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Had this on the road in late 80s early 90s

Wow!
This was one of my favourite minis.... back in the day!
Was it in a magazine?..... if it was i think i have a copy.
I just love those wheel arches.....
Cheered me up no end

Ditto, absolutely loved those flares! Think I saw it for sale in the back of Mini World 20years ago??!
Any idea where Swifty is now?

Because of my ambition to get a ever bigger house , one witch I can work from ( witch I still have ) ,the recession , a tax investigation , it left me financially in the shit . Unfortunately I had to sell it . It was laid up in a lock up for 14 years and it had taken its toll. The mini was originally raced by glyn swift many years ago . If I had left it in its original condition when I bought it , it would probably be worth a few quid . It originally had a turquoise body , silver roof, small alloy arches . Il try and dig out a photo . I went up to ripspeeds in it and Keith recognised the mini that he had once raced against . I took Keith's , and studs advice and built a 1480 cc engine for it , then added 150 bhp of nitrous . I drag raced it successfully and one the first ever mini shoot out at Santa pod . The problem I had was always the gearbox , in the end I was only getting 8 runs of a 1/4 mile and wrecking the lay gear and first gear . I would just like to say jack knight were no help what so ever. When I said I was running about 280 bhp threw there box they laughed at me . ... I found the mini by pure chance , I went to buy a rs 1800 bda escort and it was in the corner of this guys workshop , so I bought the mini as well .

Nice one so do you own it again ? or do you know where it is ?

Had a friend close to me, he also built a 1480 engine in the late 80/early 90ies.

What a beast



Jens Christian

I have no idear where it is now . Sold it in 2006/7 from memory . Hasn't been seen since by anyone I know

As comments above, it was my favourite mini back in the 90's as well, my memory of it was at the pod in 93/94 can't remember when, you were racing a 911 porker and had it trashed over the 1/8th until ahem the gearbox went,lol! I still regret not buying it when it came up for sale but I was too late. Times have moved on and with engine management we have twin kams running round in daily drivers with 245hp of linear power.

Would love to see it in action again though, cool car

Yes that was funny against the Porsche . The whole of pod was shouting "swifty , swifty" . Yes that was yet another gearbox blow up . In its day it was very quick , but as you say times have moved on . Kad engines , honda v techs . Etc . I did have quite a few vids of it but they all got lent out and never returned . All I have is a grainy vid on VHS slaughtering a 400 bhp Sierra cosworth on 3 runs .

It was in Fast Car, Power & Style. back in the eighties. Cover car iirc, got that issue somewhere in the loft.

I remember this car from the 'day' as well


did it not run a set of really yellow Perspex in the windows when it was drag racing?

I remember this one well, cracking looking car!

I remember it first time round and when it came up for sale as well, I'd just sunk a load of money into another car at the time otherwise i would have bought it.
Someone must know where it is now, its not exactly inconspicuous is it!

Yeh it had Perspex windows . We made the front arches and 1/4 panels firstly with some steel rod to form the shape . Then overlapped some alloy to form the shape . It was very light .. Had a proper Maldon beam axle as vizzards book . Fibreglass doors , bonnet . Boot . The roof was cut out and replaced with alloy . I lost count of the rivets it had in it . After I've completed me garden full of restoration minis I would love to build another for drag racing ! One day . Never seen it anywhere or even heard of it at a meeting / show

if its the white drag car with the yellow windows im thinking off (my eyes are old, my mind is dim..... ) then I know who bought it then it was for sale in the mid 1990's

he sold it years ago, so I don't know where it is now

Must have been different mini rich . I owned swifty through the 80s till 2006/7 . It did go up for sale before I decided to drag race it but it never sold .

So if it doesn't re-surface are you going for A Swifty2 build?

june 1997 it was for sale.

Spookily enough there's three old mini magazines knocking around my office and its for sale in the back of that issue!

any details of what it weighed and the times and speeds it run ? was it on slicks ?

be interesting to see a comparison with the turbo shoot out class d minis on treaded tyres .

It managed a to get in late 12s . That was on slicks . When I got the the mini it had the name swifty on it so that's the way it stayed . It had a connection with swiftune in its original build , so I don't think I have the right to name a other mini swifty2, nor would I want to . But I would love to build another drag racing mini .

[quote=" But I would love to build another drag racing mini .[/quote]

So would i!
That's been my dream for a very long time.
It will be a white Mini estate (already got ) with some serious BHP.... not A series unfortunately.
We can dream.........