Minisprint TGF800F

[minisprint]

ABCMiniSprintTGF800F.jpg

I was continuing my 22 year search for a pair of 'oblong' headlamps and their chrome surrounds for a S&A Minisprint when I came across this picture which was initially posted back in June 2013.
Well, I can confirm that TGF800F is indeed still with us. It has been in my garage since purchased in 1992.
The car was obtained minus its log book and it took 12 years of trying to eventually persuade DVLA to issue a V5 with the original registration plate. The car was accident damaged in the front way back in December 1975 and the registration number didn't make it on to the computer system.
With help from the Mini Cooper Register (Donald Farr in particular), I have now got a V5 with the TGF800F registration number.
I would have refurbished the car years ago but I am still missing a pair of headlamps and the chrome bezels are both damaged hence the constant search for replacements. The damaged grille and indicators etc. are all readily available.
If replacement Cibie lights can't be found then a pair of the early Rover Metro lamps will have to be an accepted substitute. They appear to be of the correct dimensions but obviously don't have the concave lenses or the Cibie name.
The original glazing was also missing. I did obtain a complete glazing set from a 1959 car and would be prepared to trade that for glazing of the correct year.
According to the MCR the car left the production line on the 12th October 1966 painted grey with an old English white roof and with a two tone grey interior. It was delivered to Stewart and Ardern on the 5th December 1966.
The car was then delivered to it's only other owner on 14th February 1968 and the vehicle owners handbook and the bill of sale show its colour as 'Brass'. The car was partially repaired after it's accident and has been sprayed Ford Daytona yellow, although the interior is metallic blue. This picture is the one and only I have seen which shows the car in it's original S&A colour.
The original owner at the time of delivery from Stewart and Ardern was Viscount Lord Emlyn (a title bestowed on the Thanes of Cawdor in 1827), of Golden Grove House, Broad Oak, Carmarthenshire. Lord Emlyn, (Hugh John Vaughan Campbell), was to become the 6th Earl of Cawdor.
Having sold off the land and properties in Wales, (Stackpole Estate), to pay his fathers death duties the sixth Earl Cawdor took residency in Cawdor Castle. He was a renown ‘petrol head’ and owned several vehicles including a Ferrari and a Porsche which sat in a heated garage at the castle alongside a Model T Ford, a Range Rover, a Daimler and the remains of an E-type Jaguar in which he had miraculously survived after a major accident in Wales. I have been told by local residents that various personalities such as Jackie Stewart, Innes Ireland and Prince Charles would regularly visit Cawdor Castle and on a Sunday morning, when it was quiet, they, along with Lord Cawdor could be seen driving the cars hard around the single track road which circumnavigates Lochindorb.
In 1992 my wife was secretary to Lord Cawdor as he was addressed. At the time Annabelle and I were involved in road navigation rallies and used a Mini 1275GT on events. Lord Cawdor was the Honorary President of the Nairn and District Car Club and he would often discuss the results of the club events with her over a cup of coffee. It was during one of these conversations he asked her whether we would be interested in owning the Mini. I made an appointment and went up to the Estate Office to see him. I explained to him that, although I had never seen the Mini, I had heard a lot about it and, despite it having being damaged it was still worth quite a lot of money. At this point Lord Cawdor said that many folk had approached him with a view to buying the car but all had tried to obtain it for next to nothing. He was pleased that I had actually told him that the car was still valuable. He named a very reasonable price and offered me the car provided that it was not to be sold on at a profit or stripped for parts and that the car would be eventually be restored and used. I have kept to my promise and hopefully with assistance from other forum members I can at last completely restore this vehicle and get it on the road and to shows and meetings. It deserves better than to sit on a pair of trestles in the corner of a garage.
Having retired from the RAF in 1997 after 23 years service, my wife and I have built up a reasonably successful garage and motorsport business so restoration of this car compared to the Lancia Deltas, Audi Quattros and Subaru Imprezas we have built from bare bodyshells will be a relative 'doddle' once I have the right components.
Please, if you know where I can get a pair of headlamps and chrome surrounds I would be eternally grateful.

[minisprint]

061web.jpg

As it sits today

[Chalkie]

poor thing looks well sad

hope you find some head lamps! must of come from another vehicle of the time? maybe a merc or rolls royce?

[Old English White]

What a very interesting car and history. I can't help with the parts you require but hope you find something suitable to enable you to restore the car properly.

Good luck with it. The present colour is ghastly!

[nick@dunsdale]

What an excellent result from the initial post, the internet can be truly amazing.

It's is great to see the car lives, things just keep on turning up great story by the way I wish you well and hope somebody can help with the illusive headlamps.

[mab01uk]

Very interesting, thanks for posting the story and pictures.

[minisprint]

Thanks for the comments guys. If this post doesn't turn up a pair of lamps then I will fit the Metro units as it will be the only way the car is ever going to get back on the road. The purists may not like it but at the end of the day does it really matter as long as the car is useable. I have tried to contact Jay Weinstein on the forum as I believe he may still have an original pair of the chrome headlamp surrounds. I sent him a PM this afternoon. It was whilst doing that that I had a trawl around to see what other possibilities there may be and I stumbled across the picture taken of the car in London. My wife remembers that Lord Cawdor had a flat in the Mews so believe that it was totally by chance that the Sprint happened to be caught on camera parked outside. She can't remember the address so can't give any information on that. We don't think that it was 'product placement' for the film.
I understand that in the early seventies Lord Cawdor also owned a Porsche and a Ferrari and regular visitors to the castle such as Innes Ireland, Jackie Stewart and Prince Charles used to accompany him on a quiet Sunday morning when they used to take a run around Lochindorb which is situated on the estate. I am trying to get this confirmed to add more provenance to the vehicle.
I have all the service receipts for the car since new and the engine was only ever filled with Castrol 'R'. I'm wondering what that will be like now after sitting in the gearbox for 39 years ! Possibly like a carton of Lurpak.

[jay weinstein]

You found me! I only have the headlight trim rings,no glass or buckets,also my car used plexiglas for everything but the windshield and the rear quarters didn"t open. jw

[ronie]

These headlights look similar.

[Pete]

Welcome to the forum, it's quite a few years since you first sent me pictures of this car and I never connected it to TGF 800F ! Glad you eventually got the registration back. There's a few forum members restoring both sprints and Wood & Pickett Minis who may well be able to help you with the lights hopefully. We've got some great Minisprints coming to the Mk1 Action Day at Blyton in May, why not bring the car ?

[surfblue63]

I have often wondered if Renault 10 Headlamps would fit

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Optique-cibie-va ... 46086a6bb2

[AustinSuperSeven]

Or Citreon Dyane lights.... but not sure if they do concave ones!
Good luck

[minisprint]

Jay, would you be prepared to let the headlamp rims go. If so PM me and we can sort details out.

I have headlamps in the garage from Citroen Dyane, Ford Fiesta, Hillman Hunter, Talbot Sunbeam, in fact nearly every car that I could think of.
I have spent so many hours trawling the net to see which may fit that I have now given up.
The Metro lamps look OK. I got two brand new pairs complete with the mounting panels and adjusters off E-bay. The chrome would set them off nicely.
Even Steve Burkinshaw (owner of NGH1D the black Sprint) sent me up a pair of Citroen driving lamps but I returned them as incorrect with no dip beam pattern and only took a single filament bulb if I remember correctly.

[rich@minispares.com]

the glass is of no worry to a 'sprintaterian' ( )

the front and rear screens are made from cut down laminated std front screens

all the side glass is made from toughened glass (a better option than laminate as it allows the edges to be neatly ground like the std stuff)

from memory, the side windows in my car cost about £30 a bit to be made at a local glass specialist

[Pete]

all the side glass is made from toughened glass (a better option than laminate as it allows the edges to be neatly ground like the std stuff)

Plus it's a fraction of the weight and won't split when you tighten the window catch screws up !

[mk1]

As Rich says, glass is easy. It was one of the least traumatic parts of our Sprintification exercises.

I have asked Neville about the headlights a few times in the hope that he could shed any light on what they were & where they came from, but sadly (for us) he was out of the whole Sprint business by the time the rectangular headlights came along & has no idea.

[WMU 211G]

I'm so glad that the car is still with us and in safe hands - when I posted the screen grab from the film (I had a different user name then) I never thought it would lead to the owner posting on here - best of luck with the restoration and lets hope you find everything you need to finish it.

Although 'The Killing Of Sister George' was released in 1969 I think it was shot in late 1968, either way it was a nice coincidence that TGF 800F was in the mews on that particular day. It was only on screen for two or three seconds so it could easily have been missed!

Good luck

[Ant Hines]

The front panel on your car is a late one, no doubt due to the front end damage you mentioned that the car suffered. I wonder if the wings and consequently the lights were changed at the same time? Attached is a photo of Jay's headlight rims from GOY764D… is it me, or do they seem a slightly different shape to the openings in your car?

Rims.jpg

[foxy52]

I'm so glad that the car is still with us and in safe hands - when I posted the screen grab from the film (I had a different user name then) I never thought it would lead to the owner posting on here - best of luck with the restoration and lets hope you find everything you need to finish it.

Although 'The Killing Of Sister George' was released in 1969 I think it was shot in late 1968, either way it was a nice coincidence that TGF 800F was in the mews on that particular day. It was only on screen for two or three seconds so it could easily have been missed!

Good luck

Most if not all films are shot a year prior to release ,its mostly a given that if as it was 69 was the release year then it was in fact made in 68.. just like "The Italian Job"..i think they still pref mk1,s tho mk 2,s were avail on an F plate from 67.. nice find and what a nice car ..not so sure about the colour but wasn't that similar to the one that The Bee Gees drummer had ???..foxy52

[MMM1965]

I'm probably completely wrong but I always thought they looked like Citroen Ami headlights.