Mini Magazine October 2019

I'm writing this at the end of August, and I have to say, what a month! We knew it was going to be a fittingly busy few weeks, marking the 60th Anniversary with a calendar jam packed full with events, meets and photo shoots. And despite a few glitches with the weather, it couldn't have been any better. The one thing that Mini owners do better than anyone else is mark an Anniversary - nothing gets in their way. It's not an exaggeration to say we've met people from the four corners of the globe, and in a lot of instances, they bought their Minis with them. Seeing Finnish, Chilean and Japanese registered Minis on display at the British Motor Museum in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside was slightly surreal,…

I'm writing this at the end of August, and I have to say, what a month! We knew it was going to be a fittingly busy few weeks, marking the 60th Anniversary with a calendar jam packed full with events, meets and photo shoots. And despite a few glitches with the weather, it couldn't have been any better. The one thing that Mini owners do better than anyone else is mark an Anniversary - nothing gets in their way. It's not an exaggeration to say we've met people from the four corners of the globe, and in a lot of instances, they bought their Minis with them. Seeing Finnish, Chilean and Japanese registered Minis on display at the British Motor Museum in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside was slightly…

Cast your minds back to 1987 if you can, when Minis were still on every street corner and few people took a second glance if one drove past. This was the year Gary bought his first Mini, a 1972 teal blue 850 saloon with a price tag of just £35! “I was serving my apprenticeship at the time and I wanted an affordable car I could work on,” Gary smiles, “all my mates were driving around in Minis back then, so it seemed a sensible choice.” That same year, Gary met his wife to be, Karen. “When we first met I told her I had a car and she thought she’d hit the jackpot,” Gary laughs. “That was until she found out I had an old Mini that wasn’t working and…

BODY Standard shell in Old English White. ENGINE 1293cc Rover Cooper A-plus, twin 1.25 inch carbs, unleaded head by Mini Sport, pancake air filters, Cooper S inlet manifold, Maniflow LCB exhaust system, Fletcher alloy radiator. SUSPENSION Rubber cones as standard. TRANSMISSION Standard four-speed manual. BRAKES 7.95 inch front brake discs. WHEELS AND TYRES Cooper S wheels in Old English White, Falken 165/70/10 tyres. INTERIOR Red leather seats, red carpets, new roof lining, standard rocker switches, three dial dash temp and oil pressure gauge.…

On 29 August, exactly 60 years to the day since the public launch of the Mini, a convoy of 60 Minis headed from the BMW Mini factory in Cowley to Oxford’s Cuttleslowe Park. The Minis were waved off by Kevin Minns - Lord Nuffield’s great-great nephew; Steve Wrelton - the Cowley Road plant’s external communications manager, and Albert, his six-year-old son. The impressive array of Minis in attendance included an Australian-built Moke and Freddie St George’s 1974 German export Innocenti Mini Cooper. Also in attendance was Les Darcey, who has worked at the Oxford plant for 45 years and supported the event in his 1959 Austin Se7en; Colin Corke, Vicar of Longbridge and volunteer at the BMM archive, who turned up in his 1970 Mini 1275GT. Rachel Busse-Reid attended with her Mini…

• Those of you who read last month’s issue, will no doubt be keen to find out what is up next for Mike Brewer’s dream car, his newly acquired 1964 Cooper S. Now that he has got the car home (and we’ve returned it to him after he kindly lent it to us for MITP), Mike really can’t wait to get started on the resto. The first step is to replace the shell and who better to kit out Mike’s beloved Frankie than British Motor Heritage? Mike paid a visit to BMH to check out their work. As well as the shell, BMH will also be supplying all necessary additional body parts. Mike will be revealing the Mini (and the BMH shell) at the NEC Classic Motor Show, where Andy “Ace” Harrison…