Peel Mini and moulds survive on the Isle of Man

You may recognize the pictures below as they have been on this site before, although something went wrong. So here again.

Peel discoveries continue to turn up, this time right from its birthplace: the Isle of Man, where RTV owner and Maximum Mini reader Ian Sims lives. He wrote: "Hi Jeroen. Here are the images that I have of the fibreglass Mini that I mentioned. It was very hard to get to as it has been sat in the orchard for many years and everything over grown. It was never built into a running Mini. I believe this guy had the original mouldings and this was the last one out as it was in the mouldings when he got them. No real evidence of all this but I’m lead to believe it is true. The original moulding again I’m told are in a collapsed shed on the same site but I have never been able to get close enough to investigate."

Thank you Ian. That's an interesting discovery for sure. Now, here's hopin' that some day somebody will save it.

That's a Peel Mini for sure. The car was made by Peel Engineering on the Isle of Man

Picture courtesy Ian Sims

 The car was made after BMC saw the Peel Viking and believed Peel Engineering was the best partner to develop a fibreglass bodied Mini

Picture courtesy Ian Sims

 Supposedly just six were made before the whole project was moved to Chile

Picture courtesy Ian Sims

 The quality of these bodies is believed to be excellent. One was crash tested at MIRA (see here)

Picture courtesy Ian Sims

 This one was never build and remains on the island. Together with the original moulds

Picture courtesy Ian Sims

Japanese reader is a real 3-wheeler fan

Reader Eiji Watanabe continues to surprise me with Mini based cars he spots in his native Japan (some of his finds here). Or ones he owned, like now. He wrote to me: "Hi, Jeroen. Here a mail after a long absence. My hobby car is a 1960 model Berkeley T60, which was modified to subframe and engine of a Mini in the 1970s. I love 3-wheeled cars and Minis and I owned several 3-wheelers and Minis in the past 25 years time, but now it's only the yellow Berkeley, the car that fits best to me. I hope to continue ownership for a lifetime. I look forward to your site in the future and pray for your happy New Year. Eiji."

He also sent me links to his websites, and I was surprised to learn that he prevoiously owned a Heerey GTM, a GTM Rossa and a Mini based Earl three-wheeler built by J.F. Earl of Wootton, Bedfordshire also! See his website here. Thank you, too Eiji, and please keep in touch. 

The Berkeley T60 of reader Eiji Watanabe uses Mini power since the 1970s

Picture Eiji Watanabe

  Eiji owned several Mini based cars, but says the Berkeley 'is the car that fits best to me'

Beautiful picture of it shows Mount Fuji in the background

Picture Eiji Watanabe

Another Mini based three-wheeler owned by Eiji was an Earl Special, built in the mid-1980s

Picture Eiji Watanabe 

...As well as a very good looking Heerey GTM. It was previously seen here

Picture Eiji Watanabe

Happy 2019 from Maximum Mini

A new year and plenty of new plans. But let's start 2019 with a little look back. At the Christmas Puzzle and the Find of the Year poll respectively. With 42% of the votes you chose the 'Dutch demonstrator' Peel Viking as the best find of 2018 (the Radford came 2nd with 21%, Moke and Quasar 3rd and 4th with both 16% and the GTM 5th with 5%).

Find of the Year 2018: the Peel Viking known as 'the Dutch Demonstrator'

Picture Jeroen Booij

Then there was the Christmas puzzle. Avid puzzle player and consecutive winner Neil Kilbane was the only one who sent in a full list of answers. They weren't all what I was looking for, but I think Neil deserves the price never the less. Once again. Congratulations Neil!

The answers were (and I have based them on Neil's)

1. Monica 560 - developed by Chris Lawerence, who was the man behind the Deep Sandersons 105 and 301 plus one of the drivers of the 1967 Le Mans Mini Marcos.

The late Chris Lawrence in 2005, with one of his designs: the Deep Sanderson 301

Picture Jeroen Booij

2. Austin-Healey 100-6 – Donald Healey also designed a Mini based roadster, which never reached production

3. Tucker 48 – this car was styled by Alex Tremulis, the designer of the wacky Mini-powered Gyro-X.

4. Pavesi Ferrari 400i convertible – Italian coachbuilder Pavesi also came up with coachbuilt Mini Coopers and Mini Mokes.

5. Hrubon Thélème – the brainchild of Jean-Claude Hrubon, the man behind the 1966 Le Mans Mini Marcos entry, and also responsible for the Hrubon Phaeton and Schmitt.

6. Méan Liberta – Méan also manufactured the Sonora of which one example was powered by a BMC Mini engine.

7. Ed Straker’s car from the tv-series UFO – also in the series were the SHADO Jeeps, which were Mini Moke based.

A SHADO Jeep in its fully restored splendour, as photographed in 2016

Picture Jeroen Booij

8. Bentley Continental R – former head of Bentley, Graham Hull, designed and built the Mini based Graham Hull Special in his spare time.

9. Aston Martin Lagonda – from the pen of William Towns. Other cars he designed were the Hustler series of cars, the Minissima, Tracer and the Microdot, which sprouted the Elswick Envoy, all of which were Mini based.

Some of William Towns' designs: the Minissima, Tracer and Microdot in 2011

Picture Jeroen Booij

10. Donkervoort D8 GTO – ex-Donkervoort man Edgar Salwegter moved to New Zealand where he designed the Status Minipower based ESC.

11. Banham Jaguar XJS-S – from Paul Banham, the man who gave us the Banham Sprint and Roadster.

12. Reliant Scimitar GTE – designed by David Ogle the father of the Ogle SX1000.

13. Singer Gazelle Series II – this car is the source for the rear lights on the Broadspeed GT.

A Broadspeed GT, using the rear lights of the Singer Gazelle

Picture Jeroen Booij

14. AC 3000ME – designed by Bohanna & Stables who were the designers of a Unipower GT successor that never saw production.

15. Foers Ibex – two of the companies earlier productions were the Mini based Foers Nomad and Metro based Foers Triton.

16. Owens Sedanca – Designed by Chris Humberstone who also came up with the Humberstone Mini as well as the revived Radford Mini de Ville of the mid-1990s.

Christmas puzzle 2018

This has become a real classic since 2010: the Maximum Mini Christmas puzzle. For this year you won't find any Mini based car in the pictures below, not even details. However, all the vehicles seen do link directly to a Mini based creature. And you guessed it: I want the names of the cars seen and the links to the Mini derivatives in all detail. The first who all the answers right wins a picture to choice from the Maximum Mini archives, printed in a large size. Send your answers via the comments below up until December 31 of this year. Good luck!

Maximum Mini Christmas puzzle 2018

Happy Christmas 2018

Tomorrow you'll find the traditional Christmas puzzle on this page, but for now I already wish you all the best for Christmas and a happy New Year. Thank you for your support in the last year and don't forget to vote for the 'Best Find of 2018'. Happy Christmas!

Imaging: Jeroen Booij

What is the best Find of 2018?

With the end of the year nearing, the time for traditions has come. How about the yearly Maximum Mini 'Find of the Year' poll? Once again, several interesting Mini based cars were found in sheds, lock-ups, gardens and garages again and I made a selection out of 5 of them.

You will find the cars that have made it to the contest below. To vote simply drop a comment below stating your favourite find (click here if you read this through an email message). The one with the most votes wins - it's simple as that. Now, over to the candidates:

The Radford hatchback Mini that was used as a tender to the wacky Carawagon. Full story here. 

The Heerey GTM found in South-Africa by avid reader Leon Daniels. Full story here.

A Beach Boys Mini Surfer, one of probably just five made for the Beach Boys. Full story here. 

The Peel Viking which is also known as 'The Dutch demonstrator'. Full story here.

A Special Quasar Unipower used to promote Triplex glasses. Full story here.

A very special meeting!

To some, last weekend may have seemed the most ridiculous time to visit Paris, but I did just that. And, no, I did not wear a yellow vest. I went there to meet these two people: Hubert Giraud and his wife Christine. Hubert was the team boss of the Mini Marcos equipe in 1966. The man who entered my car at Le Mans, who paid for all the expenses to have it built and who sacrificed his Morris Cooper 'S' to do so. He is the only living person directly involved with the project and is 81 years of age today. His memories about the events are crystal clear though. What's more: he has a map full of documentation, pictures and letters, several from Jem Marsh. It was a very special meeting.

Monsieur and Madame Giraud gave me a most warm welcome

Picture: my lovely wife

Le Mans Mini Marcos: back home (but not for long)

Almost exactly two years after finding the Le Mans Mini Marcos in Portugal and bringing it to my home, it's back there once again! And although things didn't always go as planned and time schedules were messed up in the two years in between; a lot more happened to the car then in the 43 years before, since it disappeared so mysteriously in Paris in 1975.
But it turned out to be good not to be in a hurry as the result so far is fantastic, I believe. Now... the next stage is preparing it for paint and the actual painting... Quotations are being made at this moment, but I haven't struck a deal with a painter yet. Your suggestions are welcome!

Front and bonnet now fully repaired and back to original shape. Bonnet bulges refabricated and all the holes for the extra radiator and oil cooler are back where they belong

Picture Jeroen Booij

Doors and roof were worse then expected but are fully repaired now, too. Note holes in doors for parking lights to illuminate roundel and starting number during the night

Picture Jeroen Booij

Believed impossible by some, but rear wheel arch extenders were eventually lovingly refabricated out of what was left of them. And I do have a pair of moulds now!

Picture Jeroen Booij

Double skinned floors fully repaired and roll bar refabricated and fitted just like it was at Le Mans, as described in more detail before. Underside and inside have been painted satin black now, too  

Picture Jeroen Booij

Back on the drive, but not for long. The next step is preparing and painting now...

Picture Jeroen Booij

Scamping in the 1980s

Chris Westgate shares some photographs taken at Scamp Owner's Club meetings in the 1980s. Enjoy! UPDATE: all pictures were taken by Paul Irvine.

That's a Mk1 in all its simplicity, a Scamp as it should be!

Picture Paul Irvine

But this is rather nice, too. A Mk1 as a van with added grille and raised headlights 

Picture Paul Irvine

And then there's this! The 12-seater Holiday Scamp, as offered by the factory

Picture Paul Irvine

Another Mk1, this one with another idea to modify the headlights

Picture Paul Irvine

This was a well-known Mk1 in Scamping circles, owned and modified by club instigator Fred Cake

Picture Paul Irvine

Holmbarth / Automec Special fully restored

Thanks to reader Martin Andersson we know that the Swedish Holmbarth 1100 survived at least until 2008 and was actually known as the Automec Special using the front end of an Ogle SX1000 as a rear... (click here). If it remained largely intact for such a long time, it shouldn't be a surprise it exists to this day. And it does. Martin as well as fellow-Swede Micke Pettersson both sent me an article that was published in the December 2015 issue of The Mini Times - the magazine of the Mini Seven Club of Sweden.

My Swedish is not particularly good, but Martin was kind enough to sum up the contents, from which I also lifted these images. He wrote: "In the article I sent to you, it says apart from the story I told you earlier, that Per-Henrik Holm together with another BMC mechanic Kjell Andersson had a part time garage themselves in conjunction with their daily work at BMC Sweden Competition Department.
That garage was called 'Bredängs Automec' hence the name for the car that eventually evolved from it."

"The GRP bodyshell was made and applied by a man called Sven-Eric Carrhagen (That name is familiar to me but unfortunately I can't remember who he was right now). It says that Carrhagen brought the Ogle front end to the project. When the car was finished the kerb weight was 365kgs and the engine was a 1300cc tuned to group 4 regulations mated to a sccr gearbox. The topspeed would have been in the area of 200kph at 8000rpm. When the restoration started it was found to still have its sccr gearset under the 1100 engine."

Micke, who wrote the article in The Mini Times and who interviewed holm at the time added: "There has been a follow up on this article with the car in its new paint. I will dig out the pictures."

The Automec Special survives to this day and is seen here under restoration in 2015

Picture The Mini Times

No, that's not the front but the back, using an Ogle SX1000 front!

Picture The Mini Times

Engine is a 1300 now, mated to the original SCCR gearbox of the Swedish Special

Picture The Mini Times

Automec of Bredang was set up by BMC mechanics Per-Erik Holm and Kjell Andersson

Picture Tradera.com

The Automec Special during its construction in what must be 1967

Picture The Mini Times

The little boy in these pictures is Micke, son of the car's builder Pelle Holm

Picture The Mini Times

Said to weigh just 365kgs and be able to top 200kmh, the car was raced at one time

Picture The Mini Times