Minty - 1964 Aurora Gears Racing /Newtune 1071 Cooper S

[Pete]

Pics :

[66Traveller]

Is that a Norman Grimshaw sticker on the A panel?

[Pete]

Team Black Pudding. On all my cars as they were on Norm’s.

[66Traveller]

Excellent!

[hanlminiman]

Pete
Have you considered sharing the car at Shelsley?
Cliff

[Pete]

Might have to Cliff as the Gold Cup is only a week later and it’d be daft to risk the new racer which we’re putting some serious effort into preparing.

Few more pics of Minty from Blyton and Aintree.

[Charlynsane]

wonderful car!! does it still have its original shell?

I noticed there was no body number ?

[Pete]

The body number would have been on the original front panel, which is long gone. I didn’t want to fake it up with a new one so doesn’t have one BUT if you read this thread from the beginning you can see it’s the original shell, can’t not be with all the holes in the shell where they are for the tank mountings, breather holes, rear light for the Snetterton 500, the original factory paint still on it when found, the Aurora turquoise paint, Newtune paint, etc etc. Amazing it survived really, especially, and oddly with its original steel doors. I’d have thought someone would have fitted GRP doors at some point but no. I could fit a repro body number to it but don’t need to. Losing the front panel is part of its (special saloon) history.

[Andrew1967]

Fantastic car Pete, looks awesome.

From what I saw at Blyton last weekend, it goes pretty damn well too !!!

[SMOKE GREY]

Looks good that Pete

[Pete]

Thanks chaps. Yes it’s going how I want it to now, albeit still not been on a rolling road. Still a work in progress though with quite a few bits I want to do under the bonnet and interior and still lots of research to do which I enjoy. Really enjoying using it!

[Pete]

It was interesting to have a rummage through some of the old parts that came with the car when I first got it, hadn’t looked at these since I got it. You can see the Aurora turquoise paint on the rear light unit, suggesting it wasn’t just Radford who masked around them when painting Minis! The peddles were also extended, the remote mounting bracket was strengthened, I found the welded neg camber bottom arms, lightened shocker mounting brackets, bulkhead firewall plates, the extra fuel tank securing strap,and a few rubber donuts, machined down and drilled, probably when a special saloon. Also been offered some of the original engine parts recently that remained with the guy that bought it from the garage where it was laid up throughout the 80s.

[Pete]

Had a go at colourising a couple of old photos, not a great success but I’ll look out for a better app.

[Old English White]

[quote=Pete post_id=303000 time=1654551429 user_id=218. You can see the Aurora turquoise paint on the rear light unit, suggesting it wasn’t just Radford who masked around them when painting Minis!
[/quote]

I can remember at work, when we prepared standard Minis for a respray, we used to remove the RH rear light 'cos that was easy, and leave the LH one in place rather than remove the petrol tank! Yes, lots of masking in those days!

[Pete]

Neglected to add any updates for the last year, which I will try and do this week as I’ve done quite a lot to and with the car since the last post,including crashing it!

One thing I came across today was a few photos of the original destination of the car after it left the factory on the 7th February 1964. The car went HA Saunders at North Finchley who were one of the main Austin distributors for north London and the surrounding area. From there it went to first owner Douglas Wilson Spratt (of WSM Sprite fame) at Delta Garage (an Austin dealer himself) not a million miles away in Leighton Buzzard who registered the car on the 23rd March. He rallied and raced a couple of very similar Tartan Red Austin Cooper Ss around this time but I’m not sure he got chance to do anything in 110 NNM before Anita took possession of it to race at Goodwood in the St Mary’s Trophy on the 30th of March, still in Tartan Red/ Black. Makes me wonder what happened to the car between Feb and March and whether it was being race prepared. Anyway I’ve covered Delta garage earlier in the thread but it was nice to find some info and pics of HA Saunders :

[mk1]

My Speedwell car LGW went through H A Saunders too.

Glad to see you are still piecing the story together.

M

[Pete]

That makes sense Mark. Hive of Mini activity North London wasn’t it??

[mk1]

It certainly was!

[Pete]

So whilst I was at KOP Hillclimb I fancied finding Douglas Wilson Spratt’s original Delta Garage at nearby Leighton Buzzard , MG Mecca, home of the WSM Sprites and Austin dealer where Minty was delivered in early February 1964. First owner on the logbook was Spratt’s daughter!

A quick look on maps shows that the house attached to the garage still stands but alas and predictably the garage is no more.it’s also a narrow street with double yellows so not conducive to a visit.

[Pete]

Here’s the garage around the same time Minty was delivered from Longbridge, pics from Douglas’s son Tony Wilson Spratt..