Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #127

Le Mans Mini Marcos - speedo now works, too

Le Mans Mini Marcos - speedo now works, too

Ogle SX1000 - speedo problems, too

Messing around with number plates - 1970s style

Messing around with number plates - 1970s style

ESC's Edgar Salwegter speaks (2)

Following yesterday's discussion with Edgar Salwegter of ESC (here), I was eager to find out which of the Status Minipowers had been the one that made it over to New Zealand. Edgar recalled it was red and was seen in a book. There had been two red Minipowers in a number of publications, wearing the registrations 'PNG 433M' and 'VCL 738K'. We found out it was the latter, as seen in Peter Filby's 'Amazing Mini'.

Edgar bought the car in The Netherlands, took only the chassis to New Zealand and... scrapped the body! Edgar: "Then it became the white ESC in NZ. At least you know what happened to it. I will try and find out what happened with the next chassis in the jig."

A couple of days later he came back: "Hi Jeroen, I spoke to Angus Fogg and he has the jig for the chassis, but he does not know where the spare chassis went to. We have an all-Brits and Euro car show this weekend I will have a look and see for any new things pop up in the mini section. Angus also said he has had a few e-mails from you before."

That's right. I'd contacted Angus before about one car in New-Zealand in particular, which I had labeled as a Minipower also (this one) and showed Edgar the pictures, too. He replied: "It does look like a Status chassis from the pictures, looking at the top arm and chassis. The chassis was ahead of its time back than, with the inboard suspension. But we can rule it out as an ESC." That makes two Status Minipower-related mysteries in New Zealand. Who knows more about them..?

'VCL 738K' was a Status Minipower demonstrator that was used for a number of publications

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Peter Filby famously drove it for several of his articles, but it was also seen in a brochure

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Here it is when it was owned by Edgar - just before the body was sent to the scrappers..!

Picture courtesy Edgar Salwegter

The chassis was re-used in the first ESC, now with an aluminium body

Picture courtesy Edgar Salwegter

The wherabouts of the car remain unknown today. Do you know where it is..?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Maya Maynot survives!

Some great news reached me today: the Maya GT that was once registered 'RKM 473G' and also known as 'The Maya Maynot' (full story here) is alive and well! The last trace of it dated back to 1983, but no further news was heard until now. The car survives in Japan, where it seems to have been lovingly restored. These photos were placed online by Makoto Sugiyama.

Incidentally, I came across the very same car when browsing the famous Filby Files earlier this month (more here), and so I can include some further historical photographs taken at the time when it was owned by Peter Filby and driven by his then-girlfriend Caroline (signature Filby-photo here). The original 'frogeye' headlights had by then been replaced by Hillman Avenger lights, placed low in the modified bonnet. A front air dam and a massive rear spoiler were added, too.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the Mini's original headlights appear to have been fitted once again, now just like the Camber GT had them at their low position in the car's nose. The rear spoiler and air dam have gone, too, while a subtle air scoop was added to the bonnet. I have no further information, but love to learn more. New owner: please do get in touch. For more on the 10 known Camber and Maya GTs, click here.

Now restored and with the looks of the Camber GT again: 'RKM 473G' lives!

Picture courtesy Makoto Sugiyama

This car had all sorts of headlights. From the Maya GT's 'frogeyes', to Hillman Avenger units and back to Camber GT style Mini classic headlights

Picture courtesy Makoto Sugiyama

Dark blue with red body details and gold Minilites form a remarkable colour choice but fits in okay

Picture courtesy Makoto Sugiyama

I have no idea what sort of engine lurks in there now, but I'm quite sure it's not the car's original 848

Picture courtesy Makoto Sugiyama

Window display proves the current Japanese owner is aware of Maximum Mini, too. 

Do get in touch if you like

Picture courtesy Makoto Sugiyama

This is the car when owned by Peter Filby. The 848 engine had already been replaced at the time

Picture the Filby Files / Jeroen Booij archive

The colour seen here was referred to as 'tinned salmon', but Ford Blue followed later

Picture the Filby Files / Jeroen Booij archive

The car's restoration was described in a number of issues of Alternative Car magazine in the early 80s

Picture the Filby Files / Jeroen Booij archive

The Filby Files - and what you find in them

While in the UK earlier this month, it was also about time to fulfill an agreement I'd made some two years ago with Complete Kit Car magazine editor Ian Stent. Ian had written to me about the famous Filby Files he now owned as the caretaker of the publishing company set up by Peter Filby in the 1970s. He wrote: "I have piles of pictures still waiting to be correctly archived. There is one box of pics and paper cuttings which I have from Peter Filby, all relating to a Mini book I don’t think he ever published. These are largely on standard Mini variants (press pictures etc), but I also have quite a few pics of one-offs and also some (but sadly not all I think) of the original pictures from Peter’s Amazing Mini book. You’d be welcome to come here and use my scanner to grab the images/information that you want…" 

But meanwhile, Ian had resigned as the editor and the files had moved hundreds of miles up north with new man on the job Adam Wilkins, the magazine's current editor. Fortunately Adam was happy to have me, too. And so it happened that on a sunny Tuesday morning, while Adam was sobering up from Stoneleigh, I crashed into his office and took a deep dive into what have to be world's most famous Kit Car archives. And I was not disappointed. There were many, many photographs and documents of which the majority was really well archived, too. I recognized loads of pictures from Filby's books and magazine articles and it was really good to see the originals, sometimes in colour as opposed to the printed versions that were black and white.

Now, when you know Peter's writings you'll surely remember his tongue-in-cheek style, ever so often richly accommodated with remarks on women plus the matching photographs taken by himself. Peter was, and no doubt still is, a real ladies-man. And the ultimate proof was found after about an hour of rummaging through the files. There it was: in between the hand written notes, brochures, prints, negatives and slides: a woman's panties. I'm not making this up. It was no doubt hastily tucked away in a drawer of the filing cabinet somewhere in the 1980s. Adam and I had a great laugh about it and of course I had to take a picture of it. Up to you, Peter!

The man himself, Peter Filby with one of his Unipower GTs - he owned two of them

Picture courtesy Performance Publishing 

Typical photograph from The Filby Files, combining his passion for cars and girls. Here a Nimrod

Picture courtesy Performance Publishing 

Pictures were preferably taken in summer with the ladies scarcely clad. Here a Siva Buggy

Picture courtesy Performance Publishing 

Showing the advantages of a hatchback door… Mini Marcos Mk4 from the Filby Files

Picture courtesy Performance Publishing 

Bikini girl in a Stimson Mini Bug Mk2. Peter Filby was - and no doubt still is- a real ladies man

Picture courtesy Performance Publishing 

I'm not making this up: the panties found in the actual Filby Files earlier this month

Picture Jeroen Booij

Wanted: Alternative Cars no.1

Before I go to the binder's I need to complete my collection of Alternative Cars magazines. I am only looking for the first issue, dated Spring 1979, and would love to buy it from you or swap it for any other magazine that I have or even a signed copy of my book. Drop me a line at jeroen@jeroenbooij.com if you can help.

UPDATE 20 September 2011: I have not one, but two copies now! Who'd like to buy a spare one?