BMC's own Mini based dreams - by John Worker

There is no denying that the great British Motor Corporation itself looked sideways to what happened in the Mini derivatives scene in the 1960s and 1970s. No surprise really with so many variants coming from all sorts of places, it was clear that there was a market for them. But how exactly they needed to come up with a Mini based sports car of their own remained a big question. There were the front engined ADO 34 and ADO 35 prototypes to start with, as there was the later ADO 70 concept. 

With a great number of drawings and sketches from the BMC drawing office of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which are now offered for sale, we get to see a glimpse of the company's ideas for Mini successors or Mini based sports cars. All of them come from the hand of John Worker, who joined the BMC team as a designer after a job at Ogle Design. The drawings will be sold through auction on November 4th by Anglia Car Auctions, and you can see / bid on all of them here. 

Undated 'BMC Concept' looks to be Probe or Unipower inspired perhaps?

Picture Anglia Car Auctions

Another 'BMC Concept'. Mid engined, it seems. This one is dated April 1969

Picture Anglia Car Auctions

And another from November '69. More serious perhaps and even named?

Picture Anglia Car Auctions

Over 80 BMC drawings by designer John Worker are now offered for sale

Picture Anglia Car Auctions

Tom's Midas is now for sale

It's always good to keep in touch with people and cars and it was a long time I'd heard from Tom Berkouwer, who's Midas Bronze I photographed for the first Maximum Mini book. Tom now decided to sell the car and wrote to me about it: 

"I have owned and restored a number of Minis and bought the Midas at the time as I was interested in something a bit more special - the Midas Bronze - with its fibreglass body but still familiar Mini technology. I bought my 1988 Midas without an engine and not in the best possible condition. However, this meant that I could decide myself which A-series engine/gearbox I wanted to use. The wiring it came with was not in the best condition either, so I replaced that with the loom from a late Vandenplas Metro. I first stripped the bodywork and had it professionally treated (locally 'thickened' and strengthened), adding some additional layers and spraying it in the original burgundy colour."

"The engine/gearbox and cylinder head from another late Metro were fitted. It also comes with new interior upholstery (front and rear carpets), all copied from the original upholstery. The photos do show the condition the car is in now."

When you are interested in Tom's Midas or want to read more about its specification - you can find the ad here. Let's hope to see it return to the road soon.

A feature car in Maximum Mini - Tom's Midas is now offered for sale

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

A lot of work has gone into the body, which has been strengthened at several places

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

1275 A-series engine originates from a Metro. Wiring from a Vanden Plas

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

Repainted in its original burgundy, and I do remember it was a nice paint job

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

Carpeting is all new and was made with the original as a template

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

Bucket seats are there, as are the right seat belts

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

MG Metro owners will be familiar with this dashboard - with the rev counter

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer

Stainless steel exhaust just needs fitment now

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

13" Revolution wheels, shod with Bridgestone tyres have never been on the road

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

Easy project? All of the parts to get it back on the road are there

Picture courtesy Tom Berkouwer 

Why wasn't the MiniJem launched in 1965?

This tiny little snippet below may not seem special, but it is something particularly interesting. We know the Mini Marcos was launched before the Mini Jem as it debuted at the Racing Car Show of January 1966. But it had been seen at races as early as in September 1965. 

The MiniJem's launch took place at the Racing Car show a year later: January 1967. However, brochures and flyers handed out there state "This light efficient G.T. 2+2 was developed over two years to accept all Mini components (including the sub-frames) and yet be very strong."

And that turns out not to be an exaggeration now, as this little article dates back to February 1965. By that time the (first?) fibreglass shell was ready yet! Interestingly it doesn't name the car nor the company behind it, but it states: "A London firm hopes to market the shell in the spring or early summer." That really makes me wonder why it took another two years? Unfortunately we cannot ask Jeremy Delmar-Morgan who passed away in 2018 (click here). Now, there has been a Track Test publication in a magazine titled 'The Mini-Jem Prototype' which may well provide answers here, but unfortunately I don't have this (blurry copy below) and don't even know its source. Who can help me to it?

February 1965 article suggests the MiniJem's launch in spring or summer '65

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

But it takes the company until January 1967 to launch "After a two year development". Why?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

This 'Track Test' article may well clarify things, but all I have is this blurry copy of it. 

Who knows in which magazine this was published and when? 

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

DeJoux and Fang for sale in the Antipodes

New Zealand's best known Mini based sports car has to be the DeJoux Mini GT; Australia's the Nota Fang. And in both countries one of each is offered now for sale. The DeJoux is listed as a 1971 'unfinished project', but it seems that most of the hard work has been done to it and comes with a long list of brand new parts, including just about all the mechanical stuff needed as well as a laminated windscreen plus a mould for the rear window. It is fitted with a (non-homologated) roll cage. The price of 15,500 NZD seems absolutely fair to me. See the ad on Trademe in New Zealand here. 

The Nota is least as bright green in colour and was seen for sale at a show in the Sydney area recently. I don't think there is an ad for the car, but I seem to recall this to be a well-known car in Nota circles and I'm sure if you cannot read the phone number in the windscreen but are eager to contact the seller, you will be able to find him through the Nota Sports and Racing Cars Group's Facebook page here.

Made in New Zealand and now for sale in New Zealand: a DeJoux Mini GT

Picture Trademe.co.nz

A whole lot of work has gone into this car, but it needs some finishing touches

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Engine is a 1275 A+ from a 1989 MG Metro with a long list of goodies bolted on

Picture Trademe.co.nz

You'll have to like that: the interior is fully 'caged', modern racing seats added

Picture Trademe.co.nz

Made in Australia and offered for sale there now: a Nota Fang, one of 108 made

Picture Sydney Minis

Rear engined, these cars were built between 1968 and 1975 in Parramatta

Picture Sydney Minis

This surely looks to be another 1275 engine with another dual Weber carburettor

Picture Sydney Minis

The car was named the Nota Type 4 officially, but is better known as the Fang

Picture Sydney Minis

MiniJems in The Netherlands

Back in 2020 I bumped into a genuine barnfind MiniJem in my native Netherlands. This car had been put in storage in 1984 and hadn't moved a wheel since. It was a Mk2, apart from its V5 complete and looking good. The car was offered to me but I didn't buy it, which I regretted immediately afterwards (story with dusty 'as found' pictures here). It went to another Dutch chap, whom I visited half a year later. He told me he would be restoring the car but I understand he sold it on once again, now presumably with the registration (YBH 849J) placed back on the car. I haven't heard from it since, but was send the pictures below just now. It seems only to have been cleaned - a little. Where is it now?

Meanwhile yet another Mk2 MiniJem was found in The Netherlands, now an empty shell with all the glass. This car was rediscovered two years ago now and turned out to be another Jem with British origins that had been laid apart in this country decades ago. I was once again interested but happened to be in the UK at the time and it went to somebody else. I hope this car will be restored also. 

Now, it does make you wonder: how many more MiniJems are there over here? I did find another picture of one published in an old Dutch motoring magazine. The caption read: "Believed to be the only Mini Jem in The Netherlands" but I think it is not one of the two cars mentioned here..! Anyone?

This Mk2 MiniJem stood in a barn in The Netherlands for some 36 years

Picture via Eric van Haren

It was parked there in 1984 and freed from it in 2020 and looked very complete

Picture via Eric van Haren

I understand the missing registration YBH 849J has now been re-applied to the car

Picture via Eric van Haren

This is another Mk2 MiniJem barnfind that resurfaced in The Netherlands a year later

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

And then there's this, dubbed 'Believed to be the only Mini Jem in The Netherlands'...

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Barn find Unipower in Kent

Almost forgot to mention this. I learned more about the Unipower GT that was spotted in a barn in Kent last month (click) and found out it was owned by a garage holder in Elvington named Wayne. I phoned him up and he told me he had indeed taken over the car from Nick Gerolomou. O learned that Nick had already started work on the car. According to Wayne he'd paid £7,000 for the paint job alone. The rebuild of the engine, suspension and transmission had also been carried out under Nick's supervision. A number of parts had also been missing but were sourced or remade, the Perspex rear screen in the first place, which supposedly came at £900. The rare headlight surrounds were also gone with new ones being found.

UPDATE 10 November 2023: ...Offered for sale on Ebay now... (click here).

UPDATE 15 December 2023: ...Article heavily updated, amended and shortened on request of the car's current owners.

This picture caught my attention. It wasn't too hard to track the car down, next

Picture courtesy Gerrit-Jan Kreeftenberg

I learned it was fully complete and for sale, too. And at an absolutely fair price...

Picture courtesy Gerrit-Jan Kreeftenberg

Original 1275 Cooper 'S' engine had already been fully restored as well as suspension

Picture courtesy Gerrit-Jan Kreeftenberg

 A £7,000 paint job had been carried out, rear screen remade and missing parts sourced

Picture courtesy Gerrit-Jan Kreeftenberg

This Unipower GT was one of the very last cars made and first registered in 1969

Picture courtesy Gerrit-Jan Kreeftenberg

Graham's mad Minis, Marcos and Ogles

About seven years ago I wrote about the mad Mini engines built by Graham Cooper (click here). In an old baptist chapel in Sedgley, West Midlands, Cooper (no relation) built some truly overbore engines with 1400; 1450; 1465; 1500; 1520 and even a 1556cc version, based on a 970 'S' block, using 170 thou thin-ring sand cast pistons and a unique Laystall Engineering crank. According to Car & Car Conversions magazine it was even reliable! There was also a much-modified Mini with a chopped, deseamed, lowered and much-raked body and I thought I'd never find out more about that.

Wrong. I was lucky to finally get in touch recently with Graham, now in his mid-80s. Although he owned dozens of Minis, he does remember that particular car: "I was building the engine for myself, just to see what could be done. A chap named William Cole came in and just said: how much is that gonna be? I want it and I'm gonna pay for it. He did the body that you have seen on that picture. The engine was dead reliable, we only kept on changing the head gaskets because they blew out at 8,000rpm. When Car & Car Conversions wrote about me, that was good, but we couldn't cope with the work. I was a one-man band, you see, with just my wife doing the accounts."

I also found that Graham had raced both an early Mini Marcos as well as an Ogle himself at Mallory Park in 1966! Unfortunately he doesn't remember much about the Ogle. Or actually: the Ogles, as he owned two of them: "I was buying and selling the odd car at the time and had two Ogles. They just went to people who wanted something else. But I don't even remember what colours they had." And the Marcos? "Well, that got out of control and ended upside down. There was no roll cage and it had pushed a round hole just above my head."

Thank you never the less Graham!

These are not Graham's cars, but the man did race both a Mk1 Mini Marcos as well as an Ogle in the UK

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The mad Mini GT 1500, with 1556cc engine by Graham Cooper and body by Bill Cole

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Spring 1966: Cooper at Mallory Park in the Mini Marcos, which ended upside down

Picture Andrew Griffiths

Original ABC Tricar owner calls in

A lovely message from John Byfield: "Hello Jeroen, I have just found Maximum Mini website and spotted my old car there. I owned BFD141J from new, 1971-1974. It was bronze yellow then as you can see. It had superb handling but a large frame tent forced its sale in '74. I did the ACU 24-hour road rally in it a couple of times, once with Trevor Powell, his car had a Clubman front and bigger engine."

"The ACU is the National body regulating motorcycle sport in this country and in the 1970s they ran a 24-hour road rally for motorcycles and three-wheelers. It was for 600 miles and competitors had to navigate between various checkpoints around the country. I managed to win the 3-wheeler class one year in the ABC. The rally still exists although in a different format. Thanks to your website I am now in touch with Trevor Powell, whose father built the Tricars and he is restoring the first car. Regards, John"

The last sign of life from John's old car car dates back to 2021, when it was spotted by reader Grant Cox in a garden (click here for more). Is it still there?

 

John Byfield's ABC Tricar, which he bought new in 1971 and used twice in the ACU Rally

Picture courtesy John Byfield

'BFD 131J' does survive - only just. It was seen in a garden a couple of years ago (click)

Picture courtesy John Byfield

The many faces of a wild custom Mini of the 1970s

After two recent articles, here on Maximum Mini, reader David Kiss decided to drop me a line. The reason was that two of the cars described brought back some sweet memories. David wrote: 

"Dear Jeroen, Not sure if you would be interested but I have been inspired to write following two of your recent blogs about custom Minis. In brief, I was given a 1961 Mini on my 17th birthday (1971), I kept this car for 12 years over which time it morphed from a humble 850cc into a 1750cc (Maxi/Allegro) powered custom, similar custom De Ville type build to the recent pics of '50 MAR'. (click here for the recent article about that)"

"I sold the car in 1983 as it was unsuitable for my new married life....(it may still be out there?) Re DART: my (late) dad was also in the RAF and Dizzy Addicott was a pal of his, I remember my (late) mum saying "He was a real speed freak". I'm sure I met him many years ago as a young boy but have no real recollection of him (recent article here). If my 1750cc Mini is of interest I do have quite a few pictures of it during my ownership. Keep up your great blog. Regards, David Kiss" 

Well, I did like that, and asked David for the pictures he mentioned. The next day I received a whole lot of them, with clear descriptions, too. David added: "I'll attach a set of pictures of the car over my ownership showing the various stages of its 'development'. I'm not sure how much detail you wanted me to go into but I'll waffle away and you can pick and choose as you like should you wish..... As I mentioned, I was given the car for my 17th birthday (1971), a 1961 bog standard cherry red 850cc Morris Mini Minor in pretty sound condition. My Dad and his brother-in-law ran a local Morris garage and the car was a 'trade-in'. With my Dad running a garage I had been interested and driving (in a field) cars since I was 11 years old. I used the car daily, generally flat out like all seventeen year olds... The poor old thing soon expired and with the desire to go faster I replaced the engine with one from a BMC 1100..."

"On recently checking the 240TPG on the DVLA system I see that the last change of owner was in 2007 so one never knows if it's still out there... as many others I would quite like to see if it's still about, perhaps even owning it again... curiously I now own another 1961 Cherry Red Mini, however, very standard, very original! Well I hope I've not rattled on to much, Best regards, David."

It's just lovely David. Thank you very much!

"This picture shows the car with the 1100 engine fitted. Note the 12" wheels as per BMC 1100 and also other go-faster mods!"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"A bit later and now repainted (very dark brown) plus flame motif. Paint work was courtesy of the firm I worked for at the time, we repaired all the new Toyotas that were damaged in transit, they were all imported back then, 1973-ish"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"The company had a low-bake oven system and the flames were designed and painted by one of the very talented staff. The car had also acquired a BMC 1300 by then and was relatively now quite a fast machine. The 1300 worked well for some time but I eventually wore it out so what next..."

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"This picture shows a Maxi 1500 engine basically installed. I had to cut and extend the front of the subframe to fit the larger engine and subsequently modify the front of the car. Many other items had to be fabricated, driveshafts, engine mounts etc. It was quite an awkward job but I was able to use the facility of dad's garage (and his help), which got the project completed. Note the DAF's: the garage had lost it's BMC dealership and was now a DAF agent!"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

The 1500cc car with David as its builder and proud owner in the mid-1970s. Note Jaguar leaper

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"The grille is from a Vauxhall VX4/90. The bonnet was held in place with four large dome-headed bolts and had to be removed completely for access to the engine"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

Much-modified and fast, but not enough for David at the time. There was more to follow! 

Picture courtesy David Kiss

 "Here the car is seen with another modified Mini that I came across (1975). I can't recall what mods it had. Shortly after this picture was taken my modified front subframe failed, so back to the drawing board. I then decided that more radical changes should be carried out..."

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"Bodywork mods, shortened rear side windows, de-seamed, small rear window etc etc... I had some wheel discs made as there was very little choice of alloys wheels that suited, but I didn't proceed with these. Note the hardboard template on the bonnet, this was used to make up a veneered dash, (Mk2 Jag) instruments were fitted behind smoked glass panels, illuminated when the ignition was switched on. An old friend was an excellent woodworker and made me up the dash to an exceptionally high standard (as good as a Rolls), sadly I never took any pictures of this. I had considered Merc headlamps but again this did not materialize"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"Now painted and complete with two tone vinyl roof... all the rage at the time. The engine, waiting to be fitted is a tuned 1750cc Allegro SS, note that the subframe is standard so as not to suffer the same issue when fitted with the 1500cc engine. It was the oil filter that was problem but this latest incarnation has a remote system as can be seen. The car still has an extended nose to house the radiator etc... I had also modified the bonnet and it now hinged forwards"

Picture courtesy David Kiss

This shows the modified bodywork in its full glory

Picture courtesy David Kiss

"This is when I put it up for sale due to getting married and not being a suitable family car. With the 1750 cc engine it was quite a thing to drive, it had lost the nimbleness of the original Mini but was mighty fast, with its 5-speed gearbox it would cruise at 90mph and was capable of 120mph+ Of course today there are many easier engine conversions with the abundance of front wheel drive cars but back then this was limited more or less to BMC/BL cars... the only other engine that may have been a candidate back then was the V6 Ferrari Dino engine..! out of my price league though"

Picture courtesy David Kiss