Were one these ever an AJB registered 970 'Works' Mini?

[davidscothorn]

Does anyone recognise these cars? I have redacted the registration to try avoiding a hare running.
It just might add some history to an existing car.
PM me if you wish. I have permission to reproduce, and can put any comments to the author of this piece or, with their permission, pass on the email address.
CAR A
I have been confusing the 2 cars I owned. The first one I bought in 1973 for £150 was the 970s which was painted silver with a black spray on mottled vinyl look roof and underneath that coat was a shape of a union jack, the car had been rolled as there were also the shape of the roll bar imprinted in it. That car, I was told by the seller had been a 196() Abingdon car and was kept as a test bed by them until he bought it in the late 60s or early 70s, when I had it, it still had the 970 engine which would rev to 8000, a straight cut gearbox twin old style 11/2" Su's with the choke levers beneath the jet housing, one lever was cut off as they could not be pulled up together as there was a lack of space so starting from cold entailed undoing a butterfly nut on the distributer clamp, retarding the distributer hauling up the one choke lever whilst pressing the starter button all under the bonnet, once running the distributer could be advanced and the wing nun tightened. There was no vacuum advance on the distributer, Idle was at around 1300 RPM and it would stall at the "drop of a hat" A competition clutch which was incredibly hard to hold down coupled with the lightened flywheel made moving off and slow traffic a nightmare! I used to run it on AVGAS diluted 50/50 with 5-star petrol. 0 to 60 we tried our best to time on RAF Lyneham's perimeter track averaged over 3 runs at 6.5 seconds give or take, and we discovered keeping the revs down then accelerating after the clutch was released gave our best time compared with spinning the wheels off the line. It was running about 4 degrees negative camber on the front and when I had it there were full harnesses along with the drivers rally bucket seat. The passenger seat was a standard mini-item but the "Halda" navigator's system was still there. only one fuel tank and a large bore exhaust coupled to an LCB manifold. I think that is all I can remember other than whilst in the previous owner's hands it was the fastest car in the "Club west" membership. Reg number was three letters and three numbers, I cannot recall any of it. That car I sold after 9 months ownership to buy furniture as I had met a woman with whom I set up house!!!

CAR B
The car I remember as (Mk1 Works Number) came to me whilst I was on my Technician course at RAF St Athan in 1976, it was Red with a white roof and running a 998 engine with the twin carbs etc, it was nowhere near as aggressive as the first mini but was quite quick so although I am sure the Reg number started with ( x )and finished with two letters and ( x) but I cannot swear it was (x), I sprayed it purple with the white roof and know it remained in south Wales until 1977, its whereabouts then becomes a mystery.
Reading the info, you sent me on (X) makes me think I am wrong especially as its history can be traced back through the 80s however It would be interesting to know what restoration was done and if any purple paint came to light but I am beginning to doubt it.
I would like to know if the first mini-info rings any bells with Abingdon, The chap I bought it from was called Malcolm who lived in Wroughton and he was the club west champion in it until the BDA Escort came along which is why he sold it to me.