Wicker sided Minis: not just from the coachbuilders

A number of old snippets and advertisements may throw a new light on cars believed to be 1960s coachbuilt Minis by Hooper and Radford in the UK or Taka-Hira in France. This as there were a number of companies offering wicker trim for application to these cars. From one article: "At the last Paris salon a Mini-Minor was shown with painted basket-woerk on the body and it set a fashion-pace in cars which is outmoding any romotion colour. This transfer method is widely used both in France and America."

I think the salon they mention must have been the 1961 Paris Motor Show, where Taka-Hira showed a cool Mini saloon, which was also featured prominently in Paris Match magazine. Two British companies which offered wicker in a number of colours and varieties called their products 'Wickertrim' and 'Shamkane' and there was also Humphrey Metcalfe in London who was happy to do the conversion and offered it in three colours, too.

Humphrey Metcalfe of London to give your Mini 'the Regency look'

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The source of this French magazine clipping is unknown to me

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

And another French clipping. A Taka-Hira Mini, or someone else's..?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

'Shamkane' was sold by Paint Fabrication Ltd.

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

While 'Wickertrim' came from Dalmas Ltd. in Leicester

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Book: La Mini de mon Père

French fellow-writer and Mini-man Enguerrand Lecesne pumps out his books at a considerable higher rate than I do! And I was both surprised as I was thrilled to find his latest work in the post this week. It's called 'La Mini De Mon Père', which makes it the latest volume in the French '... De Mon Père'-series. This series has proved to be a big hit in France for years now, starting with Citroëns, Renaults and Peugeots, but now expanding to non-French vehicles also.

It's not the first and most definitely not the last book covering the Mini's story from conception to the end of production in 2000 and using stock photography mostly. But at least Lecesne is trying to focus on the French market when he can, illustrating his words here and there with a picture of Alain Delon behind the wheel of a Moke or French singer Christophe (real name Daniel Bevilacqua) looking ever so cool leaning casually on his Paris-registered Cooper 'S' - this one really should have been on the book's cover!

It's when he focuses on France when things get interesting, I think. There's a spread on Taka-Hira's creations as there is one on the wacky Hrubon Phaeton / Schmitt and one on the Quasar Unipower. The derivatives chapter is not too long, focussing on the Mini Marcos, Broadspeed GT, Unipower GT, Mini Jem, MiniSprint and aforementioned Quasar, but it has some lovely photos of Marcoses and a Jem raced and rallied by Frenchmen which make it worth the purchase. 120 pages and you can find it here.

'La Mini De Mon Père' by Enguerrand Lecesne is out now

Picture Jeroen Booij

Coachbuilt Minis chapter includes the creations of Roger Taka-Hira

Picture Jeroen Booij

While the Mini derivatives one starts with Mini Marcoses being raced in France

Picture Jeroen Booij

More of them here. The psychedelically painted car was French also and is still missing

Picture Jeroen Booij

The Quasar Unipower was another French affair which made it to the book

Picture Jeroen Booij

France's coachbuilt Mini expert passes away (Updated)

It is with great sadness that I learned about the unexpected passing of Paul-Marie Jamet today. Paul-Marie contacted me about Taka-Hira Minis only a few years ago for the first time, and we exchanged information about them since. He knew an awful lot about these cars and was working on a book entitled 'La Mini Taka-Hira: l’élégance à la Française', of which he sent me a draught a year ago.

Paul-Marie owned a Taka-Hira Mini himself, which was the fabulous Cooper that had been bought new by Prince Igor Nikolayevich Troubetzkoy in 1964. He also managed to find another rare coachbuilt Mini some years ago: a 1966 Mini Cooper 'S' based Radford hatchback that had supposedly been owned by Prince Amyn Aga Khan, brother of Karim Aga Khan IV. That car needed a full restoration.

Paul-Marie chose a voluntary death last January, he was only 28 years old. His parents are planning to turn his car collection into a small private museum. I wish all the best to his relatives and friends.

UPDATE 16 June 2020: Enguerrand Lecesne writes: "I've made researches recently on these cars for my next book: in fact there are two different cars, the Troubeskoy one is a 997 Cooper of 1962 and Paul Marie got a '64 Cooper 998 owned by the brother of Raymond Sommer, the famous F1 driver. The two families were friends so, I think they wanted the same as the others!"

The Prince Troubetskoy Mini as converted by Taka-Hira and as owned by Paul-Marie Jamet

Picture Lambert Beaulaton

The Troubetskoys in the south of France in the 1960s. Paul-Marie did great research on the car

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Paul-Marie's Radford Mini hatchback supposedly had been owned by Prince Amyn Aga Khan

Picture Paul-Marie Jamet

What exactly is this coachbuilt Cooper?

An interesting coachbuilt Mini has turned up in Germany. Said to have been delivered new in Barcelona in 1968, this Mk2 car is an early Authi-built Spanish Mini. From the advertisement: "This Spanish-built Mini Cooper is one of only two believed completed with faux 'cane furniture' side trim, the other being in a museum in Barcelona. The car had been disassembled prior to its acquisition by the owner and is now partially restored and in an excellent state of presentation. Accompanying documentation consists of a French Carte Grise and sundry invoices from Morisse Nayrat and British Car Centre for works carried out and parts supplied."

That does look like a nice car indeed with some interior touches unseen to me before. How about the leather-clad lids on the door pockets? It does also raise some questions though. Is the other car mentioned perhaps this Mk1, found in Barcelona a few years ago? Could the wicker work be the work of Taka-Hira of France also? What's the Verdun Automobiles decal doing on the back? And why is it advertised as only 'partially restored'? See the ad here.

UPDATE 28 October: Francisco Carrión, who found out all about the Barcelona car, writes: "There isn't any other at any museum in Barcelona, the other one in Spain with cannage is located in Madrid, is black, and is an original British Cooper car. This white car seems a normal Mini Authi 1275 C (not cooper etc) with cannage of unknown origin..."

Mk2 Cooper is built by Authi in Spain. But who carried out the conversion?

Picture Mobile.de

Morris Cooper engine looks good although ad mentions it's only 'partially restored'

Picture Mobile.de

Mini 1275 C was the first Spanish-built Cooper. Was it sold by Verdun Automobiles?

Picture Mobile.de

That's a lovely interior. Moca leather and beige carpeting and subtle use of wood

Picture Mobile.de

The same goes for the back seat. Also note pocket lids and rear wiper

Picture Mobile.de

More Taka-Hira Minis

My recent Taka-Hira posting, prompted readers to send in more photographs of known Taka-Hira Minis. Thanks all for doing so, and the result can be seen below. Enjoy the pictures and keep them coming! By the way: the early black Countryman seen before is now up for sale - ad here.

A stunner, this Mini 850 saloon of 1964 vintage. Supposedly a one-owner car from new!

Picture courtesy Dieter Deschacht

Paris registered Mini Van with Taka-Hira wickerwork and French aftermarket bumper bars

Picture courtesy Frédéric Rollet

Wood and wicker on another French Mini: a 1968 Mk2 Countryman in this case

Picture courtesy Damien Lescroart

This 1964 Mini Van with original Taka-Hira mods was sold at auction in 2011

Picture via Dieter Deschacht

It's unknown wether this (German?) car was converted by Taka-Hira or by somebody else

Picture courtesy Oldiesfan67 via Dieter Deschacht

A look at Taka-Hira Minis

Another Taka Hira Mini countryman turned up recently in France, which made me take a dive in the archives to see what else was there. Have a look at some of the Minis that were converted by the Frenchman, known for his wicker work.

This gorgeous Countryman is still in France, but I hadn't seen it before. Note relocated filler opening. UPDATE: Stuart Watson adds: "I think it is an earlty internal tank model. It has a smooth roof and it looks like you can see the top of the tank cover near the left side rear window." Right he is.

Picture courtesy Row Row Bau

This similar Almond green Countryman also has its doors covered in wicker

Picture courtesy taka-hira.fr

This Mk2 Countryman in lovely Fawn was seen for sale a couple of years ago

Picture courtesy Artcurial

While this Mk1 saloon was found in Spain two years ago. Full story here

Picture courtesy Francesco Carrión Cardenas

This Mk1 saloon looks very similar to the car above. It was owned by Russian prince Jaan Trubetskoy and his wife princess Leili Rikk-Trubetskoy, who kept it in the south of France. Where is it now?

Picture Slim Aarons / Getty

Jean-Claude Hrubon's Innocenti Mini Cooper was also converted by Taka-Hira

Picture Jeroen Booij

This car was a much more recent conversion. It's an MPi Mini of the late 1990s

Picture courtesy taka-hira.fr

UPDATE 24 January 2017: More of them here

Early coachbuilt Cooper resurfaces in Spain

Rare derivatives and coachbuilt Minis continue to be found in 2015 and this year's first find goes to my Spanish colleague Francisco Carrión, who recently stumbled upon a collection with quite a few interesting cars that hadn't seen the light of day for a long time. Francisco was kind enough to share his story and photographs here as the car that is of interest to me is a coachbuilt Mini. Despite its looks it is not converted by Hooper or by Radford. Francisco: "It's an early Austin Mini Cooper with many special features. And although it doesn't have a film history like the Peter Sellers Minis that it looks very much alike, it is no less interesting!"

"The car was imported to Spain as an original Cooper, in red, and was shown at the official stand of the Spanish Austin importer at the 1964 Barcelona Motor Show. After that, a wealthy nobleman, fan of the Peter Sellers films, bought the car and sent it to Paris, where Roger Taka-Hira added the wicker sides on his request. At its return to Spain, the car was also re-upholstered in ivory leather and it received a nice wooden dashboard. The result was so convincing that the best friend of the owner - another wealthy man - ordered an exact copy. Of these two cars only this one is known to survive. It is in original unrestored condition, with only 50,000kms on its odometer."

To find out more about the car Francisco contacted Gerardo Peña, who is the son of the official importer of Austin to Spain in the 1960s, named SACAI. Peña himself worked some years in UK in the Austin factory also tuning some special Minis under the direction of Alec Issigonis. Francisco: "For example he told us many details about the Mini built for John Lennon using a engine block from Australia to get 1500cc… He has lots of interesting histories about special Minis and owns a special Moke with factory experimental roof and doors himself." Francisco will keep me posted on any special Minis in Spain, so there may be more to follow...

Spanish Mini Cooper certainly looks like a Peter Sellers Mini, but it isn't one of those

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión

It's all original and is part of a large collection of classics - several more Minis too...

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión

Wicker job was carried out by Frenchman Roger Taka-Hari who tackled more Minis

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión

The car's interior is bespoke but not as out of the ordinary as most Radfords

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión

The original red paint can still be seen under the bonnet. Is it a 997 or 998cc engine?

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión

It's an ex-Barcelona show car that was sold through Madrid dealer T. Marion

Picture courtesy Francisco Carrión