The last four Works Minis

[surfblue63]

Interesting that there is no mention of this car, originally part of the original Clubman/GT press fleet and later converted by Special Tuning in 1970.

[Simon776]

That's because it wasn't factory entered/driven on an event; the same reason OBL 47F and 48F, amongst others, are not classed by some as 'works' Cooper S's.

Here's a certain Mr Makinen creating cascades of snow in Denmark in OBL 47F in 1968.

OBL47F 68Roskilde (1).jpg

[spoon.450]

Great pictures Simon....would love to see more of the rare ones if possible sometime please.

[VKA305H]

Simon

That is a great shot of OBL 46F badged as a Mini 1275 GT can you explain the circumstances please? Also the question about why SOH is not mentioned as one of the last 4 is presumably because it was a Special Tuning car not a Works built car.

Pic of Timo also great! If you have any more especially later cars, please post.

Going back to the last 4 I think the guy has his information mixed up. I did send a pm but didn't get a reply.

Cheers

Brian

[winabbey]

Going back to the last 4 I think the guy has his information mixed up. I did send a pm but didn't get a reply.

That post on the previous page was Watto's first on this forum so I doubt he has seen your PM. I know he is keen to uncover the facts around the works cars so urge you to send him an email (address was in his post).

[VKA305H]

After sending my money and hearing nothing he asked me to pm him which I did. I will e-mail as you suggested.

Cheers

Brian

[timmy201]

Found this one today

[skorwxe]

Found this one today

That was an 'Australian Works' built car i.e. not one that was from the UK nor thus prepared by the Comps Dept at Abingdon.

[big-un1967]

Thanks Simon.

Great shot of OBL 46F. Where was that taken? I wonder why the plate wasn't attached? Looked pretty battered?

Do you have any other shots of it?

I believe you may have one when it was painted red/white?

Cheers

Paul.......

[Simon776]

Paul

That was on the recce for the World Cup Rally. I've now got the other picture of OBL as well, PM or email me your email and I'll send it to you.

[Trickey Mini]

I had a chance to buy SOH878H in 1983/84 while stationed in the U.K. I believe if I remember right, it was only in one rally as a Works entry and didn't finish due to head gasket (I think). So dummy me, thinking it hadn't really done anything, passed on it at £1000. I had just bought a new 1983 Mini City E also and probably didn't have the money anyway. Then looking through old magazines (Triple C?), I found a road test article on a white 1275 GT with number plate SOH878H. Now to me there was at least a magazine article about the car. Made it a little more interesting to me.

In February, Graham Robinson would put on a weekend event at the hotel he ran in Bournemouth. The featured car one year was SOH878. along with John Handley who drove it in the rally it didn't finish. I also believe John bought it after the rally. Supposedly SOH was John's wife 's Susan's initials. I also got to meet the fellow that had bought it when it was for sale. I am fairly sure I've got my facts correct, but it has been a while ago.

In the end, I'm glad I passed on it because I then bought KTR223E, Clive Trickey's mini.

[Pete]

Yes the head gasket went at the 1970 Marathon de La Route on SOH 878H (an endurance circuit race in reality at the Nurburgring) and they ran out of time to change it, despite the car running well up the field.



SOH might have been a convenient plate for Handley but was just a coincidence being the prefix on a number of Abingdon cars (Clubmans) of the period. Dave Thomas owned it when you saw it at Bournemouth probably?

[graeme1293]

I ran into a chap in the local post office a few months back - we were talking about cars and he said he had owned a Works Mini. I was slightly skeptical to say the least - till he went to the car and brought back a few photos of it. Wow - RJB327F!

He had bought it off NZ Customs as a seized import - for $2K. Nice.

RJB327F BLA532 Works Mini (small).jpg

[wattomoke]

Hey Graeme, did you happen to get contact details for the guy who owned RJB?

The story as I have always been told it was that the Mini was taken to New Zealand by Andrew Foord, who had driven it in rallycross in Australia, before emigrating (returning?) to New Zealand. That part of it all seems beyond question, but I was told that Foord used it for a short time in NZ before selling it to Andrew McEwan, who registered the car in NZ as JP7880 and later selling it to Brian Houston in about 1984. That info has mostly come from the current owner of the car, Paul Sulma, as it was told to him when he bought it and returned it to the UK.

So, was the guy you spoke to Andrew McEwan, Brian Houston or someone else?

And is there any way of confirming his tale about it being impounded by NZ Customs? Sales receipt or other photos?

It is an interesting twist to the story and if true doesn't change the fact of the car being what it is, but does shed more light on its history.

As "they" say, there is always more to the story.

Cheers, Watto.

[graeme1293]

Hi Watto

Yes it was Andy McKewan. Andy Foord never picked it up from the wharf - the import duty was quite a lot and he didnt collect it. Sat in a shed there for perhaps 2 years. Actually I think Andy said he paid $1800 for it and was tipped off it was being sold by someone at the port.

Andy used it as his main road car for two years he said - because it was more practical than his only other car - a Ferrari Dino (they were two cars not to sell!)

I know someone crashed it on a hillclimb - may have been Housty? I think Andy said he sold it to Housty - who had the Mini Centre in Dunedin at the time. I have some photos of it when I visited him down there.

Andy Foord brought a lot of Minis (a few rallycross ones too) in with him - maybe a dozen. A friend has a unused GT shell - painted like this car and was used as a mock up rally car in the Sydney Motor Show. Andy died but his son still has one car I think - a 997 with some conversion on it from the UK. Son runs a tyre centre in Christchurch.

There was a double garage load of parts when Andy F died - all stuff bought in from Aussie. I think a local enthusiast saved them the tipping fees by kindly collecting it! The kids didnt seem to quite share the Mini enthusiasm to the same level their Dad did - then again probably no one did! He certainly lived the dream (was he the BMC Aussie rally team manager?)

I have a couple more photos I will load if you like? I can go and see Andy M as I know where he lives.

G

[spoon.450]

Great pic and story Graeme. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to more pics

[Dearg1275]

What I do not agree is that 885 and 886 were Mini Clubmen or Mini 1275 GT. They were in fact Clubman fronted Cooper S Mark 2 as the badge on the back of 886 clearly shows. I don't know about SOH perhaps someone could enlighten me.

Cheers

Brian

Not sure I agree with that statement. The body shells of both are clearly mark 3 (concealed hinge doors, tall rear quarter windows etc. This would have been a considerable modification to a mark 2 shell. While they might have been registered as Cooper S models and have Cooper S VINs (not sure about this, never seen them) the body shell is not a mark 2 with a clubman front.

On paper these were Cooper S s. The reason is very simple. The 1275GT, with its mk3 clubman body shell, was not homologated for competition at the time. In fact the mk3 Cooper S was not homologated until October 1970. All these cars were build and registered before October 1970 and so had to comply with the homologation for the mk2 Cooper S. To achieve this they were all fitted with horizontally sliding windows to the doors, which were specified on the homologation papers.

All the clubman fronted cars were to run in group 6 which allowed for the change in profile as a " prototype". They carried a mk2 S boot badge on a mk2 alloy boot lid. YMO 881H, being round nosed, wore no boot badge but had a mk2 bonnet badge. So YMO 881H was the last works car to have been built originally on the production line at Longbridge in May 1970, correctly registered as a Cooper S, and delivered to Abingdon for them to work their magic.

The 1275 GT eventually received its homologation on 1st April1971. This may be why 881H was reshelled in an Australian Clubman shell before the Rally of the Hills in 1971 as it gave more room for 8 port head and Webers configuration. Whether that was ever used I don't know.

[graeme1293]

RJB327F BLA532 Works Mini back of photo.jpg

RJB327F BLA532 Works Mini engine.jpg

RJB327F BLA532 Works Mini front.jpg

The other photos of JP7880/BLA532/RJB327F

[graeme1293]

Was this one of the last four cars? XJB308H in the Asean rally.

XJB308H Works Clubman ASEAN rally sf.jpg

[Dearg1275]

Was this one of the last four cars? XJB308H in the Asean rally.

XJB308H Works Clubman ASEAN rally sf.jpg

On the basis of the last four then yes. XJB 308H was registered in April 1970 according to the DVLA site whereas SOH878H was registered September 1969 , thus relegating SOH.