Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #133

Yet another Landar R7 in Germany?!

Gitane GT model now named

Mystery Mini Derivative (90)

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)

Mystery Mini Derivative (84): Kiwi Twini

Twinis (twin engined Minis for those of you who forgot) were made in a wide variety. John Cooper's version became famous after it almost killed the man himself, but there were many more. You may be surprised about the number of Twinis built on Mini based cars too, or ones that almost saw the light of day. From Deep Sanderson to Butterfield Musketeer and from Scamp to Ranger. Read more about some of them here.

Tim Neal tipped me off about a Twini that's offered for sale in New Zealand. According to the seller it was built in Dunedin by a man who made more Moke style cars, all road legal ones but just with the single engine. This one, however, was different and was never road registered. It is now offered for sale, still as a project and as a 1970 Mini.

Apart from the mechanicals not much of the Mini's base appears to have been used with home-made steel floors, or so it seems, and a body which looks to be made of aluminium. It comes with a 'condition unknown' 850cc engine at the rear and a 1000- or 1100cc that has to be mounted in the front subframe.  There are twin fuel tanks and 12" wheels. A rewarding project no doubt. See the ad here.

Mini based Jeep style car - but with a difference...

Picture Trademe.co.nz

...As the car's rear is another engine bay

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Front oozes Jeep but then this was going to be a 4x4 

Picture Trademe.co.nz

There's an 850 engine in the space frame at the back

Picture Trademe.co.nz

While this one (1000 or 1100) is meant to go in the front 

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Simple dash with twin instruments. Twin tanks mounted directly under seats

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Floors appear to have been made specifically for this car

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Mystery Mini derivative (81)

We know by bow that there are some extraordinary Mini derivatives to be found on the islands of the Caribbean. The wacky Moke-style cars of Petit St. Vincent (click here), the Carimoke, Minilan and Royal Bank Special of Barbados (click) and the 'Party Yaks' of Trinidad and Tobago (click). The car below was spotted on Trinidad and Tobago also, but even it's owner doesn't know what it is. Ramesh Sookdeo wrote: "The owner applied for a certified copy but didn't get any as yet. We don't know even what type of car it is." 

Although it definitely looks to be Mini based I have never seen it before either, although I quite like the Tonka toy looks of it, with big roll bars and fat Cobra drag slots. Anyone here who's seen it before..?

Mystery Mini based Jeep style car hails from Trinidad and Tobago

Picture Ramesh Sookdeo

Johannesburg Jeep found

South-African based reader Leon Daniels has an great nose for finding Mini based oddities (earlier find here) and the latest one he came up with is a Jeep-like creature, which was built around Mini running gear in South-Africa. He wrote: "Cheap as chips, seems to be a one-off in Johannesburg. Can’t decide if I should rescue it or not!" And so I advised Leon to rescue it and he listened to me! And it's not the only South-African Special he picked up. More on another find soon!

A possibly unique Mini Jeep kind of vehicle was unearthed in Johannesburg, SA

Picture Leon Daniels

Not much is known about it but reader Leon Daniels was the man to save it

Picture Leon Daniels

This engine may be in the car's cabin now, it certainly was under the bonnet once!

Picture Leon Daniels

Utilities flood fun market

There's a hoard of Mini based utilities currently flooding the market with plenty of fun cars on offer. Let's have a look at some of the cars advertised here.

A nice Scamp Mk1 with no reserve in Crook, county Durham. Ad here

Expensive but supposedly fully restored Andersen Cub in Feltham. Ad here

Advertised as a Moke prototype, but in fact a nice DIY-built registered 'VOO 965'. Ad here

A Hustler Huntsman 6 - looks to be the best I have seen on pictures. Ad here

A Mini based Jeep, probably a one-off but it could be a Lambert, too. Ad here

An NCF Blitz for the true mudplugger in Suffolk. Ad here. Bonus one in Hull here

Ranger Pick-up in good condition. From Romford - where it was built! Ad here

Unusual Scamp Mk1 with added a-posts and boot, seen here before too. Ad here

Mystery Mini derivative (34)

Did you see the Jimini 2 on eBay last week? Perhaps not as it only made a very brief appearance and was sold for the asking price right after it got on there. No surprise as it looked to be in excellent order and seemed cheap to me at 1,500 GBP. It had a good story, too. According to the seller "it was built in 1982 from a Mini pickup and first registered for the road in 1984. The owner used the car for two summers and then locked it away in his garage for 26 years until July 2012 when I acquired it. Apart from the upgrades and recommissioning, it is exactly as I bought it, including some 26 year old dust!" Who bought it?

Of course there is nothing mysterious about the Jimini. However, it's military appearance made me think of a true mystery Mini derivative. Other than that it is called a 'Mini Jeep' I do not know anything about that one. It looks pretty much home grown with its boxy shapes, odd proportions and ill-fitting roof but I'm quite sure I have seen another in yellow. Could it ever have been commercialised?

Excellent Jimini 2 looked like new. It sold last week for 1,500 GBP. A steal if you ask me

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

It made me think of this 'Mini Jeep'. It may look home-grown but I think more were made 

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Mini utilities are everywhere

Take a deep breath and jump in the mysterious world of Mini based ultilities. I came across so many in the last few days. Reader Craig Jarrett asked me if I knew more about a car that a friend of him wants to get rid of. He wrote: "It's modified for a TV program, the pedals are the wrong way round and the steering goes in opposite directions, but I'm sure it could easily be put right." His friend is talking about scrapping it "as it's sittng in his garden in a bad way". There are no documents with it, but Craig is sure there must be somebody interested in it. His friend believed it to be a Scamp, but I can assure him it's a Gecko, built by Nick Ingram of Autobarn Fabrications in the 1980s (88 are said to have been made). The television-modifications seem interesting and perhaps anyone out here knows what program exactly it was used for?

This Gecko is said to be a former TV star. Note the garden furniture inside!

Picture via Craig Jarrett

But Craig's Mini based utility was not the only one that reached me in the last week. Gary Scott came up with another, which is unknown to me. It clearly appears to have been designed with the Mini Moke in mind, but it's surely something else. Home built? Tell me when you know it.

It's not a Moke nor a Jimini, Andersen Cub, Hrubon or Frenette. So what is it?

Picture via Gary Scott 

And then Barry Tilbury came up with an ad he'd spotted on eBay. It shows a Jeep-like but Mini based creature which I'm not sure about either. It could be a Lambert Jeep, built by Ted Lambert of Lewisham in the late 70's, or a Dinky Jeep or Capricorn, both of the mid-70's which I know even less about. Or is it even more obscure? Again: you tell me what this is.

Lambert, Dinky or Capricorn? Or a Mini based, Jeep inspired DIY creature?

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

And now that we're talking Moke lookalikes, let's have a look at some other cars that were offered for sale in the last few days. A nice looking Grantura Yak, with rare hardtop, was meant to be auctioned by Baron's but didn't make it's 2,250 GBP reserve. Perhaps because it had been on eBay only months earlier for considerably less money. There was also this nice Scamp Mk3, and another Mk2 said to be Robert Mandry's factory demonstrator; this rather nice AEM Scout (advertised as Moke or Scamp!) and another Scamp - a much modified Mk1 that we have seen here not too long ago. For now: enjoy the weekend!

Nice Grantura Yak - with factory hardtop - didn't make reserve price at auction

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

That's Moke nor Scamp! It's an AEM Scout. Some 150 were made from '83-on

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

I quite like the looks of this Scamp. A Mk3 on 1979 plates that's in London

Picture courtesy carandclassic.co.uk

Camping gear optional. This Mk2 Scamp is said to be the factory demonstrator

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk