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 CONTENTS January 2022
ISSUE: 322

18 25 30

FEATURES
10 IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
It may make some angry noises, but this
Hulk Mini is a cheerful little scamp really.

36 ON THE JOB
When Joe Matthews went looking for a
40
wedding car, he decided to tread a path
less ordinary. And quite small…
40 ZED’S NOT DEAD, BABY
With these beautifully engineered
EcoBoost twins, Z Cars is experiencing a
dramatic rebirth.
54 DEBUTANTE BALLER
First cars are often cheap and disposable,
but Amy Jones has gone in another
direction: her Fantasy Pink Mayfair packs
oodles of classy upgrades.
64 RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
It often takes a protracted and lengthy
search to find a project car. But for Darren
Needham, the right car found him.

MINI SCENE
18 NEWS 10
All the latest from the Mini scene.
23 MINI MASHUPS
Mr J’s monthly reinterpretation of
Mini design.
25 AUCTIONS
Our view of the current Mini market.
29 EVENTS
The shows to look out for on the
Mini calendar.
34 YOUR MINIS
Our pick of your cars.

MINIS FOR SALE

Find your perfect Mini at GE 96
SEE PA
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Magazine? See page 72.
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34 EMAIL
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MINI TECH 79
74 HOW TO
We check out what’s involved in bringing
a slumbering 998 back to life.
76 ASK THE EXPERT
Our tech experts answer all your Mini
technical queries.

36 79 PRODUCTS
The latest selection of parts and goodies

84
to lavish upon you and your Mini.
84 OUR MINIS
The latest from our Mini fleet, featuring
Jeff, Tim, Pete, and newbie Dan.

54 74

64

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HULK SALOON

10
 HULK SALOON

IT’S NOT EASY

BEING GREEN
The Incredible Hulk has a reputation for getting
a bit cross. But this Hulk Mini? It may make some
angry noises, but it’s a cheerful scamp really…
Words Daniel Bevis Photography Jason Dodd

A
shley Abraham is supremely
matter-of-fact about his vivid
Mini’s nickname: “It was
green when I bought it, so it
made sense to call it ‘Hulk’
and the name just stuck,” he grins.
“Everyone I know refers to it as that. It
also makes me angry sometimes…”
Well yes, it wouldn’t be any fun if it was
easy, would it? And perhaps the most
impressive thing about this perky little
saloon is that it’s Ashley’s first proper
crack at modifying. Believe it or not, he’s
basically got it right first time – although
not without a little trial-and-error along
the way, of course. This has been a
thoroughly in-depth and sleeves-
rolled-up sort of project; occasionally
infuriating, always intriguing, and
representing a frankly astonishing
amount of effort.
“Hulk is the first car I’ve owned that

11
HULK SALOON
Mota-Lita wheel is a
perfect fusion of form
and function
“It needed some work to bring it up
to the standard I like a car to be”
I have modified significantly,” he muses.
“I had a Mini at the age of 16/17 that I
swapped for what was really my first car,
MPI seats make for a very pleasant cabin
a Mk1 Renault Clio. At the time I couldn’t
afford to keep the Mini as it needed a lot
of work doing to it – but I knew that one
day I would get another one.”
DREAM REALISED
They do have a habit of getting under
your skin, don’t they? And so it came to
pass; fast-forward through the years into
adulthood and Ashley found his eye
caught by an advert online for a Mini that
was only half an hour or so from his
home, and seemed to be pretty decent
12
value. “The car was nicknamed ‘Molly’ at
the time,” he says, “and it was within
budget and not a million miles away. I
went to take a look, and it seemed to be
just what I was looking for. I bought the
car from someone I didn’t know, Mike,
who I later became friends with after his
girlfriend messaged me about the Mini. It
needed some work to bring it up to the
standard I like a car to be, as I’m a bit
obsessive about the details – but I liked
that, because I learnt a lot from working
on it, either by myself or having
experienced people helping me. Rex
Patterson and Jeff Hills are two people
who were hugely helpful; they and various
 Stance is just right over
those 7x10” Specialist
Components split-rims

Aw, he’s not angry, he’s cute

others who have aided me over the years
really gave me the confidence to rebuild
Hulk.”
The plan was clear from the start: to
hoik the engine out so as to tidy it up a bit
and repaint the bay. But things are never simultaneously annoying and reassuring new sills to get rid of the oversills that
quite that simple, are they? What began – sure, it was creating a lot of extra work, caused a lot of rust issues,” he explains.
as a quick under-bonnet spruce-up but it was also all stuff that really needed “Both door steps were replaced, along
rapidly escalated into a full body strip- doing, and once it was all sorted he could with new A panels, among much other
down, and the deeper into the project have absolute confidence in the integrity previously botched welding work that
Ashley got, the more areas he found to of the car. needed to be rectified; all of the panels
remedy and rectify. This was “I ended up putting in new floors, and were supplied by M-Machine. Nearly

13
HULK SALOON
Japanese race wipers are a neat touch
“A friend offered to take it into his
workshop and finish the welding ”
every part that came off I rebuilt, painted
or replaced if it was too far gone. I had
both subframes blasted and painted,
stripped the car down, and borrowed a
welder with the intention of doing it all by
myself.”
SHIFTING PRIORITIES
Recent world events have had something
of a habit of shaking up people’s plans,
however, and with lockdowns and
restrictions continuing to persist through
2021, Ashley just couldn’t find the time to
spend in the garage; with his fiancée
14
going back to work and a four-year-old to
look after, priorities shifted and he set
about formulating a new plan for the
Mini. A friend, Wayne Wright, offered to
take the project into his own workshop
and finish off all the welding, before
passing the shell onto Grant Clegg at
Reborn Classics to be painted. With all of
this perfected, Hulk then came home to
Ashley so that he could build everything
back up again during any spare time he
had over evenings and weekends. Any
elements he couldn’t tackle himself were
farmed out to experts – Barry Tilbury
 Spectacular detailing under
the bonnet - show and go in
one shiny package
Drilled hinges saving vital grams!
taking care of the electrics, for example –
but as much as possible, he was keen to
get his hands dirty.
With the bodywork looking pin-sharp
in its metallic green and contrasting Old
English White, the drivetrain and chassis
received a similar level of fastidious
attention. Under the bonnet (in an engine
bay as beautifully presented as you’d
Beautiful shade of green
appears to shapeshift
when the sunlight hits it
hope, given that this was what kicked the
whole project off in the first place) we
find a hot 1275 sporting an SW8 cam,
modded head, duplex timing chain and
Retro Sport billet alloy timing cover,
while the gearbox was rebuilt by
Guessworks. The suspension packs Spax
krypton gas shocks, Mini Spares red dot
cones and hi-los, while the front
15
 Ashley is a details man, and
the evidence of that is clear
throughout the build

TECH SPEC
BODY Metallic green, Old English White roof
and mirrors, painted bonnet stripes with
pinstripes, Mk1 Morris grille, Marchal
headlights (imported from Japan), racing
wipers from Japan, Mk2 rear lights, Lucas
foglight used as reverse light, Group 7 arches,
custom ‘Hulk’ laurels by Sticky Fingers
ENGINE 1275, modified head, SW8 cam,
duplex timing chain, Retro Sport billet alloy
timing cover
SUSPENSION Spax krypton gas shocks, Mini
Spares red dot cones, hi-los, maintenance-
free sealed ball-joints
TRANSMISSION 4-speed manual – rebuilt by
Guessworks
brakes have been ousted in favour of Mini was methodical in his approach and the
BRAKES Mini Sport front 4-pots with 7.9” Sport’s revered 4-pot upgrade with 7.9” finished result is a flawlessly finished and
vented discs, all new rear brakes inc. discs. It all adds up to a package that’s practical ride. “As a family of four, we get
backplates, new brake lines, Minifin drums
eminently usable and superb fun to chuck to a lot of shows with Hulk,” Ashley
WHEELS AND TYRES 7x10” Specialist down country lanes, with the technical smiles, evidently justly proud of his
Components D4 split-rims, Yokohama A008 prowess equal to the fabulous aesthetic achievements. “There are various events
tyres
presentation. and weekend drives, and we always attend
INTERIOR MPI seats, Newton Commercial Midweek Minis every Wednesday. I
door cards, dashliner and carpets, Mota Lita
John Cooper wood-rim steering wheel,
WEDNESDAY WARRIOR started Midweek Minis in 2014 with some
Over the course of the project, a new baby friends, as we wanted to use our cars
Wired by Wilson toggle switches with DSN
panels, assorted other DSN parts arrived in the family which naturally had more and make new friends with similar
an effect on the pace of work, but Ashley interests. The meet-up has grown

16

“A Mini is never finished, is it? Maybe
there’ll be a more powerful engine”
massively over the years; it’s a free club
with weekly meets in Portsmouth and the
surrounding areas – you can find us on
Facebook at @Midweek Minis. We
attended a lot of shows as a family before
the pandemic, and we’re hoping to get to
many more in 2022 as things start to get
back to normal.”
It’s nice to be in a position to begin
making plans again, isn’t it? The
outlandish weirdness of the last couple of
years has put a lot of things on the back-
HULK SALOON
Lucas foglight used as a reversing lamp
Up-on-its-toes gait
means the Hulk is
ready for action
burner, but Ashley and his family are
keen to start inking shows and road-trips
onto the calendar. “And a Mini is never
finished, is it?” he smirks. “So I’m not
ruling anything out. Maybe there’ll be a
more powerful engine…” Whichever way
things go, it’s undeniable that this is an
THANKS TO:
extremely happy little Mini – the power, “I would like to thank Rex Patterson, Jeff
the style, the stance, the usability, it’s all Hills, Wayne Wright, Grant Clegg, Barry
very pleasing. Nothing here to make Hulk Tilbury, and anyone else who has
angry. Which is good, because you helped me on Hulk’s rebuild journey.”
wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
17
Photos Mini Sport
Mini scene
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Thrills and spills on the Otterburn Ranges
he Historic Rally Car Register offers a
T
plethora of historic motorsport
events across the calendar, and none
is more engaging or hotly contested than
the Mini Sport Cup. Sunday October 24th
saw the various plucky teams gearing up
to compete in the 4th round of the Cup,
taking on the formidable Cheviot Stages
Rally. Beneath dramatic Northumbrian
skies, and competing over thirteen stages
on the notoriously difficult Otterburn
Ranges, the Mini Sport Cup crews had a
real battle on their hands with class
honours up for grabs.
Current Category 2 Class leaders,
Andrew O’Hanlon and Kevin Hogan, had a
day of mixed fortunes; having suffered a
blown head gasket and handling problems
caused by a broken rear shock absorber
on the recent Pokerstars Rally on the Isle
of Man, the pair were hopeful of less
drama this weekend. Unfortunately things
didn’t quite go to plan, with the brakes all
but disappearing by Stage 4; with
only twenty minutes available at
service, brakes were bled, fluid
replaced and some semblance of
stopping power restored. The
remaining stages could then be
tackled with more confidence,
and times began to improve once
more. By the end of the event,
they’d held on to the Mini Sport
Cup Category 2 Class win and
also claimed 2nd-in-class on the
event itself.
18
A solid performance for Peter Ellerby
and Andy Brown saw them finishing
seventeen seconds ahead of Andrew and
Kevin, to clinch 3rd in Cat 1 and 3rd Mini
overall. And just one second ahead of
Peter and Andy were Shane Gamble and
Bob Ward, finishing 2nd in Cat 1 and 2nd
Mini overall.
The Otterburn Ranges claimed their first
victims relatively early on, with Craig King
and Clare Jennings forced to retire on
Stage 7 – a tie-rod let go while they were
flat-out in fourth gear, which was a bit of a
squeaky-bum moment! This caused a
catastrophic failure of the driver’s side
front suspension assembly, resulting in the
brake hose being severed, the bottom arm
bending, the top ball joint shearing and the
driveshaft being pulled apart. The sudden
break caused Craig and Clare to veer off
the road and into the soft verge at
approximately 80mph, but thankfully the
car didn't dig in or roll over. A dramatic
outcome indeed, but fortunately they
were able to walk away from it.
It was a first-time outing on the
Otterburn Ranges for the Stevens Selly
family team, with Harvey behind the
wheel, Andrew on the notes and Lawrence
on the spanners and kettle. Knowing the
reputation of the event, a nervous start
would be guaranteed and was made all
the more daunting with the weather
forecast predicting rain... Having studied as
much in-car footage of Mini Sport teams
on previous events as possible, the recce
simply further illustrated how fast and
tricky the narrow, twisty roads could be. A
steep learning curve, but soon enough the
stage times began to tumble, with the car
finishing 2nd in Cat 2 and 5th Mini overall.
And it was an excellent trip out for
current Championship leaders, Clive King
and Anton Bird; pushing hard from the
start, they built up a 45-second lead on the
first stage and continued building a gap
from there. The car ran
faultlessly, its Mini Sport engine
pulling a hysterical 7500rpm in
top, and by the end of the event
Clive and Anton found
themselves netting 1st in Class
A and 1st Mini overall.
Another brutal rally
completed, neatly setting the
crews up for the next round on
Anglesey in November – the
final round of the 2021
Championship.
 News

SUSSEX APPEAL
Goodwood dates released
Q Goodwood has announced its show
dates for 2022. After the Covid-enforced
hiatus of 2020, the ’21 events were bigger
and brighter than ever before; you can see
our Revival coverage on p.30-33, and we’ll
be bringing you coverage of the 78th
Members Meeting next month. And now
the order books are open for it all to
happen again next year: the 79th Members
Meeting will run across the weekend of
9th-10th April, the Festival of Speed will
take place between 23rd-26th June, and
the Revival will be held from 16th-18th
September. We’re expecting 2022’s events
to be something really special.
Tickets are on sale - check availability at
www.goodwood.com

ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC?

New Mokes are buzzing with volts
Q MOKE International, the company that has owned the
Moke rights since 2015, has announced that it will be the
world’s first legacy manufacturer to go fully electric. From
January 2022, all Mokes built by the company will be EVs –
and they’ve got some pretty nifty tech on board too. As well
as the 44bhp motor powering the rear wheels, the platform
offers regenerative braking and power steering, while
aluminium body panels have been used to offset the weight
of the electrical gubbins.
It still weighs in at
800kg, and the prices
are pretty weighty too,
starting at a smidge over
£29,000 – but if this is
what the electric future
looks like, we reckon it
could be a lot of fun.

19
 News

NUTS AND VOLTS

An unintrusive package to electrify your Mini
here’s an increasing interest in the

T
What’s particularly interesting about this diff is also available as an option. The logical
classic car aftermarket for converting option is that no vehicle modifications are upshot of all this is that you could happily
older cars to electric power, and a required, so you won’t be cutting holes in whip out your trusty A-Series, leave it under
number of attractive and unexpected your Mini, and the whole package weighs in the bench, and run your classic as an EV. And
models have found themselves going under at 70kg, and as such shouldn’t adversely when you wanted to revert back to factory
the knife to replace their dino-juice with affect the balance or handling. specs for whatever reason, you can just swap
ones-and-zeroes. The Jaguar E-Type, the The package comprises an HPD E it all back. Clever, eh?
Aston Martin DB5, the Citroën DS, they’ve all Powertrain system mounted to an original See www.swindonpowertrain.com for
found themselves getting plugged in… and classic Mini front subframe, featuring further details.
yes, the Mini is a more than viable option too. brackets specifically designed for this
Indeed, with Swindon Powertrain’s installation. It also includes purpose-
conversion package, it looks to be pretty designed inner CV joint housings that
unintrusive. One major obstacle for a lot of allow the fitment of standard Mini
owners would be the risk of irreversibly driveshaft assemblies, and
altering an original car, but these kits have comes complete with a
been designed to be as swappable as standard differential
possible so as not to do anything that cannot – a limited slip-
be undone; the stand-alone electric 80 kW
continuous (120 kW peak) Classic Mini Kit can
be used in isolation or in addition to a range
of aftermarket Swindon Powertrain EV
components, such as a 12 kWhr battery
pack, motor controller, onboard charger
and DC-DC converter. Suitable for classic
car enthusiasts, specialists or EV
conversion businesses that want to electrify a
classic Mini, order books are now open with
prices for the Classic Mini Kit starting at
£8,850 + VAT.

20
23
 Auctions
OUR PICK OF THE INTERESTING MINIS
UNDER THE HAMMER THIS MONTH

SPIRIT OF ’66
Sale price: £21,950 spec today would cost in excess
Photos: Car & Classic
of £50k. The donor car was a
low-mileage example, showing
Q This unique curio, which passed 7,500 miles or so on the clock,
through Car & Classic’s online auction and the brief of the project was
platform in late October, represented to craft ‘a Mini that could be
something of a niche proposition. The rapidly and comfortably driven
1966 Morris had undoubtedly been built from the north of England to
to a very high standard, but rather than Vienna in one hit’. Quite a
go for a concours resto the person in specific goal, that. The idea was
question had aimed to create a subtle but to turn the classic into a luxurious
potent bespoke custom. grand tourer, in the style of a high-end single package to create a design icon.
According to the auction listing, the restomod; the ethos was to combine the Or so they reckoned. The result is a
restoration work added up to 1,200 best parts of the Mini’s various tasteful saloon packing a 1380 fast-road
hours, and it’s estimated that building generations, offering superior power, motor with Swiftune internals, with a
another car to the same standard and superlative comfort and reliability in a single carb and stock flywheel for
everyday usability, comfortable
suspension, strong brakes, and an
interior trimmed in Connolly hide and
tweed.
Quite a hard car to price then, no? The
auction estimate suggested £25-30,000,
but by the time the hammer fell the
reserve was met and it sold at £21,950.

THE MIGHTY BOOST

Sale price: £9,000
Photos: H&H Classics
QYou may have spotted that this 1979
1275 GT is missing one of its key
characteristics, having been re-shelled
into a round-nose body back in 1989.
That, however, is just the beginning of its
fascinating story, and this car immediately
leapt out to us when it appeared at H&H
Classics’ Buxton sale in October because
– well, just look at it. Magnificent, isn’t it?
The folder of receipts adds up to over
£43,000 of work since that reshelling, and
the spec today is of the road-legal track
type; under the bonnet is a hot 1340 with
a Garrett T3 turbo, mated to a straight-cut
Jack Knight ’box. The suspension is fully
adjustable, there are 4-pot brakes at the
business end, and check out that interior:
nothing superfluous here, with bucket
seats, a rollcage, a plumbed-in
extinguisher, and not a lot else.
There’s a lot of trust to be gleaned from
knowing that a car’s been owned and
loved for a decent amount of time, and
this Mini had been in the same ownership
for the last seven years. It certainly seems
to tick a lot of boxes, and the final selling
price of £9,000 appeared to be pretty
decent value. You’re not going to be
winning any concours trophies for
originality, but you would be having a
right laugh on a daily basis.

25
 Auctions

COOPER TROOPER
Sale price: £23,000 throw up on you?’ – this
Photos: Tennants Auctioneers
included a shoulder bag,
baseball cap, fleece and
QWell, here’s something you don’t see keyring.
every day: an outstanding example of a The example Tennants
rare and sought-after special edition. The Auctioneers had on offer
Mini Cooper Sport 500 was a run-out was an all-original and
series in 2000, of which 500 were built low-mileage one, with just
(hence the name), bearing a plaque that 28k on the clock, one
proudly stated ‘This Mini is one of the last owner from new and a
500 built to the original Sir Alec Issigonis complete history. It
design’. These models were available in a absolutely smashed its reserve in a flurry
choice of Tahiti Blue, Anthracite, Solar Red of bids – the estimate was set at £12-
or British Racing Green, complemented by 14,000, but bidding was sufficiently
a Platinum Silver roof and black-and-silver strong to push it up to a mighty £23,000.
interior trim. In addition to the kudos of Top dollar, but we
having one of the last off the line, buyers suspect you’re very
received a signed certificate confirming unlikely to find another
the car’s provenance, as well as a bundle as original and tidy as
of merch to allow themselves to dress up this. And having all the
in the manner of that episode of Friends branded merch in the
where Ross has to ask Joey ‘Did a Porsche boot probably helped.

BROWN FURY
Sale price: Unsold
Photos: Car & Classic
Q It’s pretty uncommon to find a 1970s
Mini that still has almost all of its original
metalwork, but impressively that’s what
we see here – the only panel that’s been
replaced is the front nearside wing, and
amusingly that’s the only panel that has
any significant rot in it today as it
evidently wasn’t prepped properly.
On the whole, this looks to be a lovely
little car. The seller has had the Clubman
in his possession for ten years, having
bought it with the intention of being his
first car as a teenager. Originally a 998cc
automatic, it came from the classic little-
old-lady owner, who had been
discouraged from driving due to poor
eyesight and thus moved the beloved
Mini on. The next chapter is pretty
entertaining, as its new owner set about
converting it to a manual transmission
and swapped the engine for a high-
compression 1275 from an MG-spec
Metro. What we particularly like is the
stealth of it all: with the exterior being
original 998 spec
(down to the skinny
steel wheels), he’s kept
it all as stock-looking
as possible, even going
to the extent of
painting the engine
block green to
resemble a 998. With
the original seats and
subtle looks, you
mightn’t expect the eager performance –
and with a 7.5” disc brake upgrade up
front, it’s been intelligently
re-engineered to suit.
Unfortunately the intended price point
proved to be a little too spicy for bidders,
with the auction ending unsold with the
reserve not met, bids having reached
£6,400. We subsequently saw the car
appear on eBay as a classified ad with a
price of £7,500, which has dropped to
£7,000 at time of writing. That honestly
sounds like a more than reasonable price
in today’s market – we’ve ridden in this
car, and it’s a solid little thing with some
tales to tell.

26
MINI FAIR 2022
THE UK’s BIGGEST AND BEST INDOOR MINI SHOW
It’s the 22nd year of Mini Fair and the show has
grown each year, with two levels of exhibition space
making it the biggest and best indoor Mini show. No
other Mini event has so many Mini specialists in one
place at one time - period!
Visitors travel from all around the globe to share the
experience that Mini Fair offers. Let us share our
passion of the car that we love so much at Mini Fair.
Download your Mini Pride of Ownership booking form today!

The Best Trade Stands

Mega Mini Jumble
Pride of Ownership Display
Premier Concours Final
Club Displays
Minis for Sale
Bingley Hall Charity Auction
30th January Staffordshire County Showground Heated Venue with
STAFFORD ST18 0BD Cafe & Bar
BMC Membership Centre
Buy your Advance
Tickets Now!! The UK’s biggest and
ADVANCE TICKETS
£15.00
best indoor Mini show.
£12.00 PER PERSON
PER PERSON
Booking fee applies ON THE DAY
Advance Tickets & Show Info:
www.britishminiclub.co.uk
STUNNING MINIS Tel: 01384 897779

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+,*+32:(5/('
+HDGOLJKWW8SJUDGHV
027IULHQGO\IRUSUHFDUV %&/

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ZZZEHWWHUFDUOLJKWLQJFRXN HQTXLULHV#EHWWHUFDUOLJKWLQJFRXN
 Events GET LISTED
Email minimag.ed@ke
KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST lsey.co.uk
to let us know about
any
DEVELOPMENTS ON THE SHOW SCENE upcoming events.

D
ue to the uncertainty
surrounding Covid, please be
aware that events are subject to
change. Keep an eye on the organisers’
websites to stay up to date with any
developments.

2nd December
Ace Café
Kicking off at 6pm, the monthly meeting
for Mods and Minis descends upon the
popular North Circular venue
www.london.acecafe.com

5th December
Haynes Motor Museum
The Breakfast Club meets return to the
Yeovil museum. It’s pre-book only, so
make sure you have a ticket before
rocking up.
www.haynesmotormuseum.com

8th December
Caffeine & Machine
Themed events are always fun at the
iconic Warwickshire café. December 8th
will be ‘FWD Thinking’ – not specifically a
Mini event, but we’re counting on you
guys to head over and represent…
www.caffeineandmachine.com
2022
1st January
Brooklands New Year’s Day meet
What better way to blow away the NYE
cobwebs than with an early start for a
run-out to Brooklands? Fear not, there
will be plenty of coffee and bacon on
hand.
www.brooklandsmuseum.com
13th-16th January
Autosport International
The almighty motorsport colossus
returns to the Birmingham NEC, which
promises to offer a huge amount of
variety among its many halls
www.autosportinternational.com
30th January
Mini Fair
Fantastic event at Bingley Hall,
Staffordshire County Showground.
Perfect shopping day out for Mini fans
due to the large amount of Mini-specific
traders and autojumblers. Plus, club
stands and British Mini Club’s Show ‘n’
Shine and Premier Concours final.
01384 897 779
www.britishminiclub.co.uk
18th-20th February
Race Retro
One of the UK’s premier events for fans
of machines that slide about in mud,
Race Retro never disappoints with its
vivid displays of rally cars being used
properly
www.raceretro.com
18th-20th March Day visitors are welcome. (No dogs
Classic Car & Restoration Show allowed on site.)
Multi-marque event at Birmingham’s www.cmcrivierarun.co.uk
NEC. Demonstrations, live restorations,
club, trade and autojumble stands, and May 26th-30th
concours. International Mini Meet, Germany
07500 695 531 The 2022 IMM is hosted by Mini IG
www.necrestorationshow.com Bamberg at Eventzentrum Strohofer in
Geiselwind, Bavaria.
29th April – 2nd May www.facebook.com/IMM.2022.Germany
Riviera Run
Excellent Mini weekender at stunning
seaside location of Pentewan Sands
Holiday Park in St Austell, Cornwall.
Entertainment, rocker cover racing, fancy
dress contest, show ‘n’ shine, glow show,
kids’ entertainment, local crafts, Mini
traders, scenic Mini cruises. Static
caravans and camping pitches available
on site plus restaurants and watersports.

29
SHOW REPORT
GOODWOOD REVIVAL
The event that bills itself as ‘A magical step back in time’
was all the more welcome after its pandemic-mandated
hiatus – and the Minis were little short of spectacular
Words and Photography Daniel Bevis
h, it was good to be
O back. The
Goodwood Revival
is one of the most
exciting and diverse race meets
on the calendar, and the fact
that Covid had knocked it on
the head in 2020 meant that we
really were champing at the bit
to return. Sure, last year’s live-
streamed Speed Week filled a
hole, but there’s nothing quite
like being in the paddocks at
the Revival, swathed in period
30
garb and enveloped in cigar
smoke and Castrol R.
The Revival gathers together
the kind of cars and bikes that
would have competed at the
iconic circuit in the period
1948-66, and of course this
involves plenty of Minis. This
time period represents the
dates the track opened after the
Second World War, and the
time it shut down when the
owners refused to install
chicanes and it was felt that
Stare at it long enough,
it might fix itself
‘modern’ racing cars were
getting too fast for it.
No such worries about that
today! As the 2021 race card
proved, there’s no holding back
when the Duke of Richmond is
pulling the strings; many of the
cars on display at the Revival
may be eye-wateringly
expensive, but they exist to race
and that’s exactly what they do.
If they get smashed up, so be it
– they were built to compete all
those years ago, and the fact
Flat caps evidently a key
part of the uniform
that they still do makes for an
awesome spectacle. And in
amongst all of this heady old-
school drama, the John
Whitmore Trophy shines
brightest, with a buzzing
swarm of thirty Minis howling
and shrieking around the
historic circuit like some sort of
demented ballet. If you missed
the race, it’s well worth looking
up the highlights on YouTube
on the Goodwood Road &
Racing channel.
 Name: Swiftune ‘Willow 3’
Unique livery is Car: 1963 Morris Cooper S
hand-painted over
a vinyl wrap Spoiler alert: this is the car that
won the John Whitmore
Trophy, holding a commanding
lead throughout and proving
once again that Nick Swift really
knows how to pedal a Mini.
With Swift and compadre
Andrew Jordan sharing
helmsman duties in this two-
driver race, the thing that really
endeared the car to the crowds
was its remarkable livery: a
competition was held in 2020
to design Swiftune’s next racer,
and the winner was an 8-year-
old by the name of Stanley
Wilkinson – this design is
perfectly faithful to his drawing!
We’ll be bringing you a full
feature on this outstanding race
car next month.

The massive wing is

removed for race duties

Jumble sale was popular

Pedal car race is just the Race cars live on a diet of

cutest thing imaginable old tweed jackets

31
 SHOW REPORT “Oi! Up yours!”

Name: C. O’Medy & Sons

Car: Austin Pick-up
Regular visitors to the Revival
will be familiar with C.
O’Medy & Sons, the
mischievous roadmenders
who nip around the site
causing chaos and generally
being extremely cheeky. We
heard a rumour that,
following many years of
faithful service at Goodwood,
this might have been the
gang in the pick-up’s final
showing at the event – so if
that proves to be the case,
thanks for the memories!

Getting his race face on

The odd ding is inevitable

32
 Name: Mini Motor Show
Car: Various Coopers
Goodwood’s own interpretation
of the Art Deco Earls Court
building is all the more
poignant now that the original
Earls Court venue has been
knocked down. The event
always seeks to evoke the
motor shows of the 1950s and
’60s in this venerable edifice,
and this year saw a fabulous
display of Mini Coopers through
the ages, all seemingly box-
fresh and arranged
chronologically on a mocked-
up race grid. Apparently there
were some supercars or
somesuch nearby, but we were
too distracted by the Coopers
to notice…

A typical 1960s high street

scene (plus bonus lollipops)

The car park is always good Revival icon Dolly with her
for cool car spotting trusty feather duster

33
 Your Minis Send ‘Your Minis’ pictures to
minimag.ed@kelsey.co.uk

PLASTIC FANTASTIC
Name: Mark Leatherland
Car: Minus Maxi
Location: Northampton
QThis is a little bit unusual, isn’t it? The
Minus Maxi was a rare and super-cool
Mini-based kit that looked like a scaled
down Matra Rancho, and Mark
Leatherland has had this one in his
possession since 2016. “The 200-mile
journey home when I bought it is one I’d
never wish to repeat,” he grimaces. “I left
the dealer’s forecourt with the car
misfiring terribly, and I’d probably only
gone half a mile before it broke down.
The main ignition lead fell out of the coil,
and then I realised the car was still
misfiring badly - which I then diganosed
as head gasket failure.”
All fun and games, and it’s been
rollercoaster ride ever since. With an
aesthetic makeover by Paul Cox Panel
and Paint, Mark rolled up his sleeves and
set about the project through the 2020
lockdowns. “Pretty much everything
had to be rebuilt, repaired or replaced,”
he says. The results are magnificent,
aren’t they? In fact, stay tuned, as we’ll
be bringing you a full feature on this
terrific little oddity very soon.

ART HISTORY
Name: Matt Wilkinson
Car: 1975 Mini 1000
Location: Buxton
QMatt bought his ’75 saloon last
September, a well-maintained and original
survivor. “I’m its third owner,” he says.
“The original owner had this Mini for nine
years, covering 49,000 miles in that time,
and that’s when the bulk of the old
welding repairs and paintwork was done.
The next owner who I purchased it from
had this car from 1984 until 2020. In that
time it covered a mere 6,000 miles, yet sills, a new front end and two door skins, Matt has every MOT from new, the
has been MOT’d every year until it became all of which was in 1983 apart from the original logbooks from both owners, and
exempt. In its 46 years it’s just had two doors which was in 2011.” a huge file of paperwork. What a find!

34
 Your Minis

YELLOW PERIL
Name: Jack Thorpe
Car: 1970 Morris Mini 1000
Location: Leicester
Q Jack bought this car as a non-runner
as his first car when he was 17, getting
it running on his grandad’s driveway.
Quite a lot’s changed with the car in
the following years, with Jack’s skillset
growing as he gets properly hands-on
with the project. It’s now packing a
1275 Cooper engine from a ‘94 SPI,
converted to run a carb, along with
digital ignition, alloy radiator,
adjustable Gaz shocks, and a two-
piece fibreglass flip-front which he’s
converted to a one-piece. And then
there’s the Starmags, Cobra buckets,
graffiti paint respray…
“Some say I’ve ‘ruined’ a 1970 car,
while others applaud the fact that I’m
keeping the love for these fantastic
cars alive and putting my own touch
on it,” he says. “It’s far from the
cleanest Mini around, but that’s why I
love it - I’m never afraid to drive it or
take it to shows, as the paintwork is
cheap and easy to repair.”

POT THE BROWN

Name: Mike Robinson
Cars: Russet Brown round-nose
Location: Dudley
Q Mike has owned this Mini, known as
‘Tess’ (look at the reg number in a mirror,
you’ll see why), since he was 15. Now 26,
he’s steered Tess through a number of
refurbs, using it as his daily-driver until
2019 and covering over 50,000 miles in
the process. “Throughout my ownership I
must have replaced every single nut and
bolt twice,” he laughs. “It’s got a 998
engine that’s been rebuilt and is now

sporting around 60bhp at the fly, which is
relatively impressive considering the
subtle mods it’s got.”
The interior has been upgraded to all-
black in place of the Humbug original,
while outside we find staggered arches
with rare staggered Weller Petals. With
4-pots and adjustable suspension, it’s a
bit of a mover too. Expect to see more of
this in the magazine soon…

35
 ON THE JOB

PROJECT PROFILE
THE OWNER
NAME: Joe Matthews
AGE: 30
OCCUPATION: P.E. teacher
LOCATION: West Midlands

THE CAR:
CAR: 1992 Mini Cooper 1.3i
lete and OTR, but
START CONDITION: Comp
worse than it appeared
through a
CONDITION NOW: Part-way
complete strip-down
nths
TIME TAKEN SO FAR: 2 mo
E OF COMP LETION:
ESTIMATED TIM
Winter 2022

ON THE JOB
Words and Photography James Cooper

The Wedding Car

When Joe Matthews went looking for a wedding car,
he decided to tread a path less ordinary. And quite small…

R
olls-Royce. Jaguar. Bentley.
Possibly some kind of limo.
These are the names you think
of when someone says
‘wedding car’. But Joe
Matthews decided he wanted something a
bit different. He’s loved Minis for quite
some time and, what with his dad Steve
being a mechanic and having restored a
number of Minis in the past, there really
was only one way to go. Although we get
the feeling it may be slightly more work
than Joe was planning on…
“When we got it, it looked alright. But
as we looked deeper we realised it needed
more work. Then we cut the front off
and… yeah.” Joe smiles and shakes his
head here. “It needed a new front.”
Ah. A story we’ve heard many times
before. Good from far, but far from good.
Never mind, at least Joe has his dad
on-side to help him. As a working
mechanic that started on buses in 1977,
he’s got all the skills and experience
needed.
We assume he’s always been into Minis.
Steve laughs. “Nah, only the last 10 or 12

36
 ON THE JOB

GET FEATURED
Want to get featured
?
Send photos of your
project to:
minimag.ed@kelse
y.co.uk

years! We’d go around the Mini shows

and my brother-in-law would say ‘we
ought to be doing one of these’.”
There is some precedent here, the guys
do have a little prior form. Steve’s first
Mini was a Minivan, 30-odd years ago,
while Joe has had one other Mini prior to
this. It begs the question: what’s in store 1.3i will receive choice mods
for this little Cooper?

37
ON THE JOB
Fuelled by tea, like all good projects
So, how long have you had this?
Joe: A couple of months now. Got it at the
end of September.
Steve: Arrived on a trailer with no brakes
on it!
I bet that was fun. You’ve restored Minis
before though?
Steve: I’ve done five.
Joe: He’s done three MPI Coopers, this SPI
Cooper and a Mini City.
Steve: That was my Mini 1000. I had it in
2016 and it took four years or so. I did
everything in it. It looked fantastic. I wish I’d
driven it more, but by the time we finished it
the Covid happened and everything just
stopped. It would’ve been nice to be able to
drive it to some shows and that with the
other Minis in the family.
Many new parts have been stockpiled
38
Extensive surgery was
unexpectedly required
What was the first thing you tackled Joe: We called it the holy Mini as the last
with this project? owner was a vicar, and because there’s
Steve: Well, it didn’t look that bad when it holes everywhere…
arrived… But we soon found lots of stuff to do.
As you’ve only had it a few weeks, I guess
Joe: We weren’t planning to take the whole you’ve not done much mechanical work
front off. But Dad had been poking around to it yet?
underneath. He rang me and just said ‘we’re Steve: We bought a pile of bits (laughs)… Joe
taking the front off!” wants it to look like my old 1000. Chrome,
wide wheels and big arches.
So it needs more bodywork than you
expected? Joe: Yeah. All blinged up. Everything
Steve: Definitely. restored and painted, all new hoses and
pipes in the engine bay.
Joe: But it’s nothing that scares us, because
it’s all stuff we’ve done before. We have to Are you pleased with the car generally
do it - they’d even fibreglassed the A-pillar. though?
Joe: For what we got it for, it’s a very good
Steve: There was a hole so big you could put car. It’s only done 65,000 and the engine
your fist in it! sounds sweet. My missus bought it me as my
Having a pit to work
in is quite handy

engagement present because I was
moaning that she got a ring and I didn’t get
anything.
You got the better end of that I think.
Joe: Yeah, it’s going to be our wedding car
in August 2023. Dad’ll follow behind in the
Volvo, just in case.
Steve: Tow rope at the ready!
Stock interior will
be refreshed
Low miles on the dial
Low-mileage engine
was running sweetly
What is it about Minis that particularly
interests you?
Joe: My cousin Tom had Minis, and I just
loved being around them.
Steve: And the brother-in-law and his boy
had them. I kept getting volunteered to sort
them out. ‘Uncle Steve will do it!’
Joe: I drove one for two years and there’s no
ON THE JOB
other driving experience like it. They handle
like road-legal go-karts. It’s a unique
experience. Especially when you’re on
the motorway with 40-tonne artics either
side (laughs).
Once this is done, if you had the chance
to take on any project, what’s the dream
car?
Steve: I’d like a Ford. It’d be nice to do a
Cortina, the old Mk3 like I used to have.
Copper Bronze metallic it was.
Joe: Big question. Er… I’d probably want an
AC Cobra. Hardtop with the stripes over.
That’d be great.
“What’s the shell like?” “Ruff!”
FINISHED SPEC
BODY: Wide-arch Mini Cooper
ENGINE: 1.3i with some mods
TRANSMISSION: Standard
SUSPENSION: Standard
BRAKES: Standard
WHEELS: Rover Minilites
INTERIOR: Rover Mini Cooper
39
ECOBOOST Z CARS

ZED’S NOT
DEAD, BABY
With these beautifully engineered EcoBoost twins,
Z Cars is experiencing a dramatic rebirth
Words Daniel Bevis Photography Jason Dodd

T
he spectre of the Z
Car looms tall in
modified Mini
folklore. These
tearaways have been
ripping up the Leyland rule book
for years, scything holes in shells
to stuff superbike engines in,
chucking grunt to the rear wheels,
and generally living like there’s no
tomorrow. This brand has always
been the punk of the Mini scene,
the counter-culturalist, the
outsider… and yet today, quite
unexpectedly, the brand has
grown up. The two cars you see
before you, in a worldwide
exclusive, represent Z Cars’ new
dawn. A forthright step into the
future, taking all that people
think they know about these
outlandish machines and

40
ECOBOOST Z CARS

41
ECOBOOST Z CARS
“The new dynamic is to bring Z Cars
back, better and brighter”
refracting it through a premium lens.
Multifunction steering wheel is very clever
Imagine a restomod in the vein of a
Singer 911 or Alfaholics GTA and you’re
not far off, although the key here is to
respect and cherish the legacy: Z Cars
buyers aren’t the same lot who’ll want (or
be able) to drop six figures on a David
Brown Mini. They want something
hysterical that they can chuck about. So
with this in mind, the company’s very
essence is being reframed, taking the cars
back to first principles and building the
concept up as an item of impeccable and
superlative quality. Form and function in
perfect harmony.
The new dynamic, then, is to bring Z
42
Exquisite cabin is
studded with quality
high-end equipment
Grey car has dummy twin tank fillers
Cars back, better and brighter. Naturally
the new owners have a certain amount of
reputation management to deal with;
after all, while there’s a lot of respect for
the name, there are also older Z Cars out
there that were built by customers to,
shall we say, less than optimal standards.
It’s all very well selling conversion kits to
the public, but if they then go and bodge
them into frilly and suspect shells,
trouble can hover on the horizon. So the
plan is to acknowledge and celebrate the
past, but also forge a new path into the
future: ring-fencing production in-house
means that quality can be carefully
monitored, and there will never
Drink it in - the closer
you look, the more
details you spot
henceforth be a cheap-and-cheerful Z
Car. These are premium items, built right
and with care.
A NEW DAWN
A key part of this new direction has been
to officially partner up with Safety
Devices. The custom rollcages are
mounted on a bespoke jig supplied by
Slick shifter for the native gearbox
Safety Devices, and with each car it gets
Rear window pops out
for easy engine access
fitted into a fresh new bodyshell from
Owen Fabrications (which arrives with
the boot floor already absent, because
that’s where the engine goes!).
Company boss David Rose is very clear
about the new direction: “The new cars
follow a clean-sheet design, there’s no
compatibility with older Z Cars kits,” he
says. “The shells we’re going to be using
are crucial to the formula: they’re not
43
ECOBOOST Z CARS
Functional bootlid cut-outs
are for the twin Spal fans
that sit behind
floppy like the old chopped-about ones
were, they have lots of extra
reinforcement, box-section from B-pillar
to B-pillar, reinforcement beneath the
rollcage feet – they’re super rigid with no
flex. And on top of this, we’ve made a lot
of technical evolutions; we’ve moved to
outboard suspension, developed our own
charge cooler design and fuel tank, and
designed a bespoke radiator setup that’s
far superior to the old VW Polo unit.”
There’s a keen focus on user-
friendliness too, with the idea that
owning a radically modified machine
shouldn’t bring with it compromises or
complexities of ownership. They’ve
44
“Owning a radically modified machine
shouldn’t bring compromises”
designed a new coolant reservoir, for
example, which has a viewing eyeglass in
it. The engine lid is double-sealed and
trimmed to ensure that no fumes or
smells can make it from the engine bay
into the cabin, as well as making it
markedly quieter and more refined. The
rear polycarbonate window can be easily
removed for access. It’s a deliberately
ludicrous car, of course, but also one
that’ll be easy to live with.
Now, it’s worth noting that Z Cars
offers various model configurations:
some have the engine conventionally in
the front – and you can choose from
motors such as the 1.0-litre EcoBoost for
Ever seen a carbon fibre bonnet stay before?
that – but the meaty end of the menu
features the various rear-engined treats.
You might choose to have a Honda K20
back there, or a Volkswagen TFSI, or even
a Suzuki Hayabusa. For this pair of twins,
it’s the Ford 1.6-litre EcoBoost that was
chosen; an engine which enjoys colossal
aftermarket support thanks in large part
to the Mk7 Fiesta ST, and this allowed Z
Cars to fully raid the Pumaspeed
catalogue for upgrades. What makes all
of these engine applications possible is
the company’s new modular setup, which
is 95% the same whether you choose a car
or bike engine – or, indeed, whether
you’re building a car in LHD or RHD.
 Engine bay now houses a
bespoke fuel cell, race
battery and charge-cooler
A masterclass in packaging
The architecture works hand-in-hand
with a modular loom. Again, it’s far from
a cheap way of doing things, but it’s more
elegant from an engineering perspective,
more correct.
ROAD AND TRACK
So the quality of the cars you see here is
unimpeachable, and the spec list is pretty
Blue car showcases more
track-oriented options
darned robust too. The two cars are
almost identical, although with a few key
differences – think of the blue one as the
track toy, whereas the grey one is more of
a Clubsport spec with some creature
comforts added in. As the first two builds
of the new era, these particular Minis use
restored and reinforced shells rather than
the forthcoming Owens bodies, but the
quality is outstanding. There are visual
differentiators; the blue car is
de-bumpered and smoothed with bonnet
pins, while the grey car has more of a
traditional Mini look with its chrome
bumpers, black grille and dummy twin
tank fillers. The track-oriented model has
a more comprehensive rollcage with
twelve additional tubes, and
45
ECOBOOST Z CARS

TECH SPEC
BODY Restored and reinforced shell,
polycarbonate windows (with removable rear
Infinitely customisable readouts
screen for access), de-bumpered and
smoothed (blue car), dummy twin tank fillers
(grey car)
ENGINE Ford 1.6-litre EcoBoost, Pumaspeed
X47R turbo, bespoke charge cooler, CANbus
electrics, custom exhaust system, custom
fuel tank, custom coolant reservoir with
viewing window, Odyssey race battery, twin
Spal fans, custom mapping by SCS Delta,
300bhp, 300lb.ft Isolator sits beside brake bias controller
SUSPENSION Gaz coilovers
TRANSMISSION Ford 6-speed manual in
native orientation, Quaife LSD
“naturally, off-the-shelf has never
BRAKES Wilwood 4-pots, 260mm vented been the Z Cars way”
discs on bespoke bells, custom 260mm
solid rear disc setup depending on options it’ll sit somewhere out of the box – but, naturally, off-the-
WHEELS AND TYRES 7x13” Minilites, 160/510 in the £45-50k bracket; in the shelf has never been the Z Cars way, so
Yokohama Advan A048 tyres specification you see on the grey car, you this model now sports Pumaspeed’s
INTERIOR Bespoke Safety Devices rollcage
can expect to put another £5k-ish on top mighty X47R turbo. Along with the fresh
(two configurations – additional bars in blue of that for the addition of various new charge cooler setup, free-flowing
car), custom OMP multi-function steering upgrades such as air-con, cruise control, a exhaust system and a decent mapping
wheel, customisable Ecumaster display, OBP full-length sunroof, and whatever else session by SCS Delta, the output is
pedal box, Cobra Monaco Pro seats, TRS may take your fancy. Every car’s built to 300bhp. That’s pretty damned spicy in a
harnesses, custom dash, brake bias adjuster,
killswitch, trimmed and double-sealed order, so no two will be the same. car this small and light! And what’s really
engine lid The 1.6-litre EcoBoost is a supremely impressive is the 300lb.ft of torque – this
robust choice, making 180bhp straight really emphasises the step forward from

46

the legacy engines; the ’Busa had around
100lb.ft, the K20 circa 150lb.ft, so this
new configuration offers a lot more
practicality in day-to-day use.
ALL THE GEAR
The transmission is the engine’s own
native 6-speed manual, mounted in the
original orientation, and there are all
sorts of treats to enjoy throughout the
chassis. There are Gaz coilovers on each
corner, easily accessible for adjustment,
and the brake setup is hyperintelligent:
Wilwood 4-pots up front with 260mm
vented discs on bespoke bells, and a
Wilwood 4-pots
with 260mm discs
custom 260mm solid rear disc
arrangement.
In the cabin, things get seriously
impressive. As well as having no fumes
leaching in from the motor, the
technology is world-class: you can see
from the photos that the OMP steering
wheel has been artfully upgraded to be
fully multifunctional, and ahead of this
sits an Ecumaster screen which is hugely
customisable and able to display endless
ECOBOOST Z CARS
configurations of readouts. There’s
traction control and boost control, brake
bias adjustment, CANbus electrics.
Hardcore, serious stuff. As you’re
strapped tightly into that Cobra Monaco
Pro seat, OBP pedals beneath your feet, it
feels full-on race-car.
As if all of this wasn’t impressive
enough, there’s a further twist. These
EcoBoost twins aren’t just heralding a
new dawn for Z Cars… they’re
47
ECOBOOST Z CARS
breaking into new territories. Directly
after our photoshoot, these Minis were
loaded into a container to be shipped out
to the States. “It was always the plan to
expand into the US market,” David
assures us. “But how? Well, we had to find
someone with skin in the game. Not just
someone who wanted to blag a car for
SEMA, but someone to actually go into
business with. And we found the ideal
partner in Francesco D’Avola, Principal
48
Trust us, this makes an excellent noise
at Team Stradale in Illinois. They’re the
official American distributors for Radical
Sportscars; they import, store, supply and
maintain Radicals, sporting impressive
facilities at the Autobahn Country Club,
an automotive nirvana situated an hour
south-west of Chicago. They have the
infrastructure and expertise to do the
same with Z Cars, offering arrive-and-
drive packages at the track, supplying
parts, offering maintenance, and of
Every in-house Z Cars
build is bespoke, so no
two will be the same
course selling the cars.”
With a respectful nod to the past,
perhaps it’s time to park what you know
about Z Cars and import this new data
file into your brain’s hard drive. With
these beautifully engineered and
deliciously detailed twins, the company is
entering a new and exciting realm.
Everyday toys for connoisseurs – not kit
cars, but restomods. It’s going to be
fascinating to see what happens next.
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 Ashley Abraham’s Hulk Mini
as featured in Mini Magazine January 2022
 Z Cars EcoBoost-powered Minis
as featured in Mini Magazine January 2022
1275 MAYFAIR

Words and Photography Jon Cass

DEBUTANTE
BALLER
First cars are often cheap and disposable,
but Amy Jones has gone another way:
her Fantasy Pink Mayfair packs a perky
1275 and oodles of classy upgrades

A
my Jones may only be 17
years of age, but already she’s
become a huge fan of the
classic Mini. That’s thanks in
part to her dad, Danny, who’s
proved to be a major inspiration when it
comes to all things automotive since as
long as Amy can remember. He also
happens to be pretty handy as a mechanic
too! When Amy reached the age of 15 and
thoughts of her first project came to mind,
it just had to be a classic Mini.
“I’ve always enjoyed working on cars
and helping my dad in the garage since I
learned to walk,” Amy recalls. “When I
reached the age of 15, I asked my parents if
I could buy my own project car.” Knowing
he was a true petrolhead, Amy was
confident her dad was unlikely to refuse
and promptly asked which model his first
car was. “He told me it was a Mini, so I
decided there and then that’s the type of
car I would go for,” Amy smiles.
Danny still has a fleet of classics in his
possession, though not one of them
happens to wear a Mini badge. “He’s
rebuilt and modified many different cars
including Escorts, Novas, Cavaliers and
even Transit vans,” Amy explains. “Even
just watching him, I’ve gained a lot of
knowledge and understanding of working
on vehicles, and this would play a crucial
part when it came to my own project.”

54
1275 MAYFAIR

55
1275 MAYFAIR
Wooden accents lend a touch of class
Countless hours were then spent
scouring the classifieds for a suitable
project base, with Danny asking his
friends and customers if they knew of any
Minis for sale. “After chasing a few leads,
it all came to nothing,” Amy recalls.
“Then, when we’d almost given up, to our
amazement a customer mentioned he had
three Minis sat in his garage, all for sale!”
Not wanting to miss out on such a unique
opportunity, Danny viewed the cars
straight away while Amy was still in
school. “He kept the whole thing secret
and told me we were still on the hunt for a
suitable car,” she laughs. “And then, a day
56
Original Mayfair interior was
saved, and received a few
choice upgrades
“I soon realised a lot of welding would
be involved”
later as I came back from school, I was
faced with a 1994 Caribbean Blue Mini
Mayfair on our drive, looking very sorry
for itself!” As you may expect, Amy
couldn’t contain her excitement and her
only regret at the time was not persuading
her dad to bring back the two other Minis
as well…
Of the three available cars, this ’94
Mayfair was chosen due to its incredibly
low mileage of just 40k, and the hope that
it may have led a pampered life. “When I
first looked around the car, there didn’t
seem to be very much wrong,” Amy
remembers, “but once I began stripping
down the shell, I soon realised a lot of
welding would be involved.” Both sills,
outer wings, A panels, rear valance and
much of the floor were found to be all
needing repair or replacement, but on the
plus side the interior still looked
immaculate. “The engine hadn’t been
touched for a long time, and the brakes
needed some attention due to the car
having been left standing for so long,” she
adds.
As Danny’s own projects were
occupying the available garages, Amy was
left to work on her Mini outside. “I had no
choice but to halt the build for a while as
 Fantasy Pink really
stands out... what’s the
fun of blending in?
winter arrived,” she tells us, “but once
lockdown was announced the next Spring,
it gave me and my family the chance to
build another garage of my own.” On its
completion, this gave Amy the
opportunity to work on her car, whatever
the weather happened to be like outside.
An assessment was made as to which
panels needed replacing and which could
be repaired, and soon she was getting to
grips with a welding torch under the
watchful eye of her dad. “Once I’d
completed the necessary welding, I seam-
sealed the repairs and undersealed the
shell,” she tells us. “With the engine
All of Amy’s hard work has paid off
removed I made the decision to repaint the points out. “I couldn’t resist fitting a
bay in black, as I was unsure which colour sports air filter too, while the perished
to repaint the car at that point.” rubber pipes have been replaced with
silicone pipes.” Another huge bonus was
HEALTHY MOTOR the fresh clutch which had been replaced
Speaking of that low mileage A Series, by the previous owner, so there were no
Amy made the decision to strip the engine worries in that department. “Even though
down for inspection and was pleased to it’s a relatively standard 1275cc, it’s a very
find it showed no signs of wear. A quick strong engine,” Amy smiles. “It’s certainly
freshen-up with new gaskets, a larger jet quick enough for a first car!”
for the HIF44 carb and the addition of a Attention then turned to the chassis,
Maniflow exhaust and LCB manifold where Amy removed and cleaned up all
brought the 1275cc unit back to life. “I’ve the reusable components and fitted hi-los
also fitted performance plug leads, a new along with a full polybush kit. “I replaced
distributor cap and rotor arm,” Amy the front discs and pads and fitted new
57
1275 MAYFAIR
TECH SPEC
BODY Sportspack arches, clear rear lights,
clear front indicators, angel-eye headlights,
clear side repeaters, door handle scallops,
chrome gutter trim, chrome bullet wing
mirrors, chrome boot hinges
ENGINE 1275cc A Series, Maniflow exhaust,
LCB manifold, sports air filter, silicone pipes
SUSPENSION Hi-los, polybushes
throughout
TRANSMISSION Stock manual
BRAKES Stock discs/drums
WHEELS AND TYRES 7x13” Superlite alloys in
anthracite, 175/50 Yokohama A539 tyres
INTERIOR Original Mayfair interior with
wood-rim steering wheel and wooden gear
knob, aluminium door handles, boot lined in
plywood and carpet, uprated head unit, Sub
Zero 500w 6x9 speakers

“I went into the garage for a few hours

each night after work”
chosen colour; the Sportspack arches, reverse lights to a fog light,” she says. “I
pearlescent white roof and twin stripes didn’t like the idea of a separate foglight
add to the overall effect perfectly. dangling down from the rear valance, they
Once the paintwork had been carried always look like an afterthought from the
out, Amy was then given the tedious job of factory.”
rebuilding the car back up. “I went into the
garage for a few hours each night after CABIN FEVER
work, just doing bits at a time,” she recalls. As we mentioned earlier, the grey Mayfair
Tasteful custom work in the boot
“It seemed to take an age, but I managed it interior was still in excellent condition
rear shoes and cylinders,” she says. “I also in less than a month.” As some of the and Amy sensibly decided not to make any
swapped the flexi hoses to braided hoses existing chromework was looking slightly major changes here. “I couldn’t resist the
and renewed the brake pipes.” Fresh CV the worse for wear, Amy invested in new aluminium door handles, wood-rimmed
boots have been fitted to the driveshafts bumpers, trim and lights. “I chose angel- steering wheel and matching gearknob,”
and balljoints, and all wheel bearings have eye headlights and clear rear lights as they she says. These are only small additions
been cleaned and regreased - no aspect of stand out more, and swapped one of the but help to transform the grey interior
this car has been left short of attention.
Danny, along with a good family friend,
Lee Roberts, had been brought in to
repaint the shell - but not before Amy had
sanded down the existing paintwork and
rectified any minor bodywork issues. “I
used 2k primer for the entire shell, then
sanded it down with a block,” Amy tells
us. “After all that, it was finally ready for
paint.”
When it came to the choice of colour,
Danny’s advice was to retain the original
Caribbean Blue, but Amy was having none
of that. “I wanted to spice things up a little
with an unusual colour, so I chose Fantasy
Pink,” she smiles. “It adds a personal
touch, and makes the car feel like it’s very
much mine.” There are some questionable
shades of pink around, but we reckon
Amy’s managed to pull it off with her

Chunky Superlites look so right

58

Amy’s not afraid of speedbumps
while providing a classy feel.
We don’t often focus on the boot area of
a Mini, unless we’re talking about rust, but
we should mention Amy’s clever
fabrication skills when it came to her own
car. “I was keen to make the boot look
more presentable by lining it with carpet,”
she explains. “This involved making
templates from cardboard and using
offcuts of plyboard and grey carpet that
my grandad had spare to line the inside; I
just used spray glue to attach the carpet to
the plyboard.” It’s a simple and very cheap
mod, but the result makes a huge
difference to an often overlooked area.
Standard Mayfair wheels would have
looked lost among that bright pink
paintwork, and in their place are a set of
timeless 7x13” Superlites with anthracite
centres which suit the look Amy was
searching for perfectly. “When I was
looking for tyres, I noticed my dad had a
brand-new set of Yokohamas on some
wheels he’d bought for his Escort,” she
recalls. “I managed to talk him into letting
me have these for my Mini!” We should
point out that cool Mini stamped sump
guard too, perfect for all the speed humps
in Amy’s local area.
All that involving hard work was
rewarded when the transformed ’94
Mayfair passed its MOT first time, and
she was finally able to drive the car on the
road. Perhaps even more rewarding is the
fact that she’s carried out the vast majority
of the work herself, which is nothing short
of impressive for someone in their mid-
teens. “I’ve helped my dad with loads of
his projects in the past, but this is the first
one where I’ve put all my own ideas into
Healthy 1275 has been
stripped down and
freshened up
fruition,” Amy tells us. “Cars have always
been something me and my dad have
bonded over, but this project has brought
us even closer together.”
Amy looks to follow in her father’s
footsteps, as since leaving school she has
become a full-time mechanic. Just like
Danny, she’s hunting for another project…
possibly two, maybe even three.
THANKS TO:
Thanks to my dad, Danny Jones, and
also to Lee Roberts, Tony Gregory, my
family and work colleagues - especially
Duane.
59
SHOW REPORT
BROOKLANDS MINI DAY
Neatly dodging the rain showers, the
sun came out for Brooklands’ annual
Mini extravaganza
Words and Photography Daniel Bevis
he sun shines on the
T righteous, so they say.
And in between
extensive bouts of
biblical weather, Mini Day at
Brooklands managed to not
only remain dry, but also
remarkably sunny. (Well, until
mid-afternoon when it started
henting down again – but you
can’t have everything.)
This day out was a breath of
fresh air for so many Mini
enthusiasts who’d been
60
clamouring to return to the
hallowed banking, with so
many shows having been called
off in 2020.
As ever, there was a huge and
diverse turnout, even in spite of
the ongoing fuel crisis that was
cocking everyone’s plans up at
the time; we heard tales of
enthusiasts syphoning fuel
from their modern dailies to
ensure their Minis had enough
juice to get to Brooklands, and
the number of cars on show
Just a few running
repairs, no biggie
really was remarkable. There
was a lot of fresh stuff to enjoy
too – the various lockdowns
last year saw folks squirrelling
themselves away in their
garages, workshops and lock-
ups, working hard on their
projects, and this spirit of
endeavour has endured. There
were so many fresh builds to
enjoy, and so many old
favourites and familiar sights
that had been artfully
refreshed. And, of course, there
Miles of smiles all the way
up the hallowed hill
was the ever-popular spectacle
of the hillclimb. It was great to
see some people going hell-for-
leather (and props to the guys
in the green ’65 Morris whose
exhaust came off halfway up,
who then set about reattaching
it at the top of the hill), and
even more endearing to see
families taking to the slope, the
kids’ eyes wide with joy and
excitement. Truly a wonderful
day out, and we cannot wait for
the next one.
 Name: Darren Shervell
Car: 1985 Supercharged Saloon
Owned for ten years, Darren’s slick
project has had an incredible amount
of effort poured into it. Having started
out as a knocked-about movie prop
that was set to be scrapped, he’s
pulled it back from the brink in
incredible style. The engine build
alone owes him over ten grand, and
the car is full of clever custom
touches, from the totally smooth sills
to the EPAS with height-adjustable
Yep, we’d be smiling too - column. We’ll be bringing you a full
this thing is outstanding feature on this one very soon…

So clean, so
well detailed.
Lovely job

A part of us hopes that

they drove it here like this

Superb retro’d effort

61
 SHOW REPORT

Custom artwork is brilliant

It’s a steep hill; it looks even

steeper if you’re driving

Name: Rhys Vaus

Car: 1987 Saloon
Rhys and his partner
represent the intrepid A touch of Italian flair
element of the Mini scene,
getting out and about in all
weathers to as many shows as
possible. In fact, Mini Day at
Brooklands was their sixth
show in six consecutive
weeks, taking this cool Sonic
the Hedgehog-themed build
across the length and breadth
of the country.

Frantic little Marcos looked

like all sorts of fun

If it’s not a right-angle,

it’s a wrong angle

62
Name: Chris Denn
Car: 1988 Saloon
Regular readers may recall
Chris’s highly-modded saloon
from the cover of our April
2018 issue. This is one of those
incredible projects that’s
constantly evolving; it’s always
at the shows, and always
sporting new improvements
and fresh ideas. Typically, he Chris’s Mini keeps on
was surrounded by a crowd all getting better. How cool?!
day, fielding technical questions
about his twin-cam engine
build while simultaneously Name: Ian & Viv Watson
using every single detailing Car: 1968 Moke
product from his bulging Auto You may well recognise Ian and
Finesse bag. Viv. After all, they go to an
astonishing number of shows
and events – and if their cheery
faces don’t ring a bell, you’ll
almost certainly recognise the
monkeys in the back of the
Moke, who are always in period
dress and even have their own
podcast! However, perhaps you
mightn’t recognise the Moke in
its current show guise: this car,
which they’ve owned since the
late-eighties, has more usually
been spotted dressed up as the
Blue Peter Moke. But now, to
change things up a bit, we find
it kitted out in the style of The
Prisoner – and we just love the
passion and fantastic attention
So much classier to detail in the set-dressing.
than hailing an Uber

We’d love to know more

about this SCCA stunner

63
SUBARU-BLUE 998

Words and Photography Jon Cass

RIGHT PLACE,
RIGHT TIME
It often takes a lengthy search to find a project car.
But for Darren Needham, the right car found him

S
ometimes a chance encounter
can have a dramatic effect. So
often it’s a case of being in the
right place at the right time and
making the most of the
situation. One seemingly average day,
Darren Needham was working in his
kitchen and bathroom shop when the
conversation with a customer turned to
the subject of cars. Once a 1976 Leyland
Mini that might soon become available
was mentioned, Darren’s ears suddenly
pricked up and before he knew it he’d
bagged himself a new project.
“My first car wasn’t a Mini, it was the
Mini’s roomier relative, a 1000cc

64
SUBARU-BLUE 998

65
SUBARU-BLUE 998
Tasteful details abound
Metro,” Darren recalls. “I ended up
turning it into an MG replica using parts
from a donor car with a blown engine.”
The lookalike theme continued with a 1.3
Astra which soon resembled the sportier
GTE, this time using parts amassed from
various scrapyards and the trusty Free
Ads paper. This was pre internet days,
you must remember! “I really wanted the
genuine sporty models, but insurance
costs were crazy back then,” Darren
smiles. “As I got older and insurance costs
came down, I splashed out on a real Astra
GSI.” A succession of Bavarian bruisers
came next including a BMW AC
Schnitzer 330i Sport, a Phoenix Yellow
E46 M3, and more recently a Steel Grey
E46 M3 convertible - a car he still owns
today. It’s an impressive list for sure, but
there was one car that Darren owned
briefly when he was 18 that he remembers
66
Cabin updated with walnut
trim and centre console
Italian Job seats have a quirky style
“As soon as I saw the car, I knew I had
to have it”
with great affection: “I had a 1978 Mini enclosure!” It turned out the customer
and I loved it,” he recalls. “I’d always had just restored a 1976 Leyland Mini
fancied the idea of owning another one 1000 and his plan was to give it to his son
day.” for his 18th birthday, but only if he kept
his licence clean for a year. “Needless to
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS say, that didn’t happen, the deal with his
Normally at this point we’d be talking son was off and the Mini was now up for
about countless hours spent scouring the sale,” he says. “I showed my interest and
classifieds on the internet, but Darren agreed to take a look at the car his son
didn’t need to bother with any of that as had missed out on when I delivered the
he managed to bypass searching for a car shower enclosure.” This turned out to be
altogether. “A good customer of ours a worthwhile trip, as not only did the
came into our shop wanting a new shower customer receive his new shower
enclosure for their en-suite bathroom,” enclosure, Darren came away with a
Darren remembers. “Soon we were project Mini. “As soon as I saw the car, I
chatting about which cars we drive - that knew I had to have it,” he grins.
was after I’d sold him the shower Darren’s good fortune continued as his

new purchase arrived devoid of rust, just
as his customer had described. “He’d
done a great job repairing the bodywork,
replacing the subframes and respraying
the shell a vivid metallic blue,” he tells us.
And yes, in case you’d not already spotted
it, that is a shade more familiar to a
Subaru Impreza: Metallic Blue Pearl, code
02C. The silver roof and stripes contrast
nicely as well. What would normally be
the most time-consuming process of any
classic Mini project had already been
Subaru metallic hue brings
a little Japanese flair to the
classic British lines
Darren’s really made
this project his own
done, but the interior still needed work
and there were numerous other changes
Darren was keen to make too.
SMOOTH RUNNER
The 998cc engine remains original to the
car, fully rebuilt with a Stage 1 tuning kit
and an alloy water-heated inlet manifold.
“The gearbox has been rebuilt too,”
Darren says. “I now have a Stage 2 1100cc
A Series bored +60 with new pistons,
rings and 276 Kent cam that I may
67
SUBARU-BLUE 998
Original 998 has been fully rebuilt
and treated to a Stage 1 tuning kit

TECH SPEC
BODY Subaru Metallic Pearl Blue 02C paint,
metallic silver roof and bonnet stripes, “I fitted a 12” disc conversion, which
Sportspack arches, Cooper front grille,
Cooper fuel cap, spotlight bar with 4x lights,
Tex door mirrors, roof-mounted aerial,
has made a huge difference”
stainless steel bumpers
engine note to the 998, but it was the with Mintex pads, and these have made a
ENGINE 998 – fully rebuilt, stainless steel brakes that took priority, or rather the huge difference.” While the wheels were
RC40 exhaust system, 3-into-1 manifold, lack of them,” he says. off the car, Darren decided to swap to
alloy water-heated inlet manifold, K&N air
filter larger rims in order to fill the Sportspack
STOPPING POWER arches; 7x13” Formula Competition rims
SUSPENSION Gas Tec shocks, heavy-duty Although the ’76 came with brakes in wrapped in 175/50 Bridgestone tyres to be
adjustable tie-rods, new front and rear
subframes place, they seemed to have a sedate, precise. There’s no ultra-low ride height
gradual effect which didn’t include here as Darren is keen for his Mini to
TRANSMISSION Stock manual – fully rebuilt bringing the car to a stop. “I fitted a 12” remain practical, and Gas Tec shockers
BRAKES AP calipers, 12” grooved and disc conversion at the front with AP and heavy-duty adjustable tie rods do the
dimpled discs, Mintex pads calipers, grooved and dimpled discs along trick.
WHEELS AND TYRES 7x13” Formula
Competition wheels, 175/50 Bridgestone
tyres
INTERIOR Italian Job seats and door panels,
Cooper door pulls, window winders and lock
plates, cue ball gearknob, walnut dash,
walnut centre console, new soundproofing,
new carpets, new headlining, Pioneer head
unit, Infinity 6x9 speakers
replace it with.” This spare engine also
benefits from a high-capacity oil pump
with spider drive and a rebuilt gearbox,
but as the 998 is running so sweetly, he’s
reluctant to start a transplant for now.
“I’ve fitted an RC40 exhaust with a
3-into-1 manifold to add an improved

68 Proud badging denotes original motor

 Ride height remains at a
practical height so that Darren
can take the Mini anywhere
“Once I’d managed to get the car
driving like a Mini should, I returned to
the exterior as I was keen to add my own
personal touch,” he says. “The front end
was crying out for a new Cooper grille,
and I’ve added a four-lamp spotlight bar
too.” Perhaps that’s a doff of the cap to the
Mini’s rallying pedigree, one of the few
aspects it shares with a Subaru Impreza.
“I had to replace the bullet style door
mirrors with Tex mirrors,” Darren
laughs. “The bullet mirrors look cool, but
in reality you can’t see much with them.”
Metallic silver roof and
stripes work so well
Stainless steel bumpers along with a roof
mounted aerial and Cooper fuel cap were
all that was needed to complete the eye-
catching exterior.
As we mentioned earlier, the interior of
Darren’s Mini was really letting the side
down compared to the remainder of the
car, even when he first purchased it. “I
stripped out the old Metro seats and rear
bench along with the door cards and
carpets,” he remembers. “I added fresh
soundproofing and sourced some
immaculate Italian Job seats and door
cards from the internet.” He’s not cut any
corners as the carpets, roof lining, walnut
dash and centre console are all new too,
while the Cooper door pulls, window
winders and lock plates all add up to a
very classy and inviting interior.
This may not be the quickest Mini out
there, but Darren’s pleased with how the
car performs and always finds an excuse
to take it for a blast. “It never fails to make
people of all ages smile and that just does
it for me,” he says. “My 10-year-old son
Reece loves the car too, and he’s often
helping me out in the garage.” Driving
the Mini is restricted to dry and sunny
days now – let’s face it, Darren doesn’t
want to get caught out in a shower!
THANKS TO:
Thanks to my 10-year-old son, Reece, for
all his help in the garage and endless
polishing and cleaning, and my wife,
Vikki, for putting up with me spending
hours in the garage.
69
 CO LU M N

PAUL COWLAND
Time to introduce our restoration, it had been rebuilt into a later
shell which meant it was never going to be
new columnist, as TV worth proper money - but in Tweed Grey
with a black roof, it really looked the part.
presenter, car dealer Being used for filming meant we had a
and classic enthusiast few days of driving it, and the nights of
eBay surfing that followed suggested it
Paul Cowland joins made quite the impression on me.
A few series later, we found a super-
the fold. This month, straight pickup that we also restored,
how long-term Mini adding a paddock-support vehicle vibe
and all manner of trackside tools. It was
ownership has always an utter hoot to drive, and sold in about
two seconds after being listed – despite
strangely eluded him my colleague’s best efforts to deter buyers
by stitching a Union Flag into the
otherwise flawless rear tilt. Words fail
of it. From its Paul Smith Blue paint,
down to its green rocker cover and British
Isles badge. As another local lad, it just
seemed to be the one to own, but then
sensible things like houses and kitchens
somehow got in the way and while I
procrastinated, they all got sold. I still get
a wince of pain every time I see one, even
now! Unrequited love, and all that.
Even as a kid, I couldn’t get away from
them. My Mum had loads, including a
rather awesome Pageant Blue 1275 GT,
and even to this day, I vividly remember
going to the scrapyard with my Dad to get
bits for it. I learned very early on that they
were just so easy and accessible to work
on – especially with all that extra knuckle

H aving owned more cars than it’s

perhaps prudent to admit in public,
and having bought and sold motors of all
me, even now.
The nearest I ever got to signing my life
away and onto a classic Mini V5 was back
room the Clubman gave you.
Thinking about writing this column
has got me surfing the classifieds and
ages for 28 years, you might be surprised in 1998. I was working as a Saab salesman auction sites again. Minis do that to you.
to learn that I’ve never ‘owned’ a Mini. In at the time, and the drive to work in I’ve now got four saved in my ‘watched
fact, scratch that, I’m surprised too. Nottingham every morning took me past items’ list - you can see where this is all
I’m taken aback mainly because in my the local Rover dealership – and in full going, can’t you?
pantheon of cars that are both awesome view of the Paul Smith Cooper in the
and iconic, yet affordable, I’d say that the window. I went to look at that car no less
Mini would probably rank second after than THREE times, and loved every inch Find Paul on social at @paulcowland_
my beloved Beetle – a car I’ve never been
without an example of since the age of 16.
I’ve sold dozens, of course. I’ve retailed
loads, traded a few and taken wonderful
examples in part exchange. And every
single time, I’ve made sure to do an
extended test drive, marvelling at just
how much fun can be obtained from ten
feet of tin. The immediacy of the
handling, the eagerness and sheer joy that
comes from a nicely sorted Mini is a true
delight (and I know I’m preaching to the
choir here). Every time I drive one I find
myself laughing out loud, and I always
swear blind I’ll find one for myself.
As yet, this hasn’t happened, and the
more I think about it, the more I struggle
to fathom why. I’ve bought many cars for
my collection over the last few years, but
never quite found the Mini that would fill
a space in the garage in the same way it
has in my heart.
I’ve been able to get my fix through the
TV, of course. On Salvage Hunters:
Classic Cars we did a resto on a charming
‘bitsa’ ’60s Cooper. The result of an older

71
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ISSUE 307 ISSUE 308 ISSUE 309 ISSUE 310 ISSUE 311
OCTOBER 2020 NOVEMBER 2020 DECEMBER 2020 JANUARY 2021 FEBRUARY 2021
• RSP COOPER 30TH • RAD STREET RACER • MKI RETRO RACER • KITTED VTEC • TWIN R1 ENGINED ‘Z’
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 CO LU M N

HELEN STANLEY
Each month Helen will flame-thrower protruding from the front
of the cab, Molotov cocktails strapped to
be looking at Minis in the sides and some off-road tyres mounted
on offset wheels - the Mad Max Mini was
pop culture, delving a post-apocalyptic style statement.
into the captivating This rusty bare metal Brit isn’t an
obvious contender for the wastelands, but
and inspiriting world for me it worked because of that. In
amongst American and Australian
of art, design, music, muscle, this heavily modified character
moving pictures, stood out for being an underdog and we
all know what our homegrown underdog
fashion and has achieved in the past. I mean, it’s
known for thrashing V8 muscle all the
everything in between way to Monte Carlo - so why not the
desert? And whether it was intentional or
not, parallels with Mini’s origins are
possible - approximately 300 at high-
speed. It was also important for the
vehicles, as well as the characters, to have
back stories. The process in which these
hellions came to fruition included
inspiration taken from Burning Man -
where leftovers from the festival vehicles
were repurposed - and fetishising the cars
themselves.
Unfortunately the Mad Max Mini
didn’t stand out for the right reasons; in
fact you may not have noticed it in the
movie at all, because George Miller,
co-creator, co-producer and director of
the franchise, allegedly hated it! So it was
literally pushed to the back. Nevertheless
it’s loved by us Mad Max fans, and has

T he Mini, an iconic car which most of

us have grown up with; to us they are
so much more than a small, functional,
evident; not only is the story centred
around a lengthy road battle, petrol is
also a scarce commodity, as it was when
once again proven that our British outside
shot continues to crusade. This delicious
slice of pop culture is wonderfully
vehicle, originally created in response to the original Mini concept materialised. relevant to classic Minis and the sub-
petrol rationing. So much so that we’ve The Fury Road cars were conjured up culture of custom classic cars. That’s why
taken this ‘practical solution to a lack of by Head Production Designer and Art I had to geek out on Buggy no.8, because
resources’ and raced it, rallied it, restored Director Colin Gibson, they were it epitomises my love for this scene.
and customised it, road-tripped in it and designed to be war vehicles and had to
created memories with it. The Mini is perform. Unlike so many action films the
well and truly part of our petrol- creators wanted as many real stunts as Find Helen on social at @helenstanleyofficial
hedonistic lives. But I wonder if you’ve
considered how significant the Mini is in
pop culture? From films and photoshoots
to art cars and furniture, the impact of
this little icon has a huge influence - way
beyond the car scene itself.
Where to start? As someone who is well
and truly immersed in pop culture, I
really am spoiled for choice; that said, I’m
actually going to start with a slightly less
obvious contender - the Mad Max Mini.
Bear with me; one of the many things I
love about the Mini scene in particular is
the fact that anything goes, and that’s
why this creation had to kick-off my
descent into Mini-land.
Referred to as ‘Buggy no.8’ during
production, this wee-beastie began life as
a 1964 Cooper S - possibly a controversial
shell to use. In fact this car was originally
intended for a different project, but it was
clearly destined for Fury Road - as it
ended up mounted on a Holden 186 farm
buggy, powered by a Holden Red straight-
six engine. With a set of six gasser intakes,
an external roll cage, gnarly bull-bar, a

73
 COST
From £200
TOOLS REQUIRED
Crypton tuning
hardware and software
TIME TAKEN
1 hour
DIFFICULTY

76 ASK THE EXPERT

Our tech experts answer all your
Mini technical queries.
79 PRODUCTS
The latest selection of parts and
goodies to lavish upon your Mini.
Words and Photography Daniel Bevis

84 OUR MINIS
The latest from our Mini fleet, this
time featuring the cars of Jeff, Dan,
Tim and Pete.
If your car’s been sat idle for months on end and now it’s
running rough, it’ll be crying out for a proper tune-up…

E
ngines like to run regularly, it keeps with Covid and had to isolate, so again the
them happy. But this 998 hadn’t been car was sat unused for a couple of weeks. To
used in a while, making it distinctly revive it, then, I needed an expert. So I got
not happy. This ’85 Mini is a new car to me; on the phone to Tony Crick at Car Tune
its previous owner had been using it on a (07860 229516; cartune.co.uk), and made
fairly regular basis, although a leg injury an appointment for him to come and
then meant that he couldn’t drive the Mini Crypton tune the 998, do a little fault-
BEFORE and it sat unused outside his house for a
while. I bought it on trust (!) and had it
finding, and get it all running properly
again. We found that everything was wildly
STARTING trailered to my place; I drove it for a couple out of tune across the board but, thanks to
of miles and it was obviously a bit sad, Tony’s expertise and decades of experience,
The first rule of working on cars running on three cylinders and generally it was all running sweetly within the hour.
and using tools of any kind is
struggling… and then I got struck down Money well spent.
don’t be stupid. Make sure
personal protective gear –
goggles, gloves, ear defenders,
masks and a set of overalls - are
hanging on a hook in your garage
and use them wisely.
If you’re working with power
tools, protective gear is essential.
Never attempt to work under a
car without supporting it securely
using suitably strong axle stands.
If you haven’t got a fire
extinguisher, buy one and keep it 1 2
near to hand. The bottom line? If
you’re not completely confident Clips are attached to monitor the engine’s The software asks you to select your car in
of your own ability to complete vital signs. Interestingly the Crypton order to load up the relevant settings. In
any task safely, don’t even start it. software has to run in DOS, and in this this case, we choose the 1980s 998cc Mini
Leave it to the experts. instance needs an old laptop running but have to override with the info that it’s
Windows 98 to operate! now running Lucas ignition.
 Tech

3 4 5
The choke was stuck open, which didn’t At 1500rpm with the vacuum off, the timing The next step is to check the plugs and leads.
help! Bit of oil to lubricate the mechanism should be at 8 degrees at top-dead-centre. The reading on the oscilloscope shows a
and hopefully it’s OK, but it’s something to Ours is at 16.7 degrees, so it’s way off. With misfire on no.4, so we swap over 3 and 4 to
keep an eye on. Adjustments are made to the that adjusted, we also check that the vacuum see if the problem stays where it is or moves
carb on the fly to fine-tune its operation. advance is working – it is. across.

6
The plug is black – we can see we’re running
rich. It’s clearly pot 4 where the problem lies.

9
7 Output test on the coil is all good, with a strong figure well above minimum requirements.
A power balance test checks the efficiency of
the engine across all cylinders, cutting them
out one by one. Again, we see that no.4 is
the weak link here, with no.2
underperforming too. We’re also getting lots
of popping and banging from the exhaust
due to unburnt fuel making its way through.

8
It’s a weak mixture – so either there’s an air
leak, or it’s just been badly set up. The top-
left figure here can be adjusted up to 3.5
(within legal emissions parameters), bringing
10
down the top-right figure from the exhaust; A further plug and lead test shows again that no.4 is the unhappy one. The issue isn’t with
‘HC’ stands for hydrocarbons. Ideally we’d the lead, although it’s not necessarily the plug’s fault. So the conclusion here is that we have
bring this number down to around 200 – we an issue on cylinder 4 – could be a valve seat, or a piston ring. For now, though, the engine is
manage to get it to about 550… that’ll do. pleasantly in tune and running much more smoothly on four cylinders!

75
 ASK THE
Tech EXPERT

ASK THE EXPERT

Our experts can help. Just
email
minimag.ed@kelsey.co.uk
with ‘Ask The Experts’
998 POWER MODS as the subject.
I’m going to be fitting a
Stage 1 kit to my 998cc
Mini, and I’m wondering what
sort of gains I’m likely to see
from adding a Stage 3 head?
Clearly it’ll make a difference,
but will it be a significant one?
I’m envisaging something along
the lines of a 20bhp increase,
but I want to make sure I’m not
wasting my money. Maybe it’s
worth just going with a set of 1.5
rockers instead?
Chris H

This is a pretty well-

trodden path, and we’ve
got a whole load of results on
file from various bench tests of
upgrades of this nature. For
example, with a typical high-
comp 998 A-plus engine, the
results from fitting a Stage 1 kit
and re-testing, then a Stage 3
small-bore head, then a 997
Cooper-spec cam and 1.3 roller-
tip rockers, were particularly
interesting – on the same rolling
road the result was within 1bhp
of a 998 fitted with just a 997
Cooper-spec cam. The upshot
of all this is that a cam change
gives far more bang-per-buck
than a head swap; yes, the head
provides a performance gain,
but in terms of relative cost it’s a
bigger cost for a smaller result.
“Naturally the gains are all dependent on the health
and state of tune of your engine”
Naturally the gains are all tests I’ve done, they don’t does it stop moving fluid or is it
dependent on the health and provide enough of a gain to internally pressure regulating?
state of tune of your engine, and justify fitting them. Sam H
if you haven’t had it optimised
on a rolling road then it may well MASTER SYSTEM This is quite a niche
be short of the power that the I’m trying to get my head question, as the stepped
Stage 1 kit would be providing – around my Mini’s braking master cylinder was only used
so the simple answer is cams for system. Specifically, I want to on very early split braking
sure, head if you like, and be understand how a stepped systems using the tandem
sure to get it all set up! And master cylinder works… if the master cylinder – I understand
finally, no, I wouldn’t go with the rear brakes are fully on before that all variants fitted after that
1.5 rockers on a 998 – in all the the front ones, or vice versa, used a single-bore diameter. In

HINGE AND BRACKET There are a couple of stress and wear on the hinge
The door hinges on my reasons why door pins. If that’s the case, the
1988 Mini Jet Black have hinges can become a bit solution is to fit new hinges;
become very stiff recently, recalcitrant. The first is replacing pins alone isn’t a
making it harder to open and corrosion – a lack of regular solution as the corrosion in
close the doors. I tried lubrication is the culprit, but if the bores tends to make the
spraying the hinges with a bit you’re trying WD40 then you pins loose, so they either fall
of WD40 but it doesn’t seem may well be on the right track, out or you get a lot of door
to have made any difference. and a few further applications drop. First thing to try is to
Is there something more could see it all freeing up. keep lubricating, and if that
effective I can try? However, corrosion and lack doesn’t work then you’re
Lucy Carter of lubrication can also lead to looking at new hinges.

76
 ASK THE
EXPERT Tech

EXIT STRATEGY question: something that’s

I love the look of a been properly developed for
centre-exit exhaust, efficiency and performance
and I’m planning to fit one to will always be superior to
my 1275 Mini. However, I’ve something that’s been built
recently been told that I’d get down to a price, or with more
more power from an exhaust of a focus on aesthetics (i.e. a
that exits in the standard larger bore or tailpipe) than
position. Can that be true? It functionality. Exhaust gas flow
sounds a bit far-fetched to is essentially unaffected by
me, but I want to be sure. shape but it is by size, so it’s
Lesley Prince vital to ensure that the system
has mandrel bends to prevent
Well, it really depends any constriction. Pipes that go
on a number of factors. up and down in size aren’t If you’ve got sportier or racier small over a narrow rpm
It’s too simplistic to say that very efficient, and should only cams, you’ll be needing a band, but it’s worthy of
either centre-exit or ever step up in size and not go slightly larger diameter than consideration. So in
standard-exit is better, as back down again. fast-road specs. And the type summary – it’s not a case of
there are a lot of variables at Diameter also affects of silencing can play a part which exit position is better:
play. The overall length of performance, with the pipe too; unless you’re talking if you want to fit a centre-
the system is a key factor, as needing to be big enough to about a particularly badly exit system, do a bit of
indeed is the quality and deal with the exhaust output made exhaust then the research first and buy a
provenance of the system in of the particular engine spec. difference will only be very quality one.

the case of your car, the
application and regulation of
pressure is controlled by the
stepped bore diameter and the
internal springs; when you push
the brake pedal, a pushrod acts
against the first piston, and then
pressure transfers to the smaller
second piston. The different
“non-functional indicators are often caused by a bad
earth, where they bear the brunt of the bad weather”
bore diameters provide different
pressures in the brake lines, with
the springs controlling the force
transferred from one piston to
the other – this effectively
regulates pressure to the rear
brakes by limiting pressure on
the piston and its travel.

BLINKING HELL
I’ve been having
some problems
with the nearside
indicators on my 1986
Mini City. It’s a bit of a
head-scratcher – the
indicators on the offside
are working fine, and when I
use the hazard warning lights
they all blink correctly, but the
nearside ones just don’t seem to
want to work on their own. Any
ideas?
Will Hughes
Electrics can often be a
cause for concern, as you
can end up chasing your tail
trying to find a solution. My
initial suspicion here would be
the indicator stalk; non-
functional indictors are often
caused by a bad earth,
particularly at the front where
they tend to bear the brunt of
the bad weather rushing past
them. But since you say it’s
working on the hazard switch,
the issue must be elsewhere, as
the indicator stalk picks up its
power feed from the hazard
switch. That’s pretty much ruled
out by the fact that the offside
indicators are working from the
stalk, so I’d suggest that perhaps
the contacts in the stalk have
worn through.
Before replacing the stalk, it’d
be a good idea to remove the
cowling from around the
steering column and test the
stalk with a 12v multimeter – it
should be easy enough to see
the inner workings of the stalk
and which pins are making
connections when indicating.
WIPE ON, WIPE OFF
I’ve seen a few Minis at
shows over the years that
have a rear wiper fitted. Was

77
 ASK THE
Tech EXPERT
ALL MOUTH, NO
TROUSERS
My 1991 Cooper feels
just as perky as it
this ever a factory option? Or
are there aftermarket kits
available? It seems like quite a
useful thing to have.
Steve
No, the rear wash/wipe
setup was never
something offered from the
factory. They used to be quite
popular on the aftermarket back
in the 1980s, although they fell
out of favour and as far as I’m
aware they’re not available from
any of the usual specialists these
days. Back in the day its wasn’t
uncommon for people to adapt
the wiper mechanisms from
contemporary hatchbacks
rather than using off-the-shelf
kits, so that’s always a possibility
- although of course that also
brings the hurdle of finding
78
should at low speeds, but at
anything above 60mph it just
doesn’t feel like it has the
oomph. It’s making all the
“The rear wash/wipe setup was never offered from the
factory; they used to be popular on the aftermarket”
functional parts from old Fiestas
or Novas or what-have-you,
which could involve the sort of
scrapyard hunting that’s
right noises, but doesn’t seem
to have the guts! There’s a
cone filter fitted instead of the
standard airbox, so I’m
wondering if this might be
something to do with it?
Mike Thompson
Fear not, this is a fairly
common observation!
It’s quite often the case that
somebody will fit a cone filter
on the assumption that it’ll
offer a performance
advantage, but don’t do
anything to adjust the fuelling
or have the engine set up to
accommodate it. When you fit
a filter like this, it markedly
alters the air flow through
the carb, so the
fuelling needs
modifying to suit.
This invariably
demands a
needle with
becoming increasingly tricky
these days. I haven’t yet seen a
Mini adapted to run a modern-
era rear wiper system. That isn’t
a thinner profile to release
more fuel into the air stream
at any given throttle
opening. The ideal way to
optimise this is on a rolling
road, where the ratio can be
monitored across a wide
range of engine load
conditions. It’s more than
likely that your engine is
running lean – that is to say,
it’s breathing far too much
air compared to the amount
of fuel, which is making it
sluggish. You’ll more than
likely find that performance
is much improved when
you’re on partial choke, and
this neatly demonstrates the
cause-and-effect here.
Some people try to
compensate for lean running
by lowering the jet using its
height adjustment nut,
although this absolutely isn’t
the right way to do it – jet
adjustment should only be
used to adjust the mixture at
idle, set at around 0.060-
0.070” down from the bridge
inside the carb. Running
mixture is set by choosing a
needle with the right profile
for your engine’s required
air-fuel ratio.
to say it cannot be done with a
bit of ingenuity of course, but
you have to bear in mind the
intrusion into the boot area:
most rear wiper arrangements
have a motor mounted
immediately behind the wiper
arm drive spindle, and in a Mini
this will be quite intrusive and
hang down from under the
parcel shelf. It’s also worth
bearing in mind that mounting
the whole assembly to the
section of panel just above the
boot area may cause it to flex a
fair bit. Still, there’s always the
chance that you’ll find a new-
old-stock period aftermarket
wiper kit at an autojumble...
 PRODUCTS Tech

SHIFT CAR CARE

WATERLESS
WASH
£16.99
Bringing with it a new
approach to the concept
of environmentally
friendly and economical
alternatives to traditional
car wash methods, Shift
Car Care is introducing a
range of waterless wash
solutions. The flagship
product, Shift Waterless AUTO FINESSE
Wash, is an advanced WONDER WOOL WHEEL BRUSHES
formula infused with From £14.95
polymer technology to Keeping your wheels clean can be a real faff in winter. It’s not just
ensure that cleaning road grime, but salt and other nasties you need to keep on top of
paintwork, vinyl, glass trim before they eat away at the finish. So Auto Finesse have a solution:
and wheels is completely Wonder Wool wheel brushes. At £14.95 apiece for the smallest
safe and scratch-free. It size, or £45.95 for the three-pack of all sizes, these are designed to
offers a simple spray-on-wipe-off application tackle safe agitation of cleaning agents on wheels with sensitive
and, in addition to fully cleaning surfaces, finishes. With lambswool cleaning heads, they glide over surfaces,
immediately installs a quartz-based ceramic gently agitating without excess scrubbing, locking harmful
coating to stop water and road grime sticking. contaminants deep within the fibres, away from the wheel finish.
O www.shiftcarcare.com One less thing to worry about when the gritters have been out.
O www.autofinesse.com

LONGSTONE TYRES
PIRELLI CINTURATO CN54
From £82.80
The Pirelli Cinturato CN54 is a handy addition to
the Longstone catalogue, as many Leyland Minis
were fitted with 145/70 R12 tyres as standard, and
this makes for an excellent performance upgrade.
With a speed rating of S and load index of 68,
they’re ideally suited to fast-road Minis, and they
have a proper period look too.
In addition, Longstone offers a range of tyres to
suit Mini needs – 5.20-10 Camacs are available for
those after crossplies, Dunlop SP Sport Aquajets
can be had for 10” wheels of assorted widths, and
there’s a 10” Cinturato option too.
O https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/

79
Tech PRODUCTS

AUTOGLYM
FAST GLASS
£9
As winter looms on the horizon, it’s vital to keep
our windows and lights clean. Autoglym’s Fast
Glass is just the trick, whether your windows
are made from glass or acrylic, Perspex or
Lexan – easy to apply, and peace of mind when
that low sun starts to peep through.
O www.autoglym.com

MINI SPORT
DELUXE CARPET SET
£65
If you’re after an affordable and simple way to spruce up your
interior this winter, Mini Sport’s carpet sets look like stonking value
for money. And for sixty-five sheets you’re not just getting the
budget set; no, these are the deluxe carpets with a thicker and
more substantial pile. They also have a superior rubber backing for
anti-slip, are bound on the front and rear edges, and come
complete with two heel mats bound to the carpet. They’ll take no
time to fit and your cabin will have that pleasing new carpet smell!
O www.minisport.com

BRITEANGLE
BRITEANGLE WARNING TRIANGLE
£40
Let’s face it: with the best will in the world,
sometimes old cars break down. And given that
we’re plunging into the depths of winter, the
BriteAngle seems like quite a handy idea. Forty quid
might sound like a spicy price for a warning triangle,
but this is no ordinary warning triangle. It’s packed
with high-intensity LEDs, which you can set to
continuous or flashing modes, so you’ll be visible for
up to 300 metres in the dark, and it’s impressively
visible even in bright sunshine. Which is reassuring.
O www.briteangle.com

80
 PRODUCTS Tech

KELSEY MILLERS OILS

MINI MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION CLASSIC OIL
From £7.99 £ various
Don’t miss an issue of Mini Magazine – we’ve got a variety Your grandpa probably told you that you can’t use
of offers to suit all tastes: synthetic oils in old cars, but the world is changing –
and with more and more young enthusiasts making
• Buy a single issue at the normal cover price with FREE the switch to Minis, it’s good
delivery to your door (UK only; £1 additional charge to know that Millers Oils has
for international postage) been advancing the tech to
• Buy 3 issues for £9.99 (no ongoing suit. Years of development
commitment necessary) means that formulations are
carefully tailored to suit older
• Buy 3 issues of the digital edition
engines: issues with rubber
for only £7.99 ($9.99 in the
seal compatibility are in the
United States)
past, and classic car owners
• Subscribe to never miss an issue can reap the benefits of
and have direct delivery to your modern technology. Check
door. Payment by simple continuous out the website to see which
credit card payment which can is right for your car.
be cancelled at any time. O www.millersoils.co.uk
Missed a copy of Mini Magazine?
Never fear, our back issues service is here!
(But you’ll want to be quick, they don’t hang
around for long…) MACHINE MART
O https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/list/publication/MMG CLARKE 18V IMPACT WRENCH
£107.98
Clarke’s CCIW160 cordless impact wrench is an
MINI SPORT essential lightweight, compact, powerful tool.
TOW BAR KIT Protected with a rubber design and a soft-grip
£225 ergonomic handle, this wrench is controlled with
a variable speed trigger with electronic brake up
Obviously we all know how surprisingly spacious and practical a to 2200rpm, and the fan-cooled motor offers
Mini can be, but sometimes there will be times when you need forward and reverse rotation. There’s a bright LED
to, say, take a bunch of hedge clippings to the tip or squeeze in a work light, and it can be stored and transported
5-berth tent for a camping holiday, and you’re probably not on a belt clip and hanging loop. This model
going to cram that all in the boot. But hey, it’ll happily go in a includes 2Ah 18v batteries, with a charge level
trailer, and Mini Sport have just the connectivity you need. Their indicator, a fast charger, and carry case.
tow bar kit is suitable for all Mini saloons, and comes complete
with electrics and fittings, bracket, tow ball and cover, and full O www.machinemart.co.uk
fittings instructions. It’s also approved for use in Europe under
regulation E11. Just don’t try to fit it if you have a centre-exit
exhaust, because obviously that won’t work…
O www.minisport.com

81
 We’re looking for the very best Minis to feature
in Mini Magazine, so if yours has what it takes,
email daniel.bevis@kelsey.co.uk

GET FEATURED IN See your

Mini in

ZINE
print

MINI MAGA MAIL NOW!

Is your Mini something special?

A one-off? Or is there a unique story
behind it? Tell the world and get
your pride and joy a
professional photoshoot.
www.facebook.com/minimagazine
 S P EC I A L ED I T I O N S
JET BLACK
I
n a new series, we’ll be casting a
spotlight every month on some of our
favourite special edition Minis.
Because, let’s face it, there have been quite
a few of them!
This time we’re looking at the Jet Black,
a limited-run curio with a pretty self-
explanatory name. Based on the Mini
City, the quirky little special you see here
came with all-black paint and interior,
and a plenty of alluring model-specific
extras. Just 1,000 were allocated to the
UK, and it’s estimated that only around
300 survive today, which makes them
rather sought-after.
Velour is wonderfully retro
metropolis with onlookers wondering
Launched in 1988, the why they were driving around with their
Mini Jet Black was headphones on.
Further treats included red pinstripes
oh-so eighties… around the edge of the wheel trims, Jet
Black logos, tinted glass, and pop-out rear
Among its plentiful charms, the Jet windows. And the coolest part of all? The
Black came with a mixtape of ‘original sumptuous velour seats, inky black and
soul and chart hits’ but, amusingly, you resplendent in red trim and logos. Such
couldn’t play the cassette in the car luxury elevated the City to hitherto
because it only came equipped with a unimaginable levels of splendour. And if
push-button radio. No worries though, as all the gothic blackness was a bit Robert
buyers also received their own Jet Black Smith for you, there was a similarly-
Sony Walkman to play it on – presumably specced sister model too, the Red Hot.
to listen to as they buzzed about the Guess what colour that one was…
Engine in this example
has been fettled a bit
83
 Our Minis
The engine was covered
in filth and corrosion.

Jeff Ruggles
Contributor
MINI LIFE I’ll run out of
fingers and toes if I try and
count all the Minis I’ve
had. I love to spend all my
spare time working on
them, although progress
can be tricky as I have far
too many.
MINI SPEC I currently
own seven Minis in various
states of repair. Currently
only a couple are road
legal, although I’m
working hard to change
all that!
MINIS OWNED
1971 Mini 850

Unnecessary filth
1972 Mini 1275 GT
1972 Innocenti
Mini 1001
1991 Mini Mayfair
1994 Mini Mayfair

Jeff gets his hands dirty as the Innocenti recommission continues

W
hen I hauled the
Innocenti’s engine out
earlier this summer to fix
a stripped sump plug thread, I rather
hoped that it would be back in the car
within a week or two. The offending
thread was duly repaired by my pal
Alex Kinsman within a couple of
days, but the hold up came when I
realised that refitting the motor in
such a filthy state would’ve been a
travesty, even for a car that wears its
unrestored patina with pride.
When I say filthy, I mean thick
layers of oil and grime that must’ve
been festering for most of the car’s
49-year life. Cleaning it up was a
laborious process involving countless
cans of brake cleaner, wire brushes
To do list and time, but I was pleasantly
1. Refit the
ancillaries.
2. Fit disc brake
conversion.
Iwis replaces slack timing chain
surprised by the result. The gearbox
casing has come up really well, while
a coat of black engine paint from
Moss has smartened the block up
too. The front subframe has come in
for a similar tidy up as well, though I
stopped short of removing it fully.
The engine has always run well
despite appearances, so mindful of
time and funds, I opted not to fully
strip it down for the time being.
However, removal did give me a
chance to sort any further oil leaks.
This involved replacing the tappet
cheat covers gaskets and bolt and
seals, along with a new timing cover
gasket and oil seal.
Exposing the timing chain
revealed it was rather baggy, so I
called my former Mini Magazine
Needs tidying, but engine is in place
colleague Keith Calver and ordered a
new Iwis single-row chain to fix that
issue. At the same time I also found a
pair of old stock Unipart rubber
couplings for the driveshafts because
the ones I’d fitted back in 2011 had
started to break up. New outer CVs
have gone on too, as the plan is to fit
front disc brakes in place of the stock
drums to make the car a bit more
user-friendly. To this end, I’ve also
procured some new front hubs and
brake pipes, plus some spaced drums
for the rear to match the wider front
track.
We’d had a tricky time getting the
remote gearbox tail to clear the
subframe and bulkhead when
removing the engine, so when it
came to refitting it I borrowed an old
two-stage Sykes-Pickavant hoist tool
from Alex (Mini Sport sells a similar
item). The tool tilts the assembly at
the correct angle, and ensured it
could be slotted back in without
drama. It all lined up rather nicely
and is now bolted in place for the
ancillaries to go back on. Let’s just
hope the impending start up doesn’t
reveal any leaks that I missed...

84

Dan Bevis
Editor
MINI LIFE Having grown
up in the eighties
bouncing around in the
back of a Sandglow Yellow
Mini 1000, these little
heroes have always had
an important place in my
motoring affections.
MINI SPEC 1985 City E
that’s lived a bit of a life -
with 17 former keepers,
it’s now got a Stage 1 kit
and Sportspack arches,
and it’s extremely orange.
MINIS OWNED
1972 850
1985 City E
2005 R53 Cooper S
To do list
1. Fix the headlight
mountings
2. Fit a new exhaust
system
New kid on the block
Dan’s ’85 City E looks like it could have some decent potential for fun
W
ith the new role at Mini
Magazine comes a new
old Mini for me, and here
it is: a 1985 City E that’s been
tinkered with a bit. Buying this car
was a bit of a step into the unknown,
as I don’t know anything about who
built it or what level of skill they were
able to throw at it – and with 17
former keepers on the logbook, it’s
clearly a bit promiscuous. However, it
all seems to be pretty neatly done,
and I just fell in love with the
cheekily anachronistic Sportspack
arches.
There are some cool touches here
and there too. The KAD quick-shift
is a lovely little unit, and I
particularly like that the bucket seats
are on easily slide-able runners; that
This bit needs a few tweaks...
mightn’t sound like a significant
detail, but the previous Mini I had – a
1972 850 – didn’t offer a whole lot of
interior adjustment for someone
who’s 6’1” and ate too many crisps
over lockdown. So this feels like a
more usable car for me right off the
bat, and there’s a whole load of jobs to
do that I can get my teeth into. That
quilted dash, for example, looks
kinda cool but the dials are just
nestled in with spit and hope, so they
need properly fixing in place. The
headlights need new mountings as
they wobble about the place and
might fall out at any moment. The
998 is running a Stage 1 kit, but the
exhaust is rusty and battered and
ripe for replacement. The comedy
ride height could do with sorting
...and so does this bit
Our Minis
with a set of hi-los. That mesh front
grille is horrible and needs replacing
with a proper one. The first job,
however, is to get it running right…
The guy I bought the car from had
been using it as a daily driver earlier
in the year; however, he’d sustained
some manner of injury and hadn’t
been able to drive it, so it had been
sitting unused for a few months.
Having bought it on trust and got it
trailered from Manchester down to
my place in Epsom, I took it for a
quick blast and deduced that, yes, it
wasn’t quite using all the cylinders
that it should be – and then I got
struck down by Covid, and had to go
into self-isolation. So my newly-
acquired Mini has been sitting
outside the window, forlorn and
unused, while all I can do is gaze
through the glass at it and yearn.
Nil desperandum, however, as I’ve
got a chap from Car Tune coming to
tune it the first day after my isolation
ends. By the time you read this, that
will have already happened. In fact, if
you’re reading the mag in page-order
from front to back, you’ll have seen
how that went on pages 74-75…
85
 Our Minis
Part numbers live
in Tim’s brain

Tim Harber
Contributor
www.minimail.co.uk
MINI LIFE Driven them
since 1967 and started a
business around them in
London in 1977. Moved to
the countryside in 1989 to
allow more space to fit
cars and family in. Started
racing in 2002 (aged 52).
Have raced Mighty Minis
but have concentrated on
Historics since 2010.
MINI SPEC 1961 Racer is
re-shelled test-bed-come-
toy with 7 port motor at
present. Mini Super.
Spare back-up for 65 racer.
1965 1293 racer is FIA

What’s in a number?
Appendix K spec. Woody.
Was wife’s daily driver for 7
years now resting. 1971
Biota. Mini-based sports
car waiting to be fettled.
Freestyle buggy. Looking
for new home.
MINIS OWNED
1961 Racer
1962 Mini Super Tim has donned the deerstalker for some numerical detective work
1965 Historic Racer

T
1967 Woody Estate
he Biota’s handling was quite cut and shut to add some length as readily available. The previous
1971 Biota benign when we had the used to be popular before the advent owner worked in a Rover dealer so
Freestyle buggy standard 1300 power unit in of mass-produced long ones. The had access to original parts which
it. It then changed to being intent on Mk1 type of arm takes a straight brings me on to one of my minor
killing anyone who drove it with the pair of bushes whereas the Mk2 avenues of Sherlock Holmes-type
new power unit in! Accelerate at all type have two tapered bushes, i.e. pleasure: numbers.
hard and it would shoot to the right the hole has a ridge half way in. Being in the parts business my
and back to the left on releasing the When we took the bushes out, we ability to remember part numbers
power, yet it was pretty docile noticed that somehow the previous has always been damn handy. Now
around our yard’s sharp corners. owner had simply rammed in some the bushes in the arm had the
We guessed it wasn’t helped by tapered bushes into the straight hole original number moulded into
wrong toe in/out at the back, which I could understand as the them: 21A1882, which confirmed
possibly the tyres/shock absorbers early type bush has not always been that they were indeed Mk2 ones.
but most of all the competition diff
in it, popularly known as the Tran-X
type which evolved from the
legendary Salisbury one and this is
an evolution of that. I have two
other similar and they both behave
To do list differently, so the jury is still out as
it means taking the engine out
1. Work up enthusiasm again.
to take engine out In the meanwhile we thought it
again would be prudent to check the state
2. Get terribly of the bushes in the front suspension
organised and plan generally, having changed the
for next year suspension trumpets for adjustable
(yeah, right)
ones already. So out came the
bottom arms which in fact turned
out to be Mk1 type that have been

86

“my ability to remember part
numbers is damn handy”
The suspension arms themselves
have nearly the next part numbers
along; 21A1879/21A1881. (Don’t
know what happened to 21A1880.)
This gets more complex if you look
at the forgings as they have both
numbers cast into them. The
forging is the same and just the
holes for the joints in the small end
are machined one way up or the
other. Mk1 arms have different
numbers cast into them which fit in
with their assigned part numbers
but what you see in my pic is
another altogether; it’s cast with
21A2115/2116 in it. When I came
across these twenty-five years ago I
was a bit mystified - but due to a
minor miracle, one of my customers
was able to help with identifying
them and furthermore said he had
the manufacturer’s drawings for
Our Minis
When he looks at
parts, he sees this
Suspension arm spot-the-difference
them. I took it with a pinch of salt,
but dutifully he came months later
with not only the casting drawing
but the machining one to show how
to make the forging into the
finished item! There it was – the
part numbers cast into it. It was of
course the Special Tuning long
version which had the part number
of C-21A2115 (C for competition).
The drawings are interesting in that
the last time they were modified was
in 1979 – presumably when Austin
Rover were keen to help the likes of
Richard Longman in his GT.
One tiny problem solved also: The
Weber wouldn’t run right when I
tried it on. Turned out it was the
aluminium pump jet seals. Look at
how tiny one is: we didn’t even
notice them missing when we
changed the jet. Little things…
Weber seal with oddball
87
 Our Minis
Pete Hunter
Guest writer
MINI LIFE Pete comes
from a family of Mini
owners, and has been
involved with the scene
for a long time, being a
founder member of the
Hilltop Minis club.
MINI SPEC 1963 Mini
850. Pete’s owned the
Mini for many years and
took it off the road around
a decade ago to restore it,
quickly stripping it down
to a bare shell. When the
shell had to be moved
outside, the project
stalled.
MINIS OWNED
1963 MkI Mini
To do list
1. C ut
2. C lean
3. Weld
4. Repeat
(Now only on one car)
88
The gentle tinkling of
doors in the breeze
The Doors
This month Pete’s been fettling his portals
S
ince my last update I haven’t
spent as much time as I hoped I
would have working on the
Mini, but things are moving along
slow and steady which isn’t too bad,
as it’s now a job which I’m really not
fond of doing. After repairing the
passenger door frame I managed to
put a new skin on fairly easily - apart
from when I slipped with the dolly
and accidently dented the skin… not
too happy about that, but nothing
major and just a light skim of filler
was needed to sort it out. I then
moved onto the driver’s door which I
wasn’t looking forward to as it
needed a lot more work than the
passenger door, but thankfully
everything was OK and it even
turned out better than the passenger
door - I didn’t even have to put any
filler in this one.
Next I moved onto the hinges, and
tried to use a repair kit as there was a
lot of play in a couple of them; once
stripped down and cleaned I tried to
put the new pin in and it fell straight
through the hole, so that hinge was
beyond repair. After some thinking I
decided to just buy a full new set, as I
knew they’d be better than the others
even if I had managed to repair them.
So now with new hinges and doors
repaired and reskinned it was time to
try them on the body and see how
well they fit… umm, not very well!
The driver’s door wasn’t too bad
and just needed a bit of fettling, so a
quick cut and a tiny amount of
welding and I was happy. Then I
decided to try and finish off the
whole of the driver’s side of the body
and do the job I’m not fond of - filler
work; luckily it didn’t need huge
amounts, but it still takes a long time
to get it the way I like it. Once that
was done I then rubbed the whole
side down and gave it a coat of high
build primer, so it’s ready for its final
sand down before the topcoat can be
applied.
Lots of effort to get it all sitting right
Now that I was happy with the
driver’s side being done, I moved
onto the back end of the shell, to fill
under the rear lights where I put
repair panels on many years ago, and
fill a couple of small dents.
I’ve now moved onto the passenger
side, and unfortunately this side is
going to take a bit longer than I had
hoped - it’s a culmination of a few
things not being fitted perfectly in
the right place. So fingers crossed by
my next update the whole car should
be in primer… ha-ha, famous last
words!
On a positive ending, I have
managed to get a new boot lid at a
very reasonable price from
Somerford Mini, and all that needs is
a quick sand and it’s ready to be
primed.
Progress in clear evidence
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 Classic and Modern
Mini Specialist
Established 1998
Website:
www.mlmotorsport.net
01474-825123
FOR ALL YOUR
ADVERTISING NEEDS
CONTACT

NATALIE HARMAN
01732 446757
natalie.harman@talkmediasales.co.uk
MOTORFREE ADS
WWW.MOTORFREEADS.CO.UK
MINI 40TH ANNIVERSARY
1970, £25,000. Mini magazine feature cover car,
only covered 2024 miles since it was fully restored
in 2009. Please call 07949010379, Scotland.
110990
MINI 1000 E
£7,000. Changed engine to a 1300cc. Bodywork
in excellent condition. Has been looked after and
well maintained . Lots spent on it. Please call
07837 329903 , East Midlands.
110994
FEATURE YOUR MOTOR IN YOUR FAVOURITE MAGS!
TO ADVERTISE VISIT
CURRENT LISTINGS
MINI 30
1989, 75000 miles, £8,975. Superb original
metallic red Mini 30th. Has all its badges and
decals. Fab part leather trim. History available.
Perfect alloys and tyres. Drives very nice, best
available. Lots of photos. Please call 07885
077882, East of England.
109901
MINI ADVANTAGE
1987, 76332 miles, £6,500. Restoration project
for my late wife. Not been driven in 2 years. Runs
like a dream. Please call 07523 866071, Yorkshire
and the Humber.
10995
MINI COOPER
2000, 55000 miles, £12,500. Cooper 1.3i.
Completely rebuilt in 2020 using all new panels,
complete respray and engine overhauled. Ready to
go with no rust. Interior in original VGC. Owned from
new but I don’t driver her very much so would like her
to go to a loving home where she’ll be driven. MoT till
June 2021. Loads of pics of the work that has been
done. Please call 07773 023937, South West.
110228
MINI COOPER
2005, £950. Needs restoration, running order, V5.
For more information and pictures, message/call.
Please call 07743 370641, West Midlands.
109951
OR FIND YOUR NEXT!
 Specialist insurance, from
EHVMERƽY\GSYO
0800 085 5000
MINI COOPER
Offers. Wood and Pickett Mini for sale, partly
restored. Mercedes lights and grill, fully de-
seamed and welded steel wheel arches. Has been
stored for a few years. Please call 07973 871976,
South East.
110592
MINI COOPER
2001, 91000 miles, £4,400. Y-Reg OBL pre-
production Mini. Classic 109 press car code
S902a used by BMW to promote MINI . Fully
Serviced engine. Fully Serviced gearbox. Rust
proofed underneath. Lots new parts. 11- MOT.
Please call 07988 438363, North West.
110465
MINI COOPER
2001, 46736 miles, £15,995. Y reg Mini Cooper
Sport 500 number 330. 1.3 MPI, three previous
owners, full bodywork restoration and re-spray.
Aluminium dash. Silver/black full leather. MoT
till June 2022. Please call 01489 789921, South
East.
110314
TO ADVERTISE VISIT:
WWW.MOTORFREEADS.CO.UK
MINI COOPER
2006, POA. Reliable Silver-Grey Mini Cooper S
JCW with 93,000 miles, twin centre exhaust,
Petrol, Semi-Automatic. Please call 07707
607829, South West.
110585
MINI COOPER
1993, 37353 miles, £11,000. 1.3i Mini Cooper.
Very original, nice car, low mileage, 12 months
MoT, three owners from new. Please call 07753
352561, North West.
109718
MINI COOPER
1999, POA. Genuine John Cooper S works
mini, with plaque and original plates. A mini in
this condition is rare, a genuine s works in this
condition is like hens teeth. Beautiful colour,
trimmed in cream leather with walnut, all the
Cooper garages add-ons, the optional chrome
pack on the wheels with no flaking. Must be
seen to be appreciated. Enquire quickly, this one
won’t be around long!. Please call 01274 585803,
Yorkshire and the Humber. (T)
109623
OR EMAIL:
CARS@KELSEYCLASSIFIEDS.CO.UK
MINI COOPER
2005, 12000 miles, POA. Reluctantly selling my
RS3 Cooper S. In fantastic condition. Two owners,
very low mileage, Chilli pack and panoramic roof.
Last of the supercharged cars. Please call 07979
940407, Scotland.
109721
MINI CLUBMAN
1983, £4,500. 1275 E imported from SA to UK
in 1991. Last restoration 2000. MOT September
2022 advisories on front floor, offside sill
corrosion. Soft and hard top. Fun car, runs ok.
Email nigel.wb01@gmail.com, Hampshire. Please
call 07948 551637, South West.
110977
MINI MAYFAIR
1989, 30000 miles, £12,500. Fully restored to a
high quality standard and all parts renewed with
heritage parts full paintwork done by professionals
to exact colour when new. M.O.T till March 2022.
Great running we car never misses a beat. All
reasonable offers considered. Please call 07763
140880, South East.
110018
 When you’re asked “What do you want for Christmas?”
Just remember the dot-com
www.minispares.com
As you relax over the holiday period, chances are that your mind will
turn to restoring your Mini over the winter. Just go to minispares.com
and you can make a wish-list from the world’s largest range and stock of
Mini parts, all ready for when people ask you what you want for
Christmas. Performance tuning, accessories and essential parts from
engines, bodyshells and MOT-failure repair parts, right down to
individual bolts and washers are all there.
We hold over 9,000 different lines including all the Genuine Rover and
Parts available online at www.minispares.com or by mail order on 01707 607 700
Minispares - LONDON
LONDON (M25/A1 Junction) MINISPARES HEAD OFFICE
Cranbourne Industrial Estate, Cranbourne Rd. Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3JN
Tel: 01707 607700
Heritage parts available for the classic Mini, from the first 1959 model to
the last Twin Point injected type.
Where genuine parts are listed as “no longer available” we try, where
possible, to have them re-manufactured to meet or exceed the original
specification. As original suppliers to Rover all our own products are top
quality materials and design. All the parts you need - both genuine and
quality alternatives are just a click away, so don’t get stuck with socks
and hankerchiefs again, remember the dot-com.
Minispares - NORTH
Units 2E and 2G Harwood Road, Northminster Business Park, York Y026 6QU
Tel: 01423 881800