Maximum Mini: Siva buggy

Showing posts with label Siva buggy. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #124

2026 Season in Swing

The intrepid IMM trio: McCoy GT

The intrepid IMM trio: Heerey GTM

The intrepid IMM trio: Ranger Cub 4

The Otematata Engineering Elin

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #118

Deep Sanderson 105 Twini is a shiny star

Supercharged Siva Buggy

Your payments please!

Tuesday, 19 December 2023

Find of the Year 2023: the candidates

Ho-ho-ho, it's that time of year again! The time to traditionally decide which has been the best find of a Mini based car in the past 12 months. We've been doing it for the last 13 years, but this is the first time the poll is sent to the Maximum Mini Newsletter subscribers first. But... the more the merrier, and the better for the poll's results, so let me know what you think, too.

You will know the drill by this time: the car with the most votes simply wins the 'Maximum Mini Find of the Year 2023' title. Over to the five selected candidates: Just drop me a line below, on Facebook or through my e-mail to tell me which of these is your favourite.

A Siva Buggy that has been hiding in a barn since 1982. Full story here

A Mk1 Biota put away in storage by its first owner in 1974! Full story here

The first of the Bulanti Minis resurfaced in Australia in February. Full story here

Not exactly a barn find, but thorough research revealed this Mini Marcos to be the

actual 1967 Targa Florio car. Full story here

Original USA sold Ogle SX1000 has been languishing in Pennsylvania. Full story here

Friday, 10 November 2023

Classic Motor Show 2023 - the Mini derivatives

Go to the NEC this weekend for the Classic Motor Show and you are likely to bump into the Minikits Club there. They have another great display of Mini based cars with a Siva Buggy, Jimini 2, Stimson Safari Six, wild Scamp Mk3 and rare Turner Ranger. Great stuff! Last year they even won a Classic and Sports Car Club Award for their effort.

Another club attending is Midas Owners Club with a lovely Mk3 Mini Marcos jammed in between two Midases and somebody spotted a coachbuilt Mini, too, believed to have been built by former Wood & Pickett employees. Have a good weekend.

A Mk3 Mini Marcos sandwiches by two Midases!

Picture Midas Cars

And five more Mini based cars on the Minikits stand

Picture Paul Wylde

Restored Stimson Safari Six is among them

Picture Paul Wylde

And how about this? A lovely and road registered Turner Ranger

Picture Paul Wylde

This coachbuilt Mini is said to be built by ex-W&P employees

Picture Marc Eden

Monday, 20 March 2023

Siva Buggy has been hiding since '82

I received a message from Graham Hill last week. Graham runs a company which makes crankshafts and has been a Mini enthusiast for much of his life. Recently he has been helping a friend to clear one of his sheds and stumbled upon a nice surprise: a Siva Buggy! He wrote: "Hi Jeroen. I have extracted a beach buggy from its resting place (since 1982!). I didn't know about it until quite recently despite going to his house regularly since about 1985. It was at the back of his tool shed (it's a big shed!) and I uncovered it while we were talking about machinery, which he had in his shed too. He bought it in 1982 from somebody who had a car pitch, we think, from his description, at Blyton Park. He took it for a spin and took it back to his place near Sheffield, then took some bits and pieces off. He was in the middle of converting the new alloy wheels to fit when he stopped working on it. I'm not sure why... He can't remember either."

"The sheds are in great condition and have kept everything in them in good order, including piles of engineering drawings. Apart from being dusty, the buggy's condition is very good, too. I don't know yet if the engine is free, but I'm sure it's an MG 1100 engine as it starts '10' on the plate and has locating rings for the inlet manifold which tells me it's a 12G 295 head. 3 sync box too. It did roll quite happily when we pumped the tyres up. No other history remains, and it has to go because of my friend's age and 'too many projects', so I'm helping him with that. Yes there is a V5. The wheels are quite unusual 2 piece. The outer rim is cast, and bolts to the inner like a split rim, but they are much stronger. In principal it is up for sale at the moment, however I'm not sure whether to auction it because it's so unusual. If anyone is interested can we ask them to contact you through the site? It would be a really fun thing to finish off and use in the summer, but I have too many projects as well!"

Well, there we go. This looks like a very nice Siva Buggy indeed and I now understand it comes on the plate of a 1964 Mini Super. Do drop me a line if you want and I'll put you through to Graham.

UPDATE 16:00: Graham writes: "Hi Jeroen A quick update on the Siva, the roll bar, rear seat and the original MG twin SU’s have surfaced too!"

Graham Hill unearthed A Siva Buggy that had been hiding since 1982

Picture Graham Hill

The car is a non-runner but it is complete and does look good

Picture Graham Hill

It comes on a 1964 Mini registration but the history is mostly unknown

Picture Graham Hill

The engine is believed to be a MG 1100 with 12G 295 head and 3-sync 'box

Picture Graham Hill

Split rear wheels are most unusual. I have never seen these before on a Mini

Picture Graham Hill

This is how Graham found the Siva Buggy in the back of a large tool shed

Picture Graham Hill

Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Endless summer of 2022

August 2022 appears to have seen more classic car shows and meetings than the two years preceding it. A collection of sunny pictures made it to here a couple of weeks ago (click) - here are yet more of them that I came across or that were sent over in the last month or so. Keep them coming.

Matt Butler's son took his Siva Buggy for a trip. Matt: "Dad, can I borrow the Bug to go camping with a friend? Hmmm. OK - but be careful and don't go too far. One week later they're at the seaside!"

Picture via Matt Butler

Matt again: "England, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, France. Now at Calais, the adventure is nearly over. Don't doubt the next generation!" Well said and well done boys!

Picture via Matt Butler

A very nice Mk1 Scamp seen on Malta. I believe it is for sale, too

Picture via Andy Turner

Many more Scamps made it to a meeting in Stourport last weekend.

This Mk2 was pushed to the limits during the event

Picture Becca Sydney

The number of cars attending the Scamp meet was impressive. Here a nice Scamp six-wheeler

Picture Roman Byk

Speaking of which... This Andersen Cub six-wheeler on Spanish plates was spotted last week in France

Picture via Thomas Laurent

And yet another Anderson Cub six! This time on Portugese plates and spotted at the

All British Field Meet in Ontario, Canada

Picture Burton Reif

Last weekend in The Netherlands - the Euregio Meeting saw Mini Marcoses, Midases and Pimlicos.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the event. One Midas owner drove all the way from Tallinn, Estonia!

Picture Rolf Roozeboom

The Causeway Coast Mini Show in Northern Ireland saw a variety of Mini derivatives. This is an Indespension Jiffy that was turned into a camper van. Nice!

Picture Neil Kilbane

These cars are facing the Atlantic Ocean. Here a Midas Gold convertible disguising as a Ferrari

Picture Neil Kilbane

A rarity on its own, this particularly good looking Onyx Tomcat also at the Causeway Mini Meet

Picture Neil Kilbane

The Whitby Morrison 'Batman Special' ice cream van of Andy McPhail at the

Dorset Steam Fair last weekend. Look at that shadow!

Picture Andy McPhail

If there's one person who continues to surprise me with his finds in South-Africa it's Leon Daniels.

This is his latest discovery: an Elswick Envoy in highly original condition

Picture Stuart Neil Greig

How about this for a parting shot? An RTV at the Scamp meeting in Stourport on a beautiful night

Picture Tyler Hughes

Tuesday, 31 May 2022

Neville Trickett passes away

I'm very sad to report about the death of Neville Trickett who passed away last Friday on the 27th of May at the age of 87. Trickett was in the first place the brainchild of the original MiniSprint in 1964 as he was the man who came up with the idea of a chopped, lowered and sectioned racing version of the Mini. He built the first batches of cars but left the Sprint project early in 1966 when it was in full swing and when the Sprint was marketed and sold by businessman Geoff Thomas and race-ace Rob Walker. By that time he'd also become a works driver for Isuzu and raced his own ultra-light MiniSprint on many occasions, attracting the likes of Stirling Moss and Graham Hill. It turned the low-line Mini into a great success although many unofficial MiniSprint were built by privateers also. Until recently Trickett himself was happy to build you one, though. All you had to do was bring a Mini shell to his chateau in Normandy, France, where he lived and a few months later you could pick it up again, fully cut, sectioned and gas-welded. Or 'Sprinted' as the fans called it.

But after the original MiniSprint project of the mid-1960s Neville Trickett had a hand in many more car designs, and several of these were Mini based, too. There was the Codford Mini, instigated by David De Souza in '66 but designed by Trickett who said he never saw the car in the flesh. It was followed by the (Ford powered) Opus HRF and a beautiful Imp-based sports car for Janspeed. By 1970 Trickett had set up Siva Engineering in his native Poole, Dorset, where he probably became world’s most prolific kit car designer of its day. Together with his business partner Michael Saunders he launched a whole line of Edwardian looking cars with Ford Pop, VW Beetle or 2CV power. Doctor Who of the BBC science fiction series famously drove one. There were also the gull-winged and wedge-shaped Siva sports cars derived from the Janspeed-prototype and these ranged from the VW-based Siva S160 to the unique Aston-Martin V8-powered Siva S530. The latter became the star of the 1971 London Motor Show at Earls Court but vanished soon after. I happened to bump into the car in a Warwickshire barn in 2011! And then there were also the Mini-based Siva Buggy as well as the Mini-based Siva Mule.

I have often thought of going to Trickett's chateau in France for an interview but somehow and rather sadly it never happened. Neville must have been a lovely man though and we did have contact by e-mail every now and then. When I asked him a question he was always happy to answer it and mostly very swiftly and in great detail also. In the kit car world he was a larger-than-life character and one who will be much missed.