It is one of my great frustrations when I can't quite find out the origins of a Mini based car. And the coachbuilt NJC Mini was a prime example. Who was behind it? How many did they build? Who did they sell their cars to? And what did the NJC name stand for in the first place? The only clue had been an article in Cars & Car Conversions magazine, but that mostly trumpeted over the car's appearance and build while it didn't say much about its origins.
But then I got in touch with Nick Cloot recently, who had in fact been one of the persons who built these cars back in the late 1970s. What's more: he was more than happy to tell the tale of how they came about. He thinks as many as 9 may have been built although not all of those have been accounted for as of yet. The NJC Minis had some fascinating details in- and outside, among these wheel arches hand made in steel and strong enough to jack up the car, Storno radiophones, airconditioning systems and - the piece-the-resistance - electronic dashboards. The first of them was sold to a Lebanese businessman for use in central London, with more to follow.
I'd photographed a car years ago, which now seems to be the sole survivor (unless you know better). Together with all the information from Nick and some historical material he'd kept, the full story of the NJC Minis is now published in MiniWorld magazine's May issue. Oh - and we now know what NJC stands for, too! It's for Nick and John Costalas, who were the car's instigators.
