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i was stood in the queue of my local chippy the other week, when the old guy in the quese behaind me asked if the mini outside was mine,

when i said yes, he proudly told me that he had worked in the engine section in '59 on the very first ones!


i asked him if he was a bmc apprentice and he said yes, he had worked his way through

i also asked him if he ever met issigonis, to which he said yes, but he was very aloof and not one for small talk with the staff!!

he also told me a tale of how he had bought 'one of the first' from the factory as a secondhand cheap car, it was only a year or so old and his son had managed to 'wall of death' it round a set of tall iron railings on a bend - he sneaked the car back to the works and got it repaired on the q/t during the night shift!!!


small world eh!

My god, imagine how much his chips would make on Ebay - Ex works, in their orignial greased paper wrapping!

Interesting how these conversations come about. I wonder if for years he has spoken to Mini owners, or only nowadays as there are fewer about?

Thats a nice story

Small world indeed.
That story reminds me of a nice "old gent",I met back in the mid 80's.
My mom had just moved from North to South Birmingham and I was on my way over to see her.Travelling along the 'Pershore Rd' I spotted a sign over a tiny shop,which said 'Victor Jones' automobilia,brochures and handbooks.As I was heavily into 'Fords' ,I thought I 'd just pop in on the off chance and see if they had any 'Rallye Sport' brochures etc.
Entering the tiny shop ,which was really no more than a very large kiosk ,as it just consisted of an 'L' shape counter, behind ,the walls were floor to ceiling with draws holding the brochures etc ,also there was a very "dapper" old gent' in his late 70's /early 80's ,dressed in a tweed jacket ,waistcoat and wearing a paisley 'Dickie bow'.
On enquiring about 'Ford' items ,he apologised and said that nearly all the stock he had was 'BMC'/Leyland etc etc.He went on to explain that they were all what he had accumulated from a garage he used to own in 'Pershore Town' and was just trading to keep up an interest.
Anyway we got chatting and he asked what my main interests with 'Ford' were ,I mentioned 'Alan Mann' and 'Broadspeed'.He immediately said "Ah Ralph","he was always coming over with his Mini's,cluttering up the place".At the time ,I thought to myself Mini's? Surely he must mean 'Anglia's? I wasn't going to be rude and question him ,so just put it down to his memory .He went on to explain the attraction for 'Ralph' was that his garage was one of the very few in the region to have a "rolling road".This practice would have meant a round trip of 70 miles for the 'Broadspeed' team.
He went on to say that his son ,used to work for 'Ralph' at one time ,but went on to start his own tuning company and showed me a brochure from a company called 'A.V.J Developments Ltd'.(Anthony Victor Jones) the "penny " never dropped at the time , that his son was only The 'Tony Jones'.
A few months after this encounter I was flicking through a copy of the 'Castrol Book of Achievements'('65 or '66?)"low and behold " there were the 'Broadspeed' Mini's, a definite "well I never" moment.
Cheers Gareth

a friend of mine is an ex longbridge,,and later cowley employee

if he hadnt got the recall sheets/engine number log for recall for the "dud" wolseley 1500 engines produced in 1959/60 i would have spent years and a lot of money rebuilding my wolseleys engine only to find the main caps were incorrectly machined causing mega harsh running engines

my wolseley 1500 now has an engine from another car,,sadly mines not worth saving,,no matter how much i spend on it...