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Ranger Cub 4, new and unbuilt...

A rare Ranger Cub 4 has just made it to the market. While the three-wheeled Ranger Cub proved to be a hit for a short time in the mid-1970s, the four-wheeler version wasn't. Just four of them were sold and it seems that this one was never built. It's an empty shell which will need all the necessary Mini parts to turn it into a car. It's for sale in Sunderland, north-east England.

Remarkably, two other Ranger Cub 4 have been seen for sale in the last few years. There was another empty shell, also black, in 2014 (see here - it's not the same is it?), while a red car turned up in 2016 (see here). There was also the black car built by John J. Thomas and registered '524 NOA' that was used for some promotional pictures also. The red car may have been the one shown at the London Speed Show in 1975? Bot Cub4s can be seen in the pictures below. 

UPDATE 17:30: The two black shells are the same after all, or so I have been told by two different readers. Thank you chaps!

 

A rare Ranger Cub 4 is offered for sale in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear

Picture Ebay

No engine, no suspension, no mechanicals whatsoever. It's never been built

Picture Ebay

Just four of these Cub 4s were made and it seems that at least two of them were black

Picture Ebay

Brand new shell! Building it up will need plenty of drilling and a donor Mini

Picture Ebay

The Ranger Cub 4 was a miniature pick-up, the later Ranger Pick-Up was far more popular

Picture Ebay

'524 NOA' was built by John J. Thomas and used for promotional causes

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

London Speed Show 1975. Behind the black Ranger Cub is a red Ranger Cub 4 and a Ranger Pick-Up

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

John J Thomas' Ranger Cubs

John J. Thomas has been involved with several Mini based cars. He was a former Broadspeed employee who was involved with Magenta cars and became an agent for Ranger cars. He built a Ranger pick-up six-wheeler which gained lots of publicity at the time and even came up with a twin engined Ranger pick up at one point (click here).

There was of course another Ranger model - the Ranger Cub. This was a three-wheeler, but very few four-wheel versions came to life also, and Thomas was involved with these, too. Some pictures came to the light recently thanks to Ken Warburton, and I thought I'd share them here too. Enjoy.

The Cub's simple chassis frame with the body next to it. Kits started at 265 GBP

Picture John J. Thomas via Ken Warburton

The Cub was marketed as 'The Mini based three-wheel kit car that gives 

cheap motoring to fun loving people'

Picture John J. Thomas via Ken Warburton

The finished three-wheeled product, all ready to tow a caravan - well, why not!?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

But that's a rare Ranger Cub 4, the four-wheeler version of which just 4 were made

Picture John J. Thomas via Ken Warburton

Another Ranger 4 reappears

In early 2014, a very rare Ranger Cub 4 appeared up for sale. Well, the body for such a car - see here. A second four-wheeler Cub has now come up on the same well-known sales website and I believe it could well be the car that made it to the 1975 Speed Show in London. Where the earlier Cub 4 was black - like the one seen in promotional photographs; this one is red in colour, which matches with the picture I have of the 1975 Ranger stand. The car is is for sale in Telford, Shropshire and the seller states the following (bad grammar warning): "Ranger kit car mini based kit car logbook says mini pick up date of reg is 5/2/1968. Had this car in px of another car. It's not running I no nothing about the car. needs lots off work . I have the v5 (log book). Must be paid for and picked up with in five days. Cash on collection." Definitely not the best advertisement, but certainly a rare treat? I believe just four bodies were made...

That's a Ranger Cub for sure. But not as we know it (if we do at all)…

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

...As this one comes with the pick up rear and four rather then three wheels

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

Rear is largely similar to the Ranger Pick Up including a dropping tailgate

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

Not sure what happened to the car's nose, but it won't be rust. It was registered NEG 241F

Picture courtesy ebay.co.uk

London Speed Show 1975. The same car? Behind the black Cub three-wheeler is a Cub 4

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

This black one, registered 524 NOA was used for all the publicity pictures

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Body bomb shells

Mk1 Mini Marcoses keep on popping up for sale, and another one appeared on eBay this week, listed in Ipswich. Actually it is an empty shell which seems totally unmolested. All the Mk1 features are there, from the notched arches to the outside fuel filler cap and from the little Perspex side screens to the con caved floor extension. The sting in the tail is that there is no paper work and not even a chassis plate on the car. So be careful out there when a freshly restored Mk1 with a previously lost chassis number is offered for sale in a while. See the ad here on eBay.

Another shell that found its way to eBay in the UK is even rarer. Much rarer as I have never seen another in the flesh. It's for a Ranger Cub 4, for sale in West Bromwich. You don't see a Ranger Cub three-wheeler very often, to put things really mildly, but a four-wheeler pick up is even much, much, more obscure. Four are said to have been fabricated and one of them, registered '624 NOA', can be seen in Ranger's press pictures (anyone know where it is…?). But that is the only one I have seen pics of. Now if you want something really unique… See the body shell here for sale. Perhaps the Best Find of 2014 already?

UPDATE 13 January 2014: No less than 23 bids on the Marcos, eventually going for £2,653. Zero (0) bids on the much rarer Ranger with a starting price of £250. Come on guys.

This Mk1 Mini Marcos is just an empty shell, but it is complete and unmolested

Picture ebay.co.uk

No chassis plate and no engine here, and it looks like there has never been one, too

Picture ebay.co.uk

Outside filler cap is a typical Mk1 feature. As is the all-original dashboard lay out

Picture ebay.co.uk

A Ranger Cub 3-wheeler is rare, but a Cub 4 is even much rarer. Find of the year?

Picture ebay.co.uk

Pointed nose was a 1974 design by Eric Salmons. Are there more survivors?

Picture ebay.co.uk

Ranger Cub 4 combines nose of the 3-wheeler and rear end of the Ranger Pick-up

Picture ebay.co.uk