Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #118

Deep Sanderson 105 Twini is a shiny star

Supercharged Siva Buggy 

Your payments please!

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

Happy holidays!

I'm off on holidays and won't be reading my messages for some time. Only call me when you've found the Lawther GT or Saga, the Killeen K16 or one of the Butterfield Musketeers. Well, okay, you can call me when you found any long-lost Mini derivative. I hope you will enjoy the summer, happy Holidays!

Metal flake orange in the sun - a gorgeous Siva Buggy on the beach

Original picture by Nick Broom, imaging by Jeroen Booij

Dutch Buggy book is a real labour of love

This is a bit of a Dutch week, here on Maximum Mini. First there was this barn find Mini Jem (here) and the Dutch-built Nieuwenhuis Special on Zandvoort (here); this time it's a Dutch book about buggies. And what a book! Authors Henny Jore and Jan van der Lit worked 10 years to get their 2 kilograms heavyweight buggy bible in print, which I know was not always easy. The 352 pages tome features anything buggy in The Netherlands and you'll be surprised to learn how many cars were manufactured or made it over to there.

The majority of these cars is of course VW powered but it wouldn't be featured here if two buggies using Mini power weren't made in The Netherlands, too. They were the Barclay Mini Bug, a Dutch version of the Stimson Mini Bug built in Helmond, and the Moonbug, which was a Dutch Siva Buggy made in Amstelveen. The authors managed to track down the instigator of the Moonbug project, Peter Pijpelink, which led to new insights and a number of pictures that were new to me.

But those two cars are just examples of an incredible variety of Dutch buggies and the work that has gone into the research for this book has been enormous. 'Buggy's, Baja's, Kitcars & Replica's', ISBN 978909032659, comes in Dutch and has forewords by American buggy inventor Bruce Meyers and British buggy authority James Hale. It is available through its own website here.

Buggy's, Baja's, Kitcars & Replica's by Henny Jore and Jan van der Lit is a massive book

Picture Jeroen Booij

The Barclay Mini Bug is the Dutch version of the Stimson Mini Bug made in Helmond

Picture Jeroen Booij

While the Moonbug is the Dutch-made Siva Buggy. New insight come to the light

Picture Jeroen Booij

Second half of book is dedicated to another 350-odd buggies and kits that were available in Holland

Picture Jeroen Booij

Autocom Mini Buggy found - goes to France

When an unusual Mini based Buggy came up for sale on a well-known auction website last week, I missed it. But fortunately Lucien Vaast from France did not. He acted rapidly, made an offer and won the auction. Next, he drove over to Brighton with a trailer and secured the car to his home in France. However, Lucien did not know what he'd just bought! Did I? Yes, I did. Lucien had just become the owner of an ultra-rare Autocom Mini Buggy - one of just two made in 1991 by Neil Greenaway and Peter Altass in a place called Combe Martin in north Dorset.

When I was looking for one to photograph for my book 'Maximum Mini 2' it proved to be quite a challenge to find one, and I eventually ended up with the son of one of the notorious Kray twins (click here if you've never heard of them), who'd just purchased one and was happy to drive it over to the Ilfracombe seaside, yards from his deluxe bungalow and just miles from where it was made. That was a memorable day.

I think the red car I saw then was the second Autocom Mini Buggy made, with the earlier one being blue with a blue softtop plus yellow bonnet and roll bar. Later I managed to find a set of pictures of that car, registered YUO 495T - also the one used on the car's very simple brochure of which I'd also found a copy. This is the car which Luciano has now. I understand he is planning to restore and enjoy the buggy - it looks in a fairly good condition to me!

The lights of Brighton in the background and ready to go off to France here

Picture Lucien Vaast

Lucien Vaast of France bought an Autocom Mini Buggy without knowing what it was

Picture Lucien Vaast

Just two were made in 1991 in Devon. The other one still lived there when I photographed it

Picture Lucien Vaast

Lucien's car was last taxed in 1998, so has been off the road for over 20 years

Picture Lucien Vaast

It does appear to have stood the test of time pretty well though. A restoration is planned

Picture Lucien Vaast

This picture of the same car shows it when it was new in 1991. Not much has been altered 

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

It's great to learn that this car has survived, too. Even the blue top could still be the same?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Derelict kit car collection finally up for sale

I have written about a bunch of Mini based kit cars that is looking really sorry for itself in Great Harwood some times before (here). I was also told more than once that the owners weren't interested at all in selling any of them, while they supposedly had more Mini based cars than just these, too. 

But just under a year since the last sighting of them on these pages, it seems that they are to be offered for sale after all. An ad for an Ashley Sportiva sports car has appeared on a well known auction website, stating 'Other vehicles coming for sale on Ebay soon' and showing one or two of the Stimsons from the collection plus a bonus Mini Marcos with a GTM Rossa in the background, too. About time to share some good pictures of the cars that Peter Skitt took last autumn. Let's see what will happen to them. See the ad here.

Stimson Mini Bug is one of two on site

Picture Peter Skitt

It has been vandalized and has been left in the open for many years

Picture Peter Skitt

The other Mini Bug is a CS+2. It wears its hood and looks to have survived slightly better 

Picture Peter Skitt

It was last on the road in 1994, while being registered on a 1982 plate

Picture Peter Skitt

Its Mini engine is still there and all looks to be complete, too

Picture Peter Skitt

Another Mini based car in the collection is this green Siva Buggy

Picture Peter Skitt

Again, it has been vandalized badly. Would somebody want to restore it?

Picture Peter Skitt

Its engine is also still in place

Picture Peter Skitt

A Stimson Scorcher is a rare vehicle. There is one in this eclectic collection

Picture Peter Skitt

Supposedly first registered in 1993, it will need lots of work before it will be on the road again

Picture Peter Skitt

More Mini based cars are coming up for sale soon. Among them what seems to be a modified Mini Marcos Mk3 and GTM Rossa Mk2

Picture Ebay.co.uk

The Mini based Beach Buggy that never was

Remember former Lola engineer Peter Comben and his home-built MiniSprint? (Click here for the full story). Well, the Sprint wasn't his only Mini based creation. The man built a beach buggy, too, using a Mini Van as a base. Or he attempted to do so. In his own words: "I bought a lovely ex-GPO Mini Van in olive green livery. A super little run-about: soft cam, flexible torque, huge wing mirrors, and I set out on my next venture – a beach buggy."

"Together with a friend, we set front and rear subframes on a jig with engine unit in place. We mudded around for many weeks with alternate designs on either side. Unfortunately, cash ran out and we called it a day, burning the mock-up on a bonfire." What a pity!

Mini Van was an ex-General Post Office car and was to be turned into a breach buggy

Picture Peter Comben

Classic chassis frame was made to mate the Mini's subframes. It looks strong!

Picture Peter Comben

Engine put back in, interior fitted. Then the beach buggy's shape was formed in wire 

Picture Peter Comben

There you go. I like those odd lines, with its ultra-short bonnet and separate headlights

Picture Peter Comben

But it wasn't meant to be. Beach buggy project was cancelled and the car ended on a bonfire!

Picture Peter Comben

Who will be saving these Stimsons and Siva?

Last year a collection of three Stimson cars plus a sole Siva Buggy was seen here (click and scroll a little down). I have now learned the cars are still there, still looking sorry for themselves, and we now know the location, too. The picture was taken by Dafyn Jones, who found them by chance. He wrote: "Took a wrong turn near Accrington and saw these in a tumbledown warehouse" We see a Stimson CS+2 (BEF 216Y), a Stimson Scorcher (Q837 SOS) and a bright green Siva Buggy with no visible registration. It looks to me as if the other white Mini Bug (VOA 879K) is still hiding behind the CS+2, too. Dafyn adds: "They are at the bottom of Mill Road, Great Harwood in the remains of a collapsed industrial unit." Here you go folks. If they are worth serious money in 10 years time, don't say I didn't tell you these were rotting away right there, right now.

Stimson CS+2, Stimson Mini Bug, Stimson Scorcher and Siva Buggy are still out there

Picture Dafyn Jones

The sun seekers (3)

I'm off for a holiday for some time, but not without leaving you with no Maximum Mini stories. So here's a little series on Mini based sunshine cars that I wrote some years ago for Mini Magazine. Enjoy!

Apart from the obvious Volkswagen based Beach Buggy, the Mini proved to be a great base for a fun car too. Jeroen Booij looks at the best-known Mini derivatives for sunbathers; only to find out they all came from the south coast. Evidently not a coincidence.

The majority of the sun seeking Mini derivatives came from the UK's south coast. No coincidence?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

That same year, however, the Mini fun car was given a new lease of life by Domino Cars Ltd of Southampton, once again in sunny Hampshire. The company was formed the year ahead by aeronautical engineer John Chapman and GRP-expert John Ingram. By 1986 they introduced their Domino Pimlico. A bit of a cross between the Mini Beach Car and a Mini based Beach Buggy! The design of the car came from Richard Oakes who did numerous kit cars before and Fibretech GRP that also did Beetle replicas built the car’s open body. The Pimlico was immediately recognizable as a Mini but came with lots of differences too. The body was completely seamless and came with high sills, no boot lid and no doors and a ‘T-bar’. It had large incorporated wheel arches; distinctive side skirts and ‘frenched’ rear lights. Simple doors that required external door hinges were available at extra cost but most customers ordered their Pimlico without. Standard, the cars were painted in a two-tone paint scheme. After the Pimlico-success the Domino-range was quickly broadened with more models. From a Hard Top version to a Pick-Up and from the Cabrio to a lightweight racer with space frame chassis and carbon composite body shell. Domino Cars and Fibretech went into receivership in the new millennium and the assets were taken over by Domino Composites, which changed its name to Composite Designs before going into liquidation in late 2007.

An early sketch of the Domino Pimlico. It became a best seller

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Thanks to an enthusiastic importer, quite a few Pimlicos sold in The Netherlands

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Although some went further abroad, to sunnier places, as well. This one is in Florida

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Life's a Beach! Some Domino Pimlico's even ended up with gullwing doors

Picture source unknown

There were plenty of others, too. Ranging from a Stimson Min Bug copy called the Luna Bug (this time it came from Portsmouth) and another from Scotland called the Dougal Bug, to the Cirrus – a buggy with a swoopy design of which a prototype was shown only once in public (in an incredible metalflake paint job) before disappearing forever. There were many more unofficial Beach cars built in small numbers from Portugal (Arco Iris Beach car) to the UK (Crayford Carnival; Tigmark Mini Millé), France (Fayard Mini; Jacky Mini Plage; Many Mégo Mini), Germany (L&H Mini Beach Car), Venezuela (Mini Cord Beach Car) and there was the unique Gran Turismoke from Australia and Ed Roth's Surfite from sunny California. Except from the Pimlico perhaps, all Mini based sun seekers mentioned here are all pretty rare though. Even the Stimson Min Bug of which reputedly 180 were built you don’t see on the roads anymore. So if you do know of one that’s been parked in a shed way too long, get it out before the summer is gone and the sun disappears again!

The Luna Bug turned up in 2013 (story here), only to disappear again very soon after!

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Cirrus Mini buggy remains another mystery. This is the only photograph I have of it

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Hot Car magazine

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth's Surfite was a bit of a film star before it ended up in a museum

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The 1998 Tigmark Mini Mille - 'the Mini Beach Car for the new millennium'

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The sun seekers (2)

I'm off for a holiday for some time, but not without leaving you with no Maximum Mini stories. So here's a little series on Mini based sunshine cars that I wrote some years ago for Mini Magazine. Enjoy!

Apart from the obvious Volkswagen based Beach Buggy, the Mini proved to be a great base for a fun car too. Jeroen Booij looks at the best-known Mini derivatives for sunbathers; only to find out they all came from the south coast. Evidently not a coincidence.

Not too far from Barry Stimson’s workshop, another two Mini derivatives with bold Beach Buggy styling were conceived at around the same time. From Poole came Neville Trickett’s more traditionally styled Siva Buggy. Trickett had been responsible for the sporty MiniSprint in the mid-sixties. By 1970, however, he came up with his Mini based Buggy. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to him, too, that Volkswagen based Beach Buggies were becoming a hit and as an answer he made his own version. For the price of £195 the customer bought a kit to build one himself. It included a fibreglass body and a steel tube chassis frame that carried most of the Mini’s suspension. Radius arms were lengthened while the Mini’s suspension trumpet cones were shortened. Headlights and rear lights were included too. The complete front subframe with engine from a donor Mini could be bolted in, and some more Mini-parts like instruments, pedals and wheels could be re-used. Bucket seats, a flat windscreen in an aluminium frame and black vinyl hood all were extra’s, as were 13-inch wheels that gave the Buggy a better appearance then the Mini’s standard 10-inchers.

A great example of the British-built Siva Buggy in typical seventies fashion

Picture Siva Moonbug Skyspeed register

And another in 'Beach Patrol' livery. Pity it was photographed on the tarmac though!

Picture Siva Moonbug Skyspeed register 

The Siva Buggy was marketed by Skyspeed limited of Feltham

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

These two drawings come from the rare British brochure

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Trickett was soon fed up with his Buggy customers and decided to have the car distributed by a motor accessory company who offered it as the Skyspeed-Siva Buggy. They sold quite a few before the moulds and production rights were sold to Euromotor in Amsterdam who had been Siva-importer for some time. Euromotor started building cars offering them as the Siva Moonbug. By now purple had become the standard colour with other colours available for extra money. They carried on production until 1976 when a fire destroyed the Amstelveen (close to Amsterdam) premises and the original moulds.

Dutch-built and Dutch-registered Moonbug was built under a license in Amstelveen

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

This is another Dutch car, found much modified on a Dutch scrapyard in the 1980s

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Extract of the even rarer Dutch brochure of the Siva Moonbug

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Then there was illustrator Mike Jupp, just further eastwards along the south coast. Jupp was asked to design a car in 1969 that had to be based on Mini-mechanicals and was supposed to be a beach buggy-style fun car too. He liked the idea of what he now calls a ‘Juppmobile’ and started drawing. Intrigued about World War II-machinery he says he was influenced by the Volkswagen Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen so perhaps it is not surprising the Nimrod he designed had some similarities with amphibians. The Nimrod-name derived from the famous Nimrod fighter planes. Together with carpenter Ray Jay of Hunston he started working on a prototype from his parents farmhouse, but when he was half way finished the men who had come up with the idea for the car withdrew from the project, leaving Jupp and Ray behind with nothing but a half-finished car. The two now decided to put it on the road themselves. It wasn’t until 1972 that it actually was ready. The ladder frame chassis came with a floor of plywood while the roll bar was made from a scaffold tube. The fibreglass body was an open two-seater with high sills and no doors. Between the windscreen and the rear screen there was a bar to give the body a bit more strength and a black vinyl roof was attached to it. Headlights and rear lights came from the Hillman Hunter and a Minivan petrol tank was fitted. Jupp admits that he wanted to give the car as much ‘Beach Buggy looks’ as he could and designed chunky rear mud flaps to add to the impression of wide tyres! Jupp took delivery of the car and even drove it to Transylvania in 1974 with a trailer behind it to carry tent and gear. When a friend asked for a second car Jay began to think about limited production, eventually building another four Nimrods. Years later the car was offered again in 1979 by Nova Cars, but it is unknown whether they ever sold any cars. Nigel Talbott and his company ‘T.A.C.C.O.’ in Wincanton did build a few another two years later, but it is believed not more then fifteen Nimrod were build in total by 1986, by which time the car had disappeared.

The Nimrod prototype being evaluated at Ray Jay's workshop in Hunston

Picture Mike Jupp / Jeroen Booij archive

Mike Jupp looking at the Nimrod he has owned for many decades now

Picture Jeroen Booij

And the same car seen where it belongs: on the seaside. Here towing a small hover craft!

Picture Mike Jupp

Nova Cars marketed the Nimrod for a while, but they didn't produce many

Picture Jeroen Booij archive