I thought I'd let you see my latest project which is nearing completion.
It's the pre-production Elf that was developed by tom Morris at BMC
These are the pictures taken at The Miniworks in Edinburgh back in September 2011
I first saw it at Mini45 in 2004 and did a deal with the seller. After a bit of research and with the help of Simon Drew (and many others), we started the restoration early in 2011 with plans to make it to the Goodwood Revival 2011. We didn't quite make it but the car was running and roadworthy by then. I'm hoping to take it to Brooklands in March.
1961 Pre-Production Supercharged Riley Elf
1964 Austin Cooper S 1071
1965 Austin Moke
Sprintex Supercharged Maguire Mini
Turbo'd Spaceframe Riley Elf
1972 Innocenti Mini Cooper Mk3/1300
1973 Pavesi Innocenti Mini Cooper 1300
1975 Tilling 1275GT
Status 365 - Grit Bin
I remember being offered that some years ago - it must be the same car. It belonged to someone who'd worked at the Cowley plant and was pretty rusty and tired under the gold paint back then.
its funny, ive been speaking to kevin and told him i remembered seeing it at a mini show for sale.
this photo is like a memory snap from my brain - its exactly like i remember is, you must have been stood in the exact spot i was when i took a photo of it.
a great little car and a fantastic restoration, its the star feature in this months scottish riley register magazine as well!
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
Guru, I think we met at the camping site in Banbury those days. When I remeber it right you arrived with Mark and we were camping next to you.
The next day Mark kindly let my Wolseley park at the MK 1 performance stand as one of only very few non Coopers or special cars there.
The first Elfs and Hornets didn't have the front wing seam. The seams first appeared in April 1962
The change was much earlier than that, I know of Jan and Feb 62 cars with seams and a late 61. It's believed that only the first 20 or so cars where de-seamed, these were pre launch cars. Only 2 possibly 3 are known to survive.
Kev, Looking brilliant, can't wait to see MWL in the flesh, such an historically important car! Simon does such a good job! Wish he was closer to me.
Stefan wrote:Guru, I think we met at the camping site in Banbury those days. When I remeber it right you arrived with Mark and we were camping next to you.
The next day Mark kindly let my Wolseley park at the MK 1 performance stand as one of only very few non Coopers or special cars there.
stefan
thats a few years ago, we came down with south african sean and his mate wayne, and my american mate phil - it poured it down with rain all night and i ended up sleeping in the back of my car!
i think thats the last mini show my surf blue 1071 engined car went to, its only been on the road once (about 3 1/2) years ago since - its been under a cover since
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
Interesting that the deseamed seam is still visible as paint blisters in the first picture of Ant's post. How was the deseaming done? I read years ago that the factory experimented with seams folded inwards rather than externally and that was done on the early elfs and hornets, but it sounds unlikely.
( 
thanks for the "headsup" 
