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While this is the actual Turner Ranger prototype - it lives, too

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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

Turner Ranger stars in James Bond movie

I was aware of a Mini based James Bond vehicle before (click here), but it now turns out there has been another one. Siva Buggy owner Graham Hill told me so. He happens to own a Turner Ranger also and is in regular touch with Tony Turner, the man behind the vehicle. Graham wrote: "Perhaps their finest hour was as film stars. Tony Turner was never shy of a bit of promotional work, and somehow he got the opportunity to place them in the Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. They can be seen dotted around Karl Stromberg's submarine base (who knew there was so much money in carburetors...) and somehow skillfully avoided being blown to bits in the final sequences. Tony recalls him and his son Jonathan taking tea with Roger Moore between takes. Tony Turner was, and still is, regularly ahead of his time, and the Ranger shows us the antecedent of the mules made by Kubota and Polaris now. If only we had been ready for the Ranger at the time.."

Thank you very much for this Tony!

A bit of Turner Ranger product placement in a James Bond movie!

Picture Eon Productions

Tony Turner's vehicles can be seen in The Spy Who Loved Me of 1977

Picture Eon Productions

Turner Ranger to be resurected

If the global lockdown is good for one thing, it is for Mini variants coming out of the woodwork and restorations on them being started. Andy Downes dropped me a line about a rare Turner Ranger that's been unearthed recently. He wrote: 

"Hallo Jeroen, I got excited when I saw this today, it belongs to my local garage and they've dragged it out the shed to renovate it during lockdown (they love old cars and have many). It's a Calor (or Turner) Ranger and is a small runabout rather like a quad-bike. It has a Mini engine arranged front-to-back with one driveshaft driving the front wheels and the other the back wheels! Mini suspension with Triumph Herald differential on each axle and four wheel steering. You've probably heard of Calor Gas and the Calor in this vehicle's name is because some ran on gas others petrol, apparently they also featured in a James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only" I think. It seems 200-odd were made under licence from Calor. Please let me know what you think. Andy"

I knew of the Ranger and have it included in Maximum Mini 3, but it is splendid to see this survivor being taken care of. Thank you very much Andy!

The Turner Ranger used its Mini drivetrain placed vertically in the center of the frame

Picture Andy Downes

This rare survivor is going to be restored now that we're in a lockdown

Picture Andy Downes

Bit of the Ranger's body and more parts in boxes, it all seems to be there

Picture Andy Downes

Engines used were 1100s which ran on gas and mated to 4 BL axles driving all 4 wheels  

Picture Andy Downes

This is what a fully restored example looks like. This one owned by Gareth Thompson

Picture Gareth Thompson

And a front view. 28hp at 3,000rpm gives a 15mph top speed. A cab was optional

Picture Gareth Thompson