Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #82

Stop press! Zagato Mini Gatto rediscovered - again!

Full history file with 50 pictures...

...and original historical material

Detailed report from the rediscovery in 2008

And the highly original state it was in then

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #60

Background discovery: the crashed Mini Marcos of the 1967 Targa Florio

Peter Sellers and the Unipower GT 

Mystery Mini derivative (89)

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #38

Minis at the 'Ring (5) - crashing the Martini Mini ASC

The real Mini Miura - Lamborghini's Mini based prototype

Preparing the Ogle for Knebworth Park

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #22

Finding the right Mini Marcos - reader's quest fulfilled

Highly original and genuine Cox GTM for sale

And over to the next Ogle - soon for sale too

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos (3)

If you have managed to read though part 1 here and part 2 here of this intriguing story about the Mini Marcos that made it to the 1967 Targa Florio race, you may like this part 3 too. Take a deep breath!

As we found out earlier Swedish racer Jan-Erik Andreasson, who entered his Mini Marcos in the 1967 Targa Florio, owned two Mini Marcoses in 1967. They were both built in the workshop of Ragge Håkansson in Köping, the one used on the Sicilian road race was the first to be finished with a 1299cc engine with twin-choke Weber carburetor good for 130hp and a Jack Knight five-speed gearbox, an integrated roll-over bar plus a low weight due to 'a lack of interior trim, soundproofing, Perspex glass in all windows except the front screen.' The second car was built later. Quoting again from the Bilsport article, which was published in November 1967 - six months after the Targa Florio race: "Of Andreasson's two cars, one is on wheels and has already been seen in the Swedish Championship races where it has competed against thoroughbreds like Porsche Carrera 6 and Lola T70. The other car is still just a shell resting outside Ragge Håkansson's workshop near the city of Köping, waiting for a new owner."

Question was which chassis numbers these two cars wore, and which of them was the Targa Florio car? Fact is one of the cars survives in Sweden and has been restored in more recent times: chassis number 7064, which does fit in with the dates. Interestingly, some pictures of it in its pre-restored condition were made by Richard Porter in 1995 and show it in white with a broad red stripe over its body. According to Swedish Marcos historian Per Haegermark that's correct: "As we all know the Targa Florio car was white with a green stripe and the sister car looked exactly the same but had a red stripe." That car wasn't built up as a racer though and being a slightly later car it has some different features also, among them details in the body's engine bay area.

I must admit that the reason for this whole quest in finding out which the Targa Florio Marcos exactly is, was born out of an advertisement of a car offered for sale near Lille in northern France recently. This car wears chassis number 7034 and the Swedish registration 'FHD 465'. Translated from the French ad: "Put on the road in October 1967, after having had a first life in competition in Sweden as well as a participation in the 1967 Targa Florio, with racing number 176, before being registered. A justifiable history that needs to be studied in greater depth". I have to admit that I was skeptical at first when I contacted the current owner James. He wrote to me: "Thank you for your interest. I send you some evidence of his past life.". What followed in the next few weeks was a most interesting exchange of e-mails which got deeper and deeper into the subject. It must be said that James had taken the whole thing seriously and tried to turn every stone in his quest for proof. He'd contacted the FIA, the Targa Florio organization, the registration offices and several clubs and specialists, some with success, some not so, but he sent me copies of all this correspondence. He also added: "The marks of the accessories have left traces on my car. I have a whole history of these previous Swedish registrations, although unfortunately the first ones are still missing. I do have addresses to deepen and complete this history but I do not have the health for it. The co-driver of the 1967 Targa Florio (Johnny Lundberger-JB) tried to cheat by passing off a car, not yet built at the time, for that of the race in Sicily. I remain at your disposal for further information." 

Although it seems to have wiped out its checquered past, this car, chassis number 7034, fits in just right with the dates also. And while being red in colour now and missing some of the original features on it, I got more and more convinced that James could very well be right. And Per Haegermark agreed. He wrote: "Hi Jeroen, Many thanks for getting in touch with me concerning the Mini-Marcos #7034. Yes, I can agree with you that it's kind of a mystery that the Targa Florio car has been hidden away for so long. I have suspected for may years that #7034 really was the TF car but it wasn't until I made some enquiries at the National Swedish Archives who keep records of the old style (pre-1973) automotive registration documents, that I managed to link the car to the car mentioned in the Bilsport article. At the same time, I also happened to find the sister car #7064 which was built by Ragge Håkansson at the same time."

Ad he continued: "The original registration document (a copy of which I was sent also by James-JB) shows that the petrol tank contains 75 litres and the engine output is 105 SAE bhp. The sister car #7064 had a petrol tank containing only 28 litres and the engine output was 90 DIN bhp. The TF car definitely needed the long range petrol tank. Before I can tell you with 100% certainty that #7034 is the TF car, I have to see one more document which I have ordered from the National Swedish Archives. They normally need three to four weeks to find the requested documents. Will get back to you a.s.a.p. One thing which I would like you to change in your article is that chassis #7034 is a Mk2 and not a Mk3 body shell. Apart from this, I think everything is correct. If there are any difficulties to understand what's written in the Swedish articles, please do not hesitate to contact me for translation aid. For your information, I'm attaching some photos of #7034 in various guises. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Per"

So that's it for now. Let's await Per's answer before we finalize with a conclusion, but I'd say things look as good as can be for chassis number 7034. Let me finally ad the list of subsequent owners the car has had, as they may be recognized by readers here and lead to more. Apart from Jan-Erik Andreasson (unconfirmed) these are: Anders Lindahl, Lars-Göran Ridell, Ohlson Bilfirma, Hasse Nörgaard, Claes Grönbäck, Lennart Andersson, Morgan Karlsson and Patrik Kaufmann. Before receiving 'FHD 465' it wore the registration numbers 'L 55135' and 'OA 70785'.

And one final thing that struck me from another report was that the car maybe didn't even make it into eight kilometres of the Targa Florio race. Translated from Swedish I found the following: "The first of the ten 72 km laps was not long before one of the Swedes disappeared with a bang. It was 'Nenne' Andreasson, who after just eight corners put his Mini Marcos in a pole."...

First outing? Jan-Erik Andreasson racing at Knutsdorp on 30 April 1967

Picture Åke Wremp via Per Haegermark

Another early picture at a race in Röfors with Börje Österberg at the wheel

Picture Lars Liifw via Per Haegermark

The other Mini Marcos of Jan-Eric Andreasson before restoration: chassis number 7064 

with its then-owner Viktor Kärrkvist in 1995

Picture Richard Porter

This Mini Marcos, for sale in norther France, ticks all the boxes to be the Targa Florio car

Picture Lesanciennes.com

It comes on a Swedish registration plate FHD 465, issued in October 1967, which fits in also

Picture Lesanciennes.com

Targa car wasn't red originally but "marks of the accessories have left traces on it"

Picture Lesanciennes.com

The early style dashboard also fits in with the build date and the Targa Florio

Picture Lesanciennes.com

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos (2)

I wrote about the Targa Florio Mini Marcos recently (see here) and added that I do believe the car survives also. I still do, but finding out which of the Mini Marcoses with an early history in Sweden it is exactly, is no straightforward job. I'll try to explain my researches as simple as possible, but warn you that it's still full of side-steps and other details!

The article in the november 1967 issue of the Swedish magazine Bilsport is a great starting point for the search, as it describes the car in some detail. But it doesn't give away a chassis number and in fact mentions three Mini Marcoses being in Sweden at the time - two of these were owned by Jan-Erik Andreasson and his company Babea Racing while a third car was owned by Bo Elmhorn at the time, who ran Elmhorn-Troberg Racing Service of Stockholm (more here and here). That last car is in fact the easiest one to track down. It is chassis 7073, a car that is in the USA now (see it on the Mini Marcos Owners Club website here). So that leaves us with two. 

But now things get blurry. Remarkably, the Targa Florio car is generally believed to wear chassis number 7418, registered 'BSU 400' in Sweden. That car claims to have spent all of its life in Swedish racing circles and had been restored once in 1983 in Sweden before making it over to the UK in 2010 and be restored once again as a FIA Historic competition car (see here). However, this is a highly unlikely claim as the chassis number 7418 has to be that of a later shell. According to Joost van Diën, who knows his chassis numbers, this one is likely to have been built in late 1969 or even early 1970 and has all the features of a car of that age, too. So with the Targa Florio taking place in May 1967 it seems unlikely to be that. 

But what can be the reason for its claim then? Swedish Marcos Club man Per Haegermark provides the answer through a letter of which I have a copy. In it he writes: "This car (#7418 - ed) is definitely not the Targa Florio car. It was imported to Sweden in 1979 and registered as BSU 400 in Sweden on March 4th 1979. The person who imported the car was the co-driver at the Targa Florio. Johnny Lundberger. He formed a Mini-Marcos Historic Racing Team in the early 1980's together with two other Mini racing guys. I think it was easy for him to claim that this 'new' car was his old Targa Florio car. No one could argue about this then. Bearing in mind its higher chassis no. it is more likely it was built in 1969 or 1970 and definitely not in 1967 that's for sure. Regarding the requirement of the cars being road registered for Targa Florio in 1967, it seems that it was not mandatory, since there were no registration plates on it at the race."

So now it's the question which were / are the two cars owned by Jan-Erik Andreasson in 1967 and which of the two was or is the Targa Florio car. Look out for that in the next article.

1967 Targa Florio race saw a Swedish entered Mini Marcos run by Jan-Erik Andreasson

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos came with a number of distinctive features

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The november '67 Bilsport article, which featured it tells about it in some detail

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Babea Racing AB was Andreasson's company

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Co-driver Johnny Lundberger in 1994. He died in 2009 but imported a Mini Marcos to Sweden in 1979

Picture Micke Pettersson / mpmoke.se

This car: 'BSU 400'. It is generally claimed to be the Targa Florio car but I don't think so 

Picture Platesmania.com

It has quite a comprehensive competition history also and is in the UK since 2010

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Targa Florio Mini Marcos (1)

Mini Marcoses have been entered in a number of great races, and the 1967 Targa Florio is certainly one of these. Although it didn't finish the tough Italian road race, it is about time to have a better look at this unlikely entry. The car was run in the scorching heath of Sicily by a team of two Mini drivers from the opposite part of Europe: mid-Sweden. Jan-Erik Andreasson had been racing a Morris Cooper 'S' locally there and internationally at the Nurburgring 6-hours race of 1966. His pal Johnny Lundberger raced Minis from 1964-on with some international events on the racing calendar also.

The Marcos was Andreasson's car and had been built in the workshop of Ragge Håkansson in Köping, some 150 kilometres west of Stockholm. As a matter of fact Andreasson had two Mini Marcoses, both of them Mk3 cars. The Targa Florio car was the first to be built and according to Bilsport magazine it was a pure racer, built with Group 6 racing in mind, with integrated roll-over bar, 1299cc engine with twin-choke Weber carburetor good for 130hp and a Jack Knight five-speed gearbox plus a low weight due to "A lack of interior trim, soundproofing, Perspex glass in all windows except the front screen."

By the time the Bilsport reporter drove it, it had come back from Sicily and he wrote: "Under the supervision of friendly local police officers, we could take out the car for a short test trip on a road stump in Köping's new oil harbour."

He also gives us more insight into the car's debut race at the Targa Florio and the reason for not finishing there: "In spite of its age, the car has a rather brutal past. The idea was, when the car was brought to Sweden, that Jan-Erik would compete with it abroad where a prototype class of up to 1300 cc was introduced. The race debut was at Sicily in the famous Targa Florio race. The car was then run by Jan-Erik himself with co-driver Jonny Lundberger. The practice went without any major problems if you ignored the fact that the car was slightly too low geared. During the night between practice and race, Ragge Håkansson changed the final drive and it was this maneuver that sharpened the Swedish participation. After eight kilometers into the race and with the worst competitor Rauno Aaltonen in sight, despite the fact that the Mini-Marcos started several seconds behind the Aaltonen A-H Sprite, Jan-Erik suddenly forgot that the car was now on a higher final drive gearing and entered a corner at a speed corresponding to the lower gearing. At max. speed, the difference between the two gearings was 30 km/h i.e. 30 km higher speed in a corner where it already was close to the limit, is no doubt too much. You can easily imagine the outcome of this yourself."

And so... after only eight kilometers on the hot tarmac, the race ends for Andreasson and Lundberger. But back home in Köping the car is rebuilt and handed over to the Bilsport reporter, who adds: "The driving position is perfect. The seat makes it easy to handle the pedals without holding you tightly with your knees. Initially we had problems with the gear change reverse positions. First gear is to the far left and forwards, second in the normal position of the second, third is where first gear normally is etc. Ragge Håkansson gave order not to exceed 9000 rpm."

That's quite an order, which makes you wonder if the Marcos survived that! The good news that I believe it does, to this day even. So more about that in the next volume.

Two Swedish chaps on a hot Sicily with their Mini Marcos racer

Picture Gioacchino Guilotti

Jan-Erik Andreasson

Picture IMMS vintage photos

Johnny Lundberger

Picture Bilsport magazine

And the Marcos, built to Group 6 specifications by Ragge Håkansson

Picture Vittorio Giordano

It used a 1299cc engine with twin-choke Weber and Jack Knight five-speed gearbox

Picture Vittorio Giordano

On the start grid at the Targa Florio, Rauno Aaltonen's Sprite in front of it

Picture Gioacchino Guilotti

And off it goes, Andreasson behind the wheel, 130hp to run in on Aaltonen

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

But there had been an issue with the car's gearing...

Picture Rainer Schlegelmilch

...And so the final drive was changed overnight

Picture Geoff Goddard

It was to meet its fate after only eight kilometers on Sicily's hot tarmac

Picture Eric della Faille

This is supposedly Jan-Erik Andreasson walking away from the car after its accident

Picture source unknown

But the Marcos came back to Sweden, rebuilt and ready for another test drive here

Picture Motor Sport magazine

An early Pavesi Mini

Carrozzeria Pavesi of Milano undertook some daring coachbuilding jobs. They chopped off the roof of brand new DeTomasos, Ferraris and Iso Grifos and turned a Maserati Quattroporte (the name meaning ‘four doors’ in Italian) into a two-door coupé... And they also equipped a number of Minis into ultra-luxurious small cars with extravagant leather interiors, electrically operated windows and sunroofs plus dashboards and centre consoles in wood with Veglia gauges. Twelve are believed to have been built but I'd never seen an early car such as this one below. The pictures were shared by GAM ShineDetailing of Scandicci near Florence, which did a great job polishing it.

Like the other Pavesi Minis I have seen this one looks to be Innocenti based also, but being a Mk1 it is earlier than any of the others I've come across. It is striking in its burgundy colour with an ivory leather interior and light wood details (look at that centre console!). The hand brake lever has been replaced to the left hand side of the driver's seat, which on its own looks to be sourced from a non-British car. The headlining is nice, too, and the heater looks to be something special as well (Update: it's a classic Bakelite telephone!). Quite a car!

 

Early Innocenti Mk1 based Pavesi Mini comes with all the bells and whistles

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Grille surround and indicators are a giveaway of this being an Italian-built Mini

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Sunroof and deep gloss paint job, and look at the wood inside...

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Now that's a centre console! Note automatic transmission and electric window switches

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Hand brake lever has been replaced to the left. What are those seats from - Lancia?

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

This car's details are beautiful. The black device is not a heater but a telephone! 

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Headlining is upholstered with wool in colour, too. What a car!

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Mystery Mini derivative (81) - Mini Spiaggina

A Mk1 Mini that was converted into some kind of Beach car and called 'Mini Spiaggina' ('Mini Beach') was seen for sale in Rome recently. It makes me wonder what exactly it could be. Said to be a February 1967 car it may well be an early conversion, but by whom? It's certainly not an Innocenti Mini Mare, but also not one of the other beach car-esque conversions from southern Europe that I know of: the Arco Iris Mini from Spain, the Kosellek Mini from France or the Jacky Mini Plage, also from France. 

The Mini wore an 'LE' plate which came from the province of Lecce or 'The heel of Italy' on the Salento peninsula in the very south-east. That seems a suitable place to drive a Beach Car. It sold swiftly for not very much, too. Somebody who can tell if the base vehicle was an Innocenti? And who knows more about this nice little conversion anyway..?

The mystery Mini Spiaggina as it was seen for sale not long ago in Rome

Picture Subito

Was the conversion based on an Innocenti built Mini? Made in Italy?

Picture Subito

With so many coachbuilders there in the 1960s it would make sense to be a local build

Picture Subito

'LE' registration means it was used in the Lecce province on the Salento peninsula

Picture Subito