Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #16

10 Years since SHADO Jeep find on Tenerife

In the mailbox: Paola GT, Sandringham Six, Phoenix City Car

Ogle SX1000 meeting: this summer

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #15

Codford Mini keeps intriguing - some new info

Stimson Scorcher recollections

New pictures of the original Sandringham Six Mini

What is going to be the Find of the Year 2016?

I nearly forgot a grand Maximum Mini tradition: the official 'Find of the Year' poll! Several interesting Mini based cars were found in sheds, lock-ups, gardens and garages again and I made a selection out of 5 of them.

You will find the cars that have made it to the contest below. To vote simply go to the poll on the right side of this blog (click here if you read this through an email message) where you tick the box of your favourite find. The one with the most votes wins - it's simple as that. Now, over to the candidates.

1. The Stimson Safari Six

Found in Rochdale by super-Stimson-fan Paul Wylde after a long search. 

Paul is working avidly on the restoration now, so work in progress

Full story here

2. Magic Alex' coachbuilt Mini

A coachbuilt Mini formerly owned by Beatle-technician Magic Alex that is shrouded in mystery. 

Was it a Wood & Pickett job, or not? Fact is it survives.

Full story here

3. The Sabre Vario demonstrator

A Sabre Sprint is rare, but a Sabre Vario is even much rarer! The factory demonstrator turned 

up for sale in Newcastle - still with the company which built it!

Full story here

4. The Le Mans Mini Marcos

What can I say? My own reward after a painstakingly long and chancy search. 

The legendary Le Mans Mini Marcos is back from the brink

Story here, here and here (and more to follow!)

5. The Sandringham Six Mini

A reader wondered about the whereabouts of the Sandringham Six Mini, and its story was 

unraveled here. Only to see the car being advertised for sale a month later!

Full story here, here and here

Resurrection of the Sandringham Six Mini

Another mystery solved! The mysterious Sandringham Six Mini that was seen here twice (here and here) with the request for more information rung a bell by reader Kees Plugboer, who'd seen it in a magazine and started a search in his attic. Out came a June 2000 issue of Mini Magazine with, indeed, a feature on the car. And it's an interesting story, too. As believed, the car was owned by Sandringham Motors boss, Peter Jones, and dreamt up by his brother John. Peter was quoted in the article: "I'd never driven anything like it. Having various motor dealerships, I'd owned 19 new Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, plus Mercedes, Aston Martins - all sorts of cars. But I used that little Mini so much, and even transferred my personal number OD 1 to it, which seemed quite appropriate really." Initially, the car came with the standard Clubman-front, but when Peter's wife had a collision with his Rolls-Royce Corniche, and the grille had to be replaced, the idea came to fit that to the Mini.

Peter continued: "Then, for some reason, after driving the car for about four yearsI sold it to a family in Norfolk. I kept the original pate, of course, so the Mini was back on its original number BWS 30S. I regretted it almost immediately, as you often do - I really missed the car, and not long afterwards I tried to buy it back, but they had already sold it on Traveling around the country, I always kept an eye out for it - after all it wouldn't have been difficult to spot!" Eventually the car was found in a scrapyard near Great Yarmouth, where it had been lying neglected for eight years. Despite the fact that most of the remarkable Mini was ruined, Peter did buy it back 'for silly money', with the idea to fully restore it to its former glory. Well… Peter, back in 2000: "Of course, I'd have to restore it - we have all the facilities. That was the original plan, and I even acquired a couple of old Minis and put them aside to use as donor cars for the job. But now that we've had a chance to look at it properly, it's beyond that, totally rotten - except for that grille of course! So we're going to start again and build a replica around that grille."

The article mentions that Peter bought a brand new heritage body shell plus engine and reckoned it would cost him some 14,000 GBP by the time it was finished. "But it will be my personal car for the rest of my life." he added. "I've certainly learnt my lesson - there's no way I'll ever sell this one!" Now, once again, how did it end sixteen years after the article was published? The search continues...

The car before the grille of Peter Jones' Rolls-Royce Corniche was fitted to it

Picture courtesy Mini Magazine

Mini Magazine had a nice feature on the Sandringham Six Mini back in June 2000

Picture courtesy Mini Magazine

And reader Kees remembered it, dug it up, scanned it and sent it over. Hat tip to you!

Picture courtesy Mini Magazine

The Sandringham 6 Mini again

Last Thursday's story on the Sandringham 6 Mini remains shrouded in mystery. One reader suggested the car's registration may well be DD1 as as in 'Dunlop Denovo' with the car acting as a promotion vehicle for the tyre manufacturer (it is fitted with Dunlop Denovo wheels…) and that certainly was a clever suggestion, but a brief video fragment shows it's definitely OD1. The fragment again comes from Gary Buesnel and he found another image of it in one of his scrap books, too, now showing the side of the car with a lady in the back. There has to be more information about this unusual conversion. Who will be first?

UPDATE 27 July 2016: mystery mostly solved. See here

Still from film fragment shows the car's front. Registration is OD1 rather then DD1

Picture through Gary Buesnel

And now we have a view on the side of the chauffeur driven 6-wheeler, too

Picture through Gary Buesnel

Very briefly it may be, but this video does show the thing on the move

Video courtesy Gary Buesnel

Where is the Sandringham 6 Mini?

It's good to have a pair of eyes and ears in every possible corner of the UK, and Gary Buesnel has been my help on the island of Jersey for some years now. When he read Maximum Mini 3 recently he wrote to me again as he was surprised not to find a mystery car in it that he is intrigued about for decades now. It's a six-wheeler which was supposedly built for the chairman of the Sandringham Motor Company, which were based in Neath by the time it was built. The car was advertised in the Jersey Evening Post at around 1980, when Gary spotted the ad with the following words:

"AS SEEN This is a (one off motor car) this Mini has been converted to a Sandringham (super) limousine fitted with extended body and converted to six wheel motor car. As seen has a (Rolls-Royce grill finish) this alone cost in excess of £2,500. This motor car is black with black velvet buttoned-back upholstery, full sun roof, also fitted with leather edged coney carpets and has covered (chauffeur driven) mileage of only 6,000 miles. This 1275 GT was built for the chairman of Sandringham Group of Motor Companies. A very special price for a one off motor car at £6,750. Finance and Part Exchange arranged."

Gary wrote: "I never saw this car on the island and in talking to other people it never was, however it was very unusual to have appeared in the Jersey Evening Post. The person selling it seemed to deal with oddball cars like this and had a number of cars for sale from a private residence all placed with this type of advert in our Jersey Evening Post. I recall other cars for sale like Aston Martin Lagondas etc. This person had no garage or showroom and seemed to operate from a private house. The adverts appeared for these cars for about a year or so with various cars for sale and then the person disappeared."

"It may have been that in Jersey at that time (and still today) that car/vehicle regulations were more relaxed than in England / the UK and it would have been easier to register/sell the car without having to go through the more rigorous tests that perhaps these sort of cars would have had in the UK, maybe… just a thought. Also, on the Island there are very wealthy people that are/were looking for something different. It may have been that the Chairman of the Sandringham group of companies that this car was reportedly built for actually lived on the island or perhaps the company was registered in Jersey and disposing or selling the car on/in or through Jersey would have had positive financial or tax benefits. I have a feeling that there was more than one of these cars, albeit perhaps from another company. Let's see what comes out from other people."

Great idea and thanks for sharing this one with us, Gary. Below you'll find the sketchy image that was printed in the advert plus two images from another Sandringham 6-wheeler conversion, so the Mini fits.


UPDATE 27 July 2016: Mystery mostly solved. See here

Rolls-Royce style grille and six wheels on your Mini 1275 GT. Does 'OD 1' survive?

Picture courtesy Jersey Evening Post

The Sandringham 6 was a Land Rover based conversion with 6-wheel drive

Picture courtesy www.lr-mad.co.uk

A company named Hotspur was involved, too. Did they have anything to do with the Mini, too?

Picture courtesy www.lr-mad.co.uk