So, I posted this aluminum bonnet in the for sale section a few months ago and have been hoping to find more info about it, but have only today found the problem is, I have been looking on the wrong continent. I thought my father had picked this up in Australia or NZ but it turns out it had come from the UK. I'm hoping someone can ID it or at least give me more info on Bodycraft. I was doing some searching but it is not all that an uncommon name in the auto circles in the UK apparently!
If you look closely at the photo from directly on, you can see the BODYCRAFT logo. It was obviously not factory made, but was a hand-built piece and was just as obviously used pretty heavily. My dad was not they type to jump at any-old part just for no reason, and I know he was very excited about getting this at the time, but I have not been able to dig up any info at all. So anything helps!
Manufactured by John Tomlin in Olney, North Bucks in and around 1992.
John was an old mate of Keith Ripp's and he used to race a sponsored Ripspeed yellow mini in the early-mid '70s
This particular bonnet was fitted to his son, Richard's Mini 7. Note that it has no central rib - this caused great consternation for Mike Garton, the series' scrutineer, who was always telling him to "put it right for the next race".
John retired about 20 years ago, sold the business and his home and bought a large camper van. He now lives the nomadic lifestyle with his wife, Mary.
Bodycraft is now run by Big Al behind Janlin Motors in Warrington, Olney, North Bucks.
How on earth did it end up in Oz? The original engine from that car is/was a Selby unit and was a very quick motor.
What else do you need to know about Bodycraft?
He also prepared Tim Stanbridge's Mini 7 race car shell in 1994, which he sold, via Dick Hunter, to Nick Tandy - this year's outright Le Mans champion.....as well as quite a few others.
I meant that I had originally thought he got it from OZ or NZ while living in the region and I had been trying to see if it related it to a car there. But a friend told me that he had picked it up from the UK which is when I posted it here. So, I think it went straight from the UK to the US.
This is the only part the specifically tied to Bodycraft, that I found. If anyone out there has some photos of Richard's car, that would be pretty darn cool.
Also, an interesting note, while doing some digging based on your information above, I found that there is a Richard Tomlin that work on and races Mini's here in the US!
Thanks again for the pointer. I contacted the folks at the Mini 7 club and they identified it as Rob Selby's bonnet. And Rob confirmed this was from his '95-96 season and was indeed built by John. He won 4 or 5 races in that car, so it definitely explains why my Dad was so excited to get his hands on it. He's going to send some photos, I'll post them here when I get them.
