Happy Thanksgiving 2022

A happy Thanksgiving to my American and Canadian readers! Yes, I'm a day late but at least the picture below was taken yesterday when I took the Ogle out for a little ride locally for the first time. What a treat. It drives well now with the clutch, brakes, cooling, distribution and ignition all sorted and the lights functioning as well thanks to a new wiring loom. It still needs more work but I'll enjoy tinkering with it in the winter months. All the best from Maximum Mini and enjoy the holidays.

The 'Belgian Barnfind' Ogle SX1000 drives and is back home now

Picture Jeroen Booij

Agricultural contraption: the Goblin

And now for something completely different! This is the Goblin - a Mini based tractor. I'd never heard of it until a year ago when one turned up for sale. I soon learned the unlikely creature was marketed and sold in the late 1990s by Carlisle-based Goblin Vehicles. They used reconditioned 1100- or 1300cc A-series engines placed longitudinally and mid-mounted in a galvanized rigid space frame and mated to Land Rover axles, locked centre and lockable front and rear differentials. It was all designed to carry a 500kg or eight people platform load. And that's all I know - more information would be much appreciated.

Goblin Vehicles do appear to have sold a few, because Richard Hawcroft dropped me a line recently with another being offered for sale. "A new one for you", he thought, continuing: "This sold for £1250 (I think) at the Euro Auction near here this week. My brother said it was huge, it has Land Rover series axels, so that gives an idea of scale. You can just see the Mini radiator in one of the photos." I answered: "Believe me or not, but I’d heard about the Goblin before and it even seems there were more than just the one as I have some pics of what surely has to be another example?" Richard had the last words: Jeroen, I like to keep you on your toes"

Well, let me tell you he does. Cheers mate!

Made in Carlisle, Cumbria: the Mini based Goblin 4x4

Picture Euro Auctions

It uses a galvanized steel space frame with Mini engine and LR axles

Picture Euro Auctions

Construction-wise it is not unlike the Turner Ranger and RTV

Picture Euro Auctions

How many were made? This one was auctioned recently

Picture Euro Auctions

Another example of the Goblin was seen for sale in February last year

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Now that's a no-frills cabin, leaving no doubt this was a work horse

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

1100 or 1300 engine was mounted longitudinally below / behind seats

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Ogles in Japan (1)

Some time ago I was asked to write the story of the Ogle SX1000 for the much-respected Japanese motoring magazine 'Car Graphic', and that's what I did. It was published in the August issue. Most time went into the box-out on the last page, researching the cars that are in Japan. Six of them were relatively easy to find out more about and with the help of my friends Saiki Wada and Bunzo Yasuda we managed to contact all the car's owners, too. 

But the biggest surprise came from a much-rumoured 7th car over in Japan. It turned out to be more than just a rumour and we did find out more about it, too. The car has been hiding since it was exported to Japan in 1983 and is still pretty much shrouded in mystery, but I'll let you soon know what I found as I'd like to review them here slightly more thorough than the box-out in Car Graphic allowed for. Stay tuned.

Car Graphic magazine featured the Ogle SX1000 recently

Picture Car Graphic / Jeroen Booij

The cars featured are ones I photographed in recent years...

Picture Car Graphic / Jeroen Booij

...Like this stunner of a white car that is in Switzerland

Picture Car Graphic / Jeroen Booij

As well as this one! But it's the box-out on the last page that exites perhaps most

Picture Car Graphic / Jeroen Booij

NEC Classic Car Show 2022: the Mini derivatives

This weekend the NEC will be hosting the Classic Motor Show and, like last year, the Minikits Club is present with a great number of Mini derivatives. On their display a freshly restored TiCi, barn find Biota Mk1, Heerey GTM, Mini Marcos Mk4, Hustler Sport, Ogle SX1000 and Minus Maxi. What a fun stand!

Another club attending is the Unipower GT Owners Club & Register with three cars looking very good too. Apart from Gerry Hulford's yellow racer there's also the ex-Janspeed competition car that now appears to be road-registered. Third is a freshly restored car in orange/white of which I hope to learn more soon.

UPDATE 13 November: Fantastic news: Minikits wins the award for most interesting selection of cars in the Classic and Sports Car Club Awards at the NEC Classic Motor Show. Well done boys!

 

Minikits display at the NEC 2022

Picture Paul Wylde

Biota Mk1 at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

Mini Marcos Mk4 at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

Hustler Sport at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

Ogle SX1000 at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

Minus Maxi at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

Heerey GTM 1-3 at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

TiCi at the Minikits display

Picture Paul Wylde

And three Unipower GTs at the marque's Owners Club & Register's stand

Picture Lez Dix

UPDATE: The boys from Minikits receive their trophy for 'most interesting selection of cars'. Congratulations!

Bonus picture: an Outspan Orange Mini, also seen at the NEC 

Picture Andy McPhail

And one more: that cool Clubman camper van, now fully restored and looking great

Picture Andy McPhail

Mystery Mini Derivative (84): Kiwi Twini

Twinis (twin engined Minis for those of you who forgot) were made in a wide variety. John Cooper's version became famous after it almost killed the man himself, but there were many more. You may be surprised about the number of Twinis built on Mini based cars too, or ones that almost saw the light of day. From Deep Sanderson to Butterfield Musketeer and from Scamp to Ranger. Read more about some of them here.

Tim Neal tipped me off about a Twini that's offered for sale in New Zealand. According to the seller it was built in Dunedin by a man who made more Moke style cars, all road legal ones but just with the single engine. This one, however, was different and was never road registered. It is now offered for sale, still as a project and as a 1970 Mini.

Apart from the mechanicals not much of the Mini's base appears to have been used with home-made steel floors, or so it seems, and a body which looks to be made of aluminium. It comes with a 'condition unknown' 850cc engine at the rear and a 1000- or 1100cc that has to be mounted in the front subframe.  There are twin fuel tanks and 12" wheels. A rewarding project no doubt. See the ad here.

Mini based Jeep style car - but with a difference...

Picture Trademe.co.nz

...As the car's rear is another engine bay

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Front oozes Jeep but then this was going to be a 4x4 

Picture Trademe.co.nz

There's an 850 engine in the space frame at the back

Picture Trademe.co.nz

While this one (1000 or 1100) is meant to go in the front 

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Simple dash with twin instruments. Twin tanks mounted directly under seats

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Floors appear to have been made specifically for this car

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Stimson Safari Six, as seen on Swiss tv

Seen in a 1985 magazine: a tiny picture of a Stimson Safari Six. I don't think it's one I have seen before, looking to be registered 'GDW 531E'. Interestingly the snippet about the National Mini Day in June that year mentions the following: "Some of the more interesting vehicles at the really included the Mini Mk1 which starred in the BBC television series 'One by One' and a rare six-wheeled Stimson Safari Six, one of only 12 built. This bizarre machine has glassfibre bodywork on a space frame chassis and travelled to the rally straight from Zurich where it has received substantial television coverage."

Who knows more..?

UPDATE 18:00: Mystery solved! It's a young Colin Baines leaning against the car, which was his at the time (he's owned more than one!). Colin: "Ha! Yes this was me age 25 at the Mini Cooper Club meeting at Beaulieu, I'd just driven over from the International Mini meeting in Switzerland where it won 'Der Ungewöhnlichste Mini' trophy - (The Most Unusual Mini) on TV." Footage from it can be seen here. Thanks Paul and Colin!

Stimson Safari Six, which supposedly appeared on Swiss television

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / Classic Cars magazine

What exactly is Paul's convertible?

A message from Michigan, where Paul Lester owns a Mini convertible by an unknown coachbuilder. Paul wrote: "I was told the car was modified in the early 1960's (it is a 1960 Austin Mini 7) to see if the factory could offer a cabrio, but the project was never agreed upon. I have no evidence to back this up other then two people with similar stories. I did talk to someone who worked on it in the 1980s in the UK (Worthing, quite close to the Cooper garage) and he had some history but sadly he passed away before he could share. All I know is 'oral history' with no firm facts to back it up."

With much of the car's sides kept intact it did remind me of a convertible conversion by Bell's Cars of Kensington but unlike Paul's car these had the conventional rear side screens. So... a factory conversion / prototype after all..? I'd love to find out and I'm sure the same goes for Paul.

A 1960 Austin Mini that's been converted into a convertible. But by whom?

Picture Paul Lester

There have been other convertibles keeping the Mini's sides intact, but not like this

Picture Paul Lester

The Stimson Mini Bug of 'The Wombles'

Keeping up with the 'Mini based cars on British television' theme (last week's Unipower in The Troubleshooters here), I was sent this little movie clip below of 'The Wombles', which supposedly made it to the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, famously won by ABBA of Sweden. If you go to 1:50 in the clip you will see three beach buggies, two of them VW powered but number three being a Stimson Mini Bug!

Barry Tilbury wondered if it could be his car, which happens to be another example that made it to a British television series in the 1970s (see here and here). Although the Wombles clip comes in a pretty low quality, the registration of the Bug seen in that seemed to be different from Paul's. 'LPM 317K' perhaps? 

Well, almost. It turns out to be 'EPM 317K' and the car is known by arch Stimson enthusiast Paul Wylde who added "It lives in a field in Wales and the guy will not sell it - I tried." Pity. It is a great little car with some fun history that deserves some tender loving care after all.

The Wombles in their buggies, one of them being a 1972 Stimson Mini Bug

Picture Youtube

The car was registered 'EPM 317K' and is known to survive

Picture Youtube

 

The Wombles made it as an act to the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, famously won by ABBA

Video: Youtube

And that's the car today, sitting in a field in Wales with the owner not wanting to sell it

Picture courtesy Paul Wylde

Swedish Marcos to be auctioned

A lovely Mk3 Mini Marcos that was supposedly sold new to Sweden is now offered for sale in an auction. The car is said to have been sold through Swedish concessionaire Elmhorn-Troberg Racing Service and was first registered in Sweden in 1969 with a Mk1 Cooper from Kalmar used as a base vehicle to build it up. 

It does remind me of Bo Elmberg's Mk3 that could be seen racing a big Ferrari in anger on the Roskildering in 1967 (see here). Remarkably, Mini Marcoses were built in Sweden also and it could perhaps even be one of a few made there, too. Click here for the full story about that. 

Fact is that it's seen some modifications over the years, including a straight cut Cooper 'S' gearbox and many more tuning parts. The wheels are rare Swedish-made JP alloys, very period. Inside an Innocenti dashboard has been added but most of the interior is believed to be original. The car was bought by the current owner in 2017 who is now selling it due to other restoration projects. For the full description from Bilweb Auctioneers click here. Bidding starts on the 3rd of this month and the estimate is 170- to 190,000 Swedish Crones (12,600 - 13,400 GBP or 14,500 to 15,500 Euros approx.).

A Swedish Mini Marcos Mk3 of 1969 is offered for sale in auction

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

A nice and clean car that was supposedly sold new to Sweden

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

Swedish concessionaire was Elmhorn-Troberg Racing Service of Stockholm

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

Built originally with a Mk1 Cooper as a base it has been modified heavily

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

The interior is said to be largely original though. Dashboard is a later Innocenti

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

Lovely lightweight wheels are rare JPs (not JAPs), also made in Sweden

Picture Bilweb Auctioneers

An early Pavesi Mini

Carrozzeria Pavesi of Milano undertook some daring coachbuilding jobs. They chopped off the roof of brand new DeTomasos, Ferraris and Iso Grifos and turned a Maserati Quattroporte (the name meaning ‘four doors’ in Italian) into a two-door coupé... And they also equipped a number of Minis into ultra-luxurious small cars with extravagant leather interiors, electrically operated windows and sunroofs plus dashboards and centre consoles in wood with Veglia gauges. Twelve are believed to have been built but I'd never seen an early car such as this one below. The pictures were shared by GAM ShineDetailing of Scandicci near Florence, which did a great job polishing it.

Like the other Pavesi Minis I have seen this one looks to be Innocenti based also, but being a Mk1 it is earlier than any of the others I've come across. It is striking in its burgundy colour with an ivory leather interior and light wood details (look at that centre console!). The hand brake lever has been replaced to the left hand side of the driver's seat, which on its own looks to be sourced from a non-British car. The headlining is nice, too, and the heater looks to be something special as well (Update: it's a classic Bakelite telephone!). Quite a car!

 

Early Innocenti Mk1 based Pavesi Mini comes with all the bells and whistles

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Grille surround and indicators are a giveaway of this being an Italian-built Mini

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Sunroof and deep gloss paint job, and look at the wood inside...

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Now that's a centre console! Note automatic transmission and electric window switches

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Hand brake lever has been replaced to the left. What are those seats from - Lancia?

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

This car's details are beautiful. The black device is not a heater but a telephone! 

Picture GAM ShineDetailing

Headlining is upholstered with wool in colour, too. What a car!

Picture GAM ShineDetailing