Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #51

Neville Trickett's Siva Mule 00001 found!

Other William Towns' prototypes now also registered

Yuk Hodgon's mad rally Mini Marcos

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

Mallalieu's Microdot - what could have been

It was only this week that I was made aware of an interesting article in the Oxford Mail dated 2017. An extract from it:

"Forty years ago in a garage in Wootton near Abingdon, a team of visionaries designed and built a hybrid electric car on a Mini chassis. They created the car of the future – then a Tory government adviser damned it to the annals of history. Noel Hodson, who lives in Headington with his wife Pauline, was managing director of Mallalieu Cars when in 1977, Aston Martin designer William Towns came to them with a new dream: building a car that would run off a battery. Mr Hodson said: "He was 30 years ahead of his time, but we had the men who could build these things by hand and there were very few workshops in the country that could." The team worked his designs up over the next two years. The result was the Microdot: a three-seater, petrol-electric hybrid measuring just 6ft 6ins long. In 1980, Mr Hodson said Mallalieu hosted a meeting with the Post Office Pensions Fund and other potential investors. But because Post Office pensions were at stake, the government also sent its own scientific advisor. Mr Hodson recalled: "He came along to this important meeting with all our investors and essentially he said 'this car couldn't work because it contravenes the second law of thermodynamics'." 

Click here for the whole article. 

Of course I wasn't there at the time when Towns and Hodson teamed up, but I believe the Microdot was already there when Towns approached Mallalieu Cars in the first place. As a matter of fact the car was unveiled at the 1976 Earls Court Motor Show in London as a styling exercise or ‘a bubble car for the 80s’. It was meant to use either Mini- or electric power. But it seems that Towns couldn't find a party to get it into production. Then in 1979 the collaboration with Mallalieu Cars was announced. They decided to relaunch the Microdot, now with Mini power and renamed Mallalieu Microdot. From a 1979 clipping: "Mallalieu Cars are to build a short run of prototypes for evaluation purposes. Intended to be running by mid-summer, the first of these new Microdots will feature a redesigned front to make room for a Mini power unit. Power units under consideration for further cars are a two-stroke marine unit and the small light-alloy Reliant four-cylinder. Electric power is no more than a faint possibility." Prices between £4- and £7,000 are mentioned.

Interestingly, the original prototype still exists and I photographed it in a beautiful condition several years ago, still unregistered and still in pristine motor show condition. But what happened to the Mallalieu Microdot prototypes? Thanks to Andrew MacLean as well as Tony Bucknall I did find out a little bit more. While Tony sent me a copy of an ad in which two of them were offered for sale from many years ago, Andrew had a few pictures of the cars taken at Mallalieu's premises in the early 1980s. One of them wears a plate 'DDD 29G'. What happened to these vehicles?

UPDATE 1 December 2022: "Hi Jeroen, thanks for the photo mentions on your Maximum Mini blog pages. Firstly, I think we aught to put a date with the advert cutting from Autotrader 21st-27th September 2000. Further to, a wee bit more technical info on the two unique battery-electric William Towns 'Golf Buggies' that I owned for a short while. They do bear a similar resemblance to the Microdot and use both front and rear Mini subframes with three rather large 12 Volt storage batteries stowed under the 3-abreast bench-seat. No doors, no heater, no lights, no windscreen wiper and but a simple lightweight plastic windscreen, no rear screen! Electric drive was supplied by a 10hp 72Volt DC Motor bolted directly on top of a Triumph Herald differential, which was positioned on a framework welded into the Mini front subframe! A cogged-cambelt type belt provided drive to the differential and thus to conventional Mini Automatic short driveshafts, hubs and brakes. It's top speed with just 36 Volts was somewhat pedestrian, but ideal for the golf course! The DDD registration number was borrowed from a Daimler 250 that I owned at the same time and placed on the Towns Golf Buggy for the photos. They were obviously never intended for road use! Hope this helps? Kindest regards, Andrew MacLean." It certainly does. Thank you very much!

This is the original 1976 Microdot concept car, designed and made by William Towns

Picture Jeroen Booij

I found it surviving in highly original state in a garage in Sussex several years ago now

Picture Jeroen Booij

This is a period picture of the very same car. It never reached production 

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

But it nearly did! This is a prototype made by Mallalieu Cars of Oxfordshire

Picture courtesy Andrew Maclean

A number of power units were mentioned, among them the Mini's. Test rig seen here

Picture courtesy Andrew Maclean

But it all led to nothing. This ad offered 3 bodies and 2 chassis' for sale - 'Ideal petrol beater project'!

Picture through Tony Bucknall

Noel Hodson worked for Mallalieu Cars in the late 1970s when he was approached by Towns

Picture The Oxford Mail

What could have been: Microdots parked on the street next to a new apartment block

Picture courtesy Ahzar Architects

Happy 2019 from Maximum Mini

A new year and plenty of new plans. But let's start 2019 with a little look back. At the Christmas Puzzle and the Find of the Year poll respectively. With 42% of the votes you chose the 'Dutch demonstrator' Peel Viking as the best find of 2018 (the Radford came 2nd with 21%, Moke and Quasar 3rd and 4th with both 16% and the GTM 5th with 5%).

Find of the Year 2018: the Peel Viking known as 'the Dutch Demonstrator'

Picture Jeroen Booij

Then there was the Christmas puzzle. Avid puzzle player and consecutive winner Neil Kilbane was the only one who sent in a full list of answers. They weren't all what I was looking for, but I think Neil deserves the price never the less. Once again. Congratulations Neil!

The answers were (and I have based them on Neil's)

1. Monica 560 - developed by Chris Lawerence, who was the man behind the Deep Sandersons 105 and 301 plus one of the drivers of the 1967 Le Mans Mini Marcos.

The late Chris Lawrence in 2005, with one of his designs: the Deep Sanderson 301

Picture Jeroen Booij

2. Austin-Healey 100-6 – Donald Healey also designed a Mini based roadster, which never reached production

3. Tucker 48 – this car was styled by Alex Tremulis, the designer of the wacky Mini-powered Gyro-X.

4. Pavesi Ferrari 400i convertible – Italian coachbuilder Pavesi also came up with coachbuilt Mini Coopers and Mini Mokes.

5. Hrubon Thélème – the brainchild of Jean-Claude Hrubon, the man behind the 1966 Le Mans Mini Marcos entry, and also responsible for the Hrubon Phaeton and Schmitt.

6. Méan Liberta – Méan also manufactured the Sonora of which one example was powered by a BMC Mini engine.

7. Ed Straker’s car from the tv-series UFO – also in the series were the SHADO Jeeps, which were Mini Moke based.

A SHADO Jeep in its fully restored splendour, as photographed in 2016

Picture Jeroen Booij

8. Bentley Continental R – former head of Bentley, Graham Hull, designed and built the Mini based Graham Hull Special in his spare time.

9. Aston Martin Lagonda – from the pen of William Towns. Other cars he designed were the Hustler series of cars, the Minissima, Tracer and the Microdot, which sprouted the Elswick Envoy, all of which were Mini based.

Some of William Towns' designs: the Minissima, Tracer and Microdot in 2011

Picture Jeroen Booij

10. Donkervoort D8 GTO – ex-Donkervoort man Edgar Salwegter moved to New Zealand where he designed the Status Minipower based ESC.

11. Banham Jaguar XJS-S – from Paul Banham, the man who gave us the Banham Sprint and Roadster.

12. Reliant Scimitar GTE – designed by David Ogle the father of the Ogle SX1000.

13. Singer Gazelle Series II – this car is the source for the rear lights on the Broadspeed GT.

A Broadspeed GT, using the rear lights of the Singer Gazelle

Picture Jeroen Booij

14. AC 3000ME – designed by Bohanna & Stables who were the designers of a Unipower GT successor that never saw production.

15. Foers Ibex – two of the companies earlier productions were the Mini based Foers Nomad and Metro based Foers Triton.

16. Owens Sedanca – Designed by Chris Humberstone who also came up with the Humberstone Mini as well as the revived Radford Mini de Ville of the mid-1990s.