The missing decal could indeed have been removed in a subsequent paint job, though unfortunate to not replace because I sense it was the original design. Until we repainted our back in the late 1970's (we masked around the wheel) I could feel that ship's wheel paint was not add-on but rather painted directly upon the bonnet... the transition between white body paint and wheel was flawless. Odds are the paint on the Mare when my father bought it was original because he purchased it in the early 70's. Also possibly interesting/connectable to the ships wheel on the bonnet is this — the interior roof vinyl, flooring and dashboard vinyl are all a deep sea blue, matching the exact same color of the blue ships wheel painted on the bonnet. I remember noticing this as a kid and now these discussions are making me recall odd connective bits such as this colour scheme of what I sense is the original design plan of the Mini Mares produced."

"By the way; I'm not an expert in any of this! Simply sharing insight into my car so someone else knows before I forget these finite details. I know more about Mars then Mini's..." To be honest I am not much of an expert into bonnet decals, but like John I am enjoying a good bit of sleuthing work... So there we go again: who knows more about these decals?

Cracking the code? Apart from Sicily car (top left) all Mini Mares have bonnet decals: 

a ship's wheel; clover leaf and an anchor...

Mini Mare resurfaces in USA

You may remember this post about Innocenti Mini Mare beach cars. I always assumed just three were built by Carrozzeria ORO in the early 1970s after Ferdinando Innocenti asked them to do so. However, there is at least one more as I just found out after celebrated photographer John Stanmeyer got in touch. John wrote: "Hello Jeroen. Stumbled across your blog while doing research on a car I have. The car in question is an early 1970's Mini Mare Innocenti. The car has been in my family for nearly 40 years. When I was a child between the years 1972-1976 we lived in Nassau, Bahamas. My father bought the Mini Mare from an Italian fellow. When we returned Stateside in 1976 we brought the Mini to America. In 1978 I restored the car but in the last few decades it has been garage kept and not driven. Today it rests in my barn, all original, though needing restoration once again. On a related note regarding existing Mini Mare Innocenti's... I lived a number of years in northern Italy. One weekend I was in Portofino along the coast and in the driveway of home overlooking the ocean was a Mini Mare Innocenti. This was back in about 1985. Needless to say I was surprised and thrilled as I'd never seen another Mini Mare  before. No idea if that one still exists but thought to mention. All My Best, John." In fact his message triggers me to find out more about the car in Portofino, too. Could it have been one of the other three cars? Or was it a fifth? Who knows more about it? Or about John's car before it got over to Nassau? Italians, come in!

4th Known Innocenti Mini Mare is nearly 40 years in the Stanmeyer family

Picture John Stanmeyer

Innocenti based Beach cars

Let's stay in Italy for another while after our Targa Florio exploits. Lovely food and wine, nice folk and some great cars there. Hang on, forget the obvious stuff from Modena and Maranello, I'm talking Mini derivatives here. What else? And the Minimach certainly is not on its own. How about some sunny Mini based beach cars from Italy? They're different from the English ones. And just three of these were built on Innocenti Mini base by a coach builder named ORO. They were given the name 'Mini Mare' and at least one is known to have ended up as a tender to the private yacht of Mister Ferdinando Innocenti himself. All three cars were said to be similar with wood surrounds plus wicker work seats, boot, grille and bumpers although they came in different colours: white and ivory. One of the three cars was also said to have been forlorn in a fire but that now seems to be untrue as pictures of a third car were made by Francesco Marziali of Florence, Italy recently. And with bright orange paint and an unusual spot light at the roof that third Mini Mare is least as striking as the other two.

First of the Mini Mares was owned by Ferdinando Innocenti. Picture: Mark Zerafa

And Innocenti Mini Mare number 2 in ivory paint. Picture: Mostra Scambio 

And the missing number 3 with unusual roof spot. Picture: Francesco Marziali