The cars of Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser: AF Grand Prix

Over to the next step in Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser's career as a motor manufacturer. After the AF Spider (click here) came the AF Grand Prix. That car was built in the same spirit but slightly differently designed and more cost-effectively made, making it also cheaper in price. Where the Spider had been offered for £850, the Grand Prix came at £650. 

Fraser: "I did not redesign the new car very much. It was just a matter of keeping the costs down by making a few subtle alterations. I was really trying to aim for a younger type of market than before. Previously it was really a rich man's fun car". The most notable changes were the round cycle wings, the rounded-off back, a different hood design and a bench seat rather than two separate bucket seats.

Sandy told me he made four Grand Prix three-wheelers plus one four-wheeler variant. The second three-wheeler was a customer-built car and he told: "It was the quickest car that I built, with 0-60 timed at just over 5 seconds. According to the owner 9000 rpm in top was achieved once just to see what it would do. This corresponds to 156 mph at which the airflow was said to be 'most uncomfortable'!" Now, let's have a look at the cars that I have found pictures of. I'd love to hear from you if you own any of these, or the one that I seem to have missed out on.

YTL 37L - AF Grand Prix - Green

NMR 179R  - AF Grand Prix - Blue

CMR 266V - AF Grand Prix - Red

CMR 267V - AF Grand Prix 4-wheeler - Maroon

Sandy Fraser with daughter and three of the five AF Grand Prix' he built, the 4-wheeler at the back. This lovely image reminds me very much of Roald Dahl's great story 'Danny the Champion of the World'

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

May 1972: the AF Grand Prix is launched and makes it to the local press

Picture Jeroen Booij archive 

Nine years later Sandy was still offering them, as this March 1980 clipping proves

Picture Jeroen Booij archive 

Motor test drove the AF Spider in July 1971 when Sandy told them about his plans for the AF Grand Prix. The magazine's artist Brian Hatton then made this drawing

Picture The Motor / Jeroen Booij archive

This is the AF Grand Prix brochure car, seen with garage plate '157 DD'

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

YTL 37L - AF Grand Prix. Is this also the brochure car / demonstrator?

Picture Peter Frost

NMR 179R - another AF Grand Prix, originally blue, later blue and black

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

CMR 166V - Cooper 'S' powered AF Grand Prix, beautifully finished in red

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

CMR 267V - the only AF Grand Prix with four wheels

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The cars of Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser: AF Spider

I noticed I haven't written much about the crazy contraptions built by Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser here, so why not catch up on that. These three-wheelers were very much built in the best tradition of cottage car manufacture by a truly lovely and slightly eccentric man. That ticks all the boxes for Maximum Mini, doesn't it? I thought I'd make an overview of what he built and I should start with his first model, the AF Spider and its predecessor called AB1, which was also the prototype for the Spider. This AB1 was built by Sandy in his kitchen and used privately. It came with a Shorrock supercharged MG 1300 engine and later received a race-tuned Cooper engine.

For the Spider's full story and the involvement of F1 team manager and extraordinary 'barn find hunter' avant la lettre Colin Crabbe you need to read Maximum Mini 2. But Crabbe was the man to encourage Fraser to market his cars. He was, of course, a well-known figure in motoring media circles also, so it was perhaps no surprise that the AF Spider made it to the mainstream motoring magazines such as Motor and Autocar. 

When I visited Sandy Fraser to photograph his own Spider and interview him about the cars he told me most of his records had disappeared but he was kind enough to make a list from memory, which he said wasn't very good. But he told me :"I am 99.9% certain that there were 12 three-wheelers and 1 four-wheeler" He thought that were seven AF Spiders including 'AB1', the last one made from left-overs slightly later. With Sandy's list and the pictures that I have I found the following six Spiders, so it looks there is one missing: 

RTL 61J - 'AB1' or AF Spider prototype - Wood

UCT 41K - AF Spider - Blank aluminium & wood

SFL 256K - AF Spider - Blank aluminium & wood

LMP 868K - AF Spider - Red

WMD 982M - AF Spider - Yellow

96845 H (Australian plate) - AF Spider - Green

UPDATE 12 January 2022: And here is part 2 about the AF Grand Prix.

RTL 61J - AB1 or AF Spider prototype with the Shorrock supercharger

Picture Peter Frost

UCT 41K - the AF Spider of Colin Crabbe, here with his father and a friend

Picture Colin Crabbe

SFL 256K - AF Spider. Different car or same as above with a different number?

Picture H&H Auctioneers

While this is the AF Spider brochure car. The same also?

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

LMP 868K - AF Spider

Picture Peter Frost

WMD 982M - AF Spider

Picture Jeroen Booij

96854 H - AF Spider in Australia. More about it here

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Mystery Mini derivative (79)

Mike Brown alerted me about a picture he'd found on a Facebook page atypically named 'Sitting there Rotting on a Driveway'. And although the picture in question shows a vehicle that's not exactly on a driveway - it surely sits and rots! The chap who took the picture, Jamie Parnill, has no idea what it is but Mike added: "This looks like it might be Mini based". And I think he is right, too. 

But what on earth is it? The windscreen looks flat but much of the rest of the glasshouse (Perspex?) is curved. Could it have been made for a movie..? In that case somebody will surely recognize it.

UPDATE 12 January 2022: Perhaps not Mini based after all? Nick Beaumont wrote: "Wheels look wrong for a Mini". Paul Wylde thinks it may well be Reliant Kitten based and he dropped me a picture of a Kitten chassis, which does look similar. He added: "I think they have relocated the fuel tank and dropped the chassis down a bit at the back to lower the rear door access". He's got a good point there. Opinions are divided as a Reliant restorer that I know isn't quite so sure though...

Mini based? Looks like it. But the whens, whos, wheres and especially the whys are unknown

Picture Jamie Parnill

Biota article gives some new insights

A whole string of articles on Mini based (sports) cars has been seen in print in the last few months and TKC magazine's Biota feature is the last in line. This is a particularly interesting article of seven pages with some great detail and insights. Several of the pictures used have never been seen in print before also, so this is a must-have for the Biota enthusiast.

TKC's always friendly editor Steve Hole, who penned the piece himself, was kind enough to offer a £1 discount on postage for Maximum Mini readers regardless of where they are based. For the UK people that means free postage. Go to this link and use the discount code MAXMINI to order the magazine with the discount. Thanks Steve, keep up the good work!

7-Page article gives some new insights and photos that have not been seen before

Picture Jeroen Booij

January/February 2022 issue is the one to look out for, or order it direct online

Picture Jeroen Booij

Never seen before: John Houghton holding the demonstrator's bonnet on the left, 

Bill Needham seated on the right on the Autospeed show in January 1968

Picture TKC archive

Hooper Moke seen in public for the first time

Not too many Mini Mokes were coachbuilt, but a very special example has now been seen in the public for the first time since it was built in 1967. We've seen the Wood & Pickett 'Beach Buggy', which was later turned into the famous Prisoner Moke, and there were the Pavesi Mokes coachbuilt in Italy as well as a few cars made for movies. But I never knew that Hooper & Co made one too. Paul Brown is the man to know as he just became the lucky owner of the 1967 car seen below.

From what Paul has been told the car was built for Sir Gerald Glover, a solicitor, property developer and racehorse breeder who only used the car sparsely and on his own land in Northamptonshire. The car's odometer has just crossed the 7,150 miles mark in almost 55 years! 

 

The Hooper link comes from Sir Gerald's property development business since he supposedly owned the land in London upon which the factory for Hooper & Co was built. This association led to him asking Hooper to add the additional coachwork, special paint job in his racing stable's colours and sign writing on the Moke. After Glover's death in 1986 the car went to his wife and moved to another family member upon her death in 1995. Still in family ownership it was fully restored in 2011.

Paul has become the first non-Glover family member to own this very special Moke and he told me he had to buy it in a rush due to the fact of its rarity. He also added: "It’s not been out in the public eye since it was built. I have asked for the last owner to write down anything she knows about the car so it may take a while." Well, congratulations Paul. What a way to start the year!

'TRP 185F' is a 1967 Moke that was coachbuilt by Hooper & Co. Surely unique?

Picture Castle Classic Cars

Hooper added substantially more bodywork to the car including tiny doors

Picture Castle Classic Cars

The car comes with three tiny doors, only the left rear side doesn't have one

Note Cosmic Mk1 wheels front and Mk2s at the back

Picture Castle Classic Cars 

Added dashboard still comes with just one meter, but now two glove boxes!

Picture Castle Classic Cars

Engine was the only part that was not rebuilt during restoration of 2011

Picture Castle Classic Cars

You'll find quite a few Hooper badges on this car

Picture Castle Classic Cars

These must have been the comfiest seats available that could fit the Moke cabin

Picture Castle Classic Cars

I am assuming this was the flag used by Sir Gerald Glover for his racing stable

Picture Castle Classic Cars

Happy 2022 - Deep Sanderson is Find of the Year 2021

Happy New Year! 

We have a winner here: the Deep Sanderson 301 found in Mexico-City last year received the most votes for the Maximum Mini Find of the Year contest, so congratulations to its finder Henry Davis and owner Victor Milke. 

Victor is a happy man: "Dear Jeroen: Happy new year! May it be a great one! Thanks for the results on the poll. I am glad the car community has an interesting project to restore... and eventually I will get to my task. The idea still is to restore it as a regular driver, not a racer. So far, only gathering a few parts. I bought a steering wheel that could work on it and switches and small bits so far. Best wishes! Victor"

Maximum Mini Find of the Year 2021: the Deep Sanderson 301 of Mexico-City

Picture courtesy Victor Milke

The car was unearthed from its long-term hiding place in March last year

Picture courtesy Victor Milke

Happy Christmas 2021

Now that 2021 is almost finished we can look back at another strange year. But when sticking to the Maximum Mini theme it's certainly not been a bad one. A record number of Mini based cars has been (re)discovered, bought and sold, restored, driven and raced and there is some great progress in the Le Mans Mini Marcos project, too. I can assure you 2022 will have some surprises coming.

 

But for now I wish all of you a happy Christmas and the best wishes for 2022. Thank you for your support and please don't forget to vote for the 'Best Find of 2021' here.

A Unipower GT in an Austrian winter landscape (Dachstein pass)

Original photograph Planai Classic, picture editing Jeroen Booij

Boxing Day 1967 - with Best Wishes from Checkers

A copy of this leaflet, which I'd never seen before, was sent to me by Joost van Diën. Yes, that's the 1967 Le Mans Mini Marcos works car with its modified windscreen. It's seen here during its time with South-African racer Peter Kat, who was sponsored by Checkers - a South-African supermarket chain. Kat's first race in the Marcos took place at the Roy Hesketh circuit on Boxing Day, December 26th, in 1967. Checkers certainly seem to have had good faith in him. Kat and his c-driver Dirk Marais came 11th overall. 

Last year in July I incidentally caused a bit of a stir when I wrote about this (originally green) car and its (originally yellow) sister car, mixing them up. There was a good excuse though. It turned out that the yellow Mini Marcos had received a signature modification also: its windscreen was modified just like the one on the green car, somewhere between 19 June and 23 July 1967. A comprehensive new article with many pictures followed, which you can still read here. Meanwhile a few more pictures of the car during its Checkers sponsorship have turned up, one of them showing it in its colours (here). Keep them coming!

Peter Kat drove the ex-works 1967 Mini Marcos in South-Africa with Checkers sponsorship

Picture via Joost van Diën

Le Mans Mini Marcos: Update from Pau (2)

In the world car manufacture a marriage takes place when body and drivetrain are joined and I am happy to announce that today this event will take place for the one and only 1966 Le Mans Mini Marcos in the workshop of Mini World Center in Pau. It's just a pity I can't be there and naturally there are a few complications, but I'm sure we will overcome. More to follow soon!

Le Mans Mini Marcos ready to take the drivetrain after decades of missing

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière

And the fully refurbished front subframe ready to take the engine just earlier

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière

Le Mans Mini Marcos: Update from Pau (1)

I am very glad to write to you that work is progressing on the Mini Marcos' mechanicals over at Philippe Quirière's Mini World Center in Pau, France. These pictures came just in and show a bit more of what happened in the last couple of days. Car and engine will soon be joined together after all those years again. I can't wait.

The engine is ready for fitment now

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière

The modified top of the radiator shroud 

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière

And the radiator itself, now recored

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière

Rear subframe had been fitted, petrol pump is there now, too

Picture courtesy Philippe Quirière