GOY, The original S&A Minisprint GT

[mk1]

As some of you may know, Jay used to own GOY 764 D The Stewart & Ardern Mini Sprint GT that featured in the original brochure;



Well recently Jay sent me the last mortal remains of GOY;



He also wrote;

I still have a few original parts as well as many good memories, same old conspirators as friends even today. My car (GOY) was featured in ccc july 1967. I,ve got the magazine and it shows the car with no S&A badge or minisprint gt letters. They were located in the centre of the front hood where a regular badge would go and in the rear where on a mk2 the 1275 would go. I started f-ing up the sprint immediatly and removed and filled all the holes then i radiused all 4 wheel wells to fit the big wheels and tires and grp 5 flares.

Sadly the remains have long gone.

[TuttSpeed]

“Badges? I don’t need no stinking badges!”

At least I haven’t given them that much thought. When I bought NGJ999D several years ago it had no badges. In early press photos it is shown without badges, so technically it is correct. I believe it was also shown at the 1967 Racing Car Show alongside the Opus HRF. I think later on it may have had badges.

It is the car that ended up on a pole in LA with a sign on the roof that said “Tony’s Transmissions” and had the floors replaced with 3mm plate.

I might try to replicate some badges for the restoration so I won’t have to constantly tell people what it is.

Derek

[mk1coopers]

Well a least we all know what happened to that one if it suddenly re-appears over here

[Pete]

“Badges? I don’t need no stinking badges!”

At least I haven’t given them that much thought. When I bought NGJ999D several years ago it had no badges. In early press photos it is shown without badges, so technically it is correct.

Yes not that many sprints wore front badges from the period photos I've seen, Steve B's 'NGH 1D' didn't either, a similar looking car to yours. Yours wore a Morris Mini grille didn't it ? Was it the same colour as NGH ?

[TuttSpeed]

NGJ999D was originally light metallic blue. There are still some traces of it on the car. I 've compared it to big Healey ice blue metallic and Jaguar opalescent silver blue and it is a better match for the Jag colour. At least that is what I am going with when the time comes.

In the early press photo with the girl in it, it had a morris 850 grill and cooper s wheels. A later magazine article showed it with 4.5 inch minilites and a benelite grill without spot lamps. The magazine images also have some fuzzy spots on the bonnet that were probably a badge of some sort.

I don't know what NGH1D was originally, surely not black?

[mk1coopers]

I'm sure NGH 1D was also a light metallic colour when it was new, and like GOY it didn't have a grill surround, Steve has an info board that he puts up next to the car, I'll have to look through my pictures to see if have one of it. Light metallic blue was obviously popular back then, it's one of the colours my Sprint was painted at one point

Here's the side shot of GOY

[Pete]

NJG.....




NGH...



NGH was pictured with Minilites on for it's Duckams test at Brands.

[mk1coopers]

Should have known Pete would have a picture somewhere , looks like 3 1/2's and 4 1/2's fitted to the cars, amazing how 'standard' they look with steel wheels

[TuttSpeed]

The sprint shown at Olympia in January 1967 was also a light color. Was it NGH, NGJ, GOY (before it was green) or another? It seems that there were at least three of them built by that time and made available to the motoring press.

I had a close look at the bonnet on NGJ and there are signs of filled holes.
Mark, would it be too much to ask for information regarding the scale of these?
I suspect that they are smaller than they appear.

[Pete]

'EHR 770D' and 'SLO 2' were similar builds aswell weren't they ?

[mk1]

I'll get them measured & let you know.

At a guess & not having them to measure handy, I would say about 15mm tall.

I will however confirm later.

M

[jay weinstein]

if my memory is correct my sprint started out green/white then it was done up into the green metallic as in the period photos. i then painted it off white. then it was all over for that poor car.i had a lot of fun and i could always blame ccc and bvrt. in california dmv rules i still own it. i have the "pink slip",license plate and vin.all i need is the car.i promise to anyone who cares my sprint will rest in peace as is. jw

[Ant Hines]

I went to visit Jay earlier today... top bloke with so much interesting stuff to see - plus recollections of over 40 years of collecting, tuning, racing and repairing Minis for work and pleasure. Mark hasn't quite got all that remains of GOY, there's also the number plate...

Plate.jpg

And the two Cibie headlight rims...

Rims.jpg

Jay also found the one picture he has of the car during his time with it. It was taken at the old Jungleland theme park outside LA in Jan '71 and shows the car repainted (off-white he thinks) and with Gp5 arches and 12 x 7 Minilites.

GOY_Wide.jpg

Also amongst many tons of other treasure, Nancy Sinatra's Moke...

Moke.jpg

And a time-warp Mk2 S - 11000 miles from new, original paint (black roof oversprayed) and interior, engine never out, etc...

Mk2_S.jpg

[Ant Hines]

Here's a photo of NGJ999D showing badge placement...

NGJ.jpg

[JC T ONE]

I went to visit Jay earlier today...

Some nice & rare stuff and nice cars

Great pictures too, thanks for posting



Jens Christian

[mk1]

The reason I didn't let on about the number plate & other bits was so people didn't start wondering about a bit of resurrectionism.

Don't need to worry about that now as Jay has confirmed that he still has the papers in his name & won't let any unscrupulous resurrection man have them.

To paraphrase Monty Python;

It is officially an ex car, it has shuffled off this mortal coil & has joined the choir invisibule.

M

[Gray]

No it's only resting!

[Pete]

I wouldn't feel too guilty about doing that to 'GOY' Jay, contrary to popular opinion most sporty 60's and 70's Minis ended up looking non too dissimilar ! To most people who ever saw it it was probably just a 'chopped down' Mini which is all I thought when I first clapped eyes on Trickett's Minisprint racer some twenty years ago.

[jay weinstein]

good morning it's really not "guilt" but it's that i wish i had put away the car and restored it back to original 20 or 30 years later. i restored a surf blue 1965 1071 s for my wife in 1976.we got divorced after my son was born in 1980.she then sold the mini to a good friend of mine and my son purchased it about six years ago.the car is 15 years older than him and his wife loves to drive it.i've been restoring a flat roof mini woody that i purchased and stored since 1976 that i'm going to give my daughter in law and new granddaughter,at least she'll use it and enjoy it.

[mk1coopers]

Just get Neville to do you a S&A type shell, pop on your original bits and enjoy