Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2020 i MiniWorld

A tragic turn of events has meant that we have all spent more time at home and many of us will have seized the opportunity to get into the garage. Check out Tim Mundy’s feature in this issue (pages 42-46) for tips on how to make the most of self-isolating in the garage by getting your Mini super-reliable for when we can all get back on the road. You may have noticed that this issue is dated May/June. This is because we foresee that people will struggle to get hold of the mag. The July issue will be on sale on 19 June so please put the date in your diary so that you can order it online at https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/MWO if you find it tricky to buy. Hopefully things will…

Charity champion This Easter will sadly be the last Silly Mini Weekend to be organised by yours truly. We've had tremendous fun over the last 17 years of Silly Mini events and we are very proud to tell people that with the help of attendees, all Mini traders, donators and sponsors, we've together raised an amazing amount of money for Little Bridge House in North Devon. It’s a truly magical place which is very deserving of charitable actions like ours. I do hope that Silly Mini Weekend continues, it is all there ready to hand over the reins. If we find someone to take over then I hope you would consider continuing to help Silly Minis. I now find, in my 65th year, that it is a struggle to deliver…

From an early age it was Wayne Flockhart’s dream to own a Mini. “My first car was a Mk2 Mini Cooper S which I bought from a car auction in Penryn, Cornwall, when I was 17. It was brown with a light brown roof. I bought it at an auction for £250. After 12 months I talked my mum and dad into paying to have a 1275cc engine put in it. I then wrote it off so we went and bought another one. That was an old Mk1 with the push-button start on the floor, a white one. That just died a death. I then went on to own other cars.” He recalls a time during his youth when he and a friend were racing their Minis around country lanes…

I have been building a fast road 998 engine for my Mini and am finalising the carb and exhaust systems. I am fitting twin 1¼” SUs on an original manifold and would like to know whether to fit a Cooper Freeflow or LCB exhaust manifold. What are the real differences and which one would be best for my Mini? The engine is currently standard but I do intend to tune it in the future. John Lawson The Cooper Freeflow type of exhaust manifold was the first improved exhaust manifold that was designed for a Mini. It is designed to replace the standard Cooper manifold. It is a very efficient manifold and is slightly quieter than an LCB and is a one-piece design so it has far fewer joints. The LCB…

Dick started work on the railway in 1948. “I was on the old steam trains. I did 10 years as a fireman and 10 years as a driver. We worked all the trains in this area. We had one from Cowley every day with 100 Morris cars. It went to Glasgow. We worked the train as far as Wolverhampton and then yesterday’s train came back from Glasgow with 100 Hillman Imps on, because they were made in Glasgow, so we brought those back to Oxford. And in Abingdon they made the MG, we used to have about eight or 10 MGs every day going to the docks somewhere for export. We took them all over the place, wherever there was a boat. We didn’t know where we were going until…

Electrostatic coated rear dry subframes There are now two types of Mini Spares' own-brand Mini dry rear subframes. One is for pre-1990 Minis with bolt-on rubber exhaust mountings. The second is for 1990-on Minis and has strengthening straps and a bottoming out plug for the cone spring seats (as featured on the MPi model) making it a very useful upgrade, especially for cars fitted with larger than standard wheels. £228.00 (Ref: MS45D (pre-1990), MS45LATE (1990-on) +44 1707 607700 www.minispares.com BMC Abingdon reunion mug This limited-edition commemorative mug and cotton shopping bag were created to celebrate the meeting of the BMC Works rally teams and Mini’s 60th, held at the 2019 IMM. £7 (one mug & one bag) (Ref: MSLBMCMUG) +44 (0)1282 778731 www.minisport.com Window frame kit Mini Spares is now…

Stuart Gurr’s anonymous customer lives in Dubai and is quite the car fan, owning several Minis and Porsches. “The customer has owned the car for a number of years and he also owns a Mini fitted with a motorbike engine. I’ve only met him once, for about an hour,” explains Stuart. “He had quite strong ideas about what he wanted with the Mini. It had to have a certain ride height and sit close to the Gp5 arches, even if it’s rubbing.” Stuart explained that the Mini was delivered as a rolling shell, already repaired, and painted in the stunning Porsche Oak Green Metallic you see. It’s a colour which Porsche offered on a number of their models and has a touch of both grey and gold to it. It’s…

Ruby started working at Cowley during World War Two: “I did war work. I was doing cockpit door locks on the planes.” She also did the tail lead balance weights for the Tiger Moth training aircraft. From 1957 Ruby worked in the trim shop, working on vehicle carpets. She was obviously one of their better seamstresses as she was chosen to work on the carpets for all the cars that went to the motor shows, including the pre-launch Minis. “In Trim there were all machines where they cut out the carpets for the cars. Then they used to bring it to us. The other girls used to work on the carpets themselves, stitching the bits together, but I used to work on sewing the mats onto them." Later, Ruby moved…

“When I first went there, in 1959, I was working on the Morris Minor, putting the headlights in. I was transferred when the Mini started coming down the line. I was fitting carpets in the Mini and also the front grille. I was doing different things. They would swap you around. Then they started making the 1100 and 1300. We were making about 32 cars an hour, which was quite amazing. “The conditions in the factory were absolutely awful. Men were falling over each other to do a job on a car, obviously the tracks were moving all the time, stuff’s coming over on the overhead lines supplying the parts to the cars. If you didn’t watch it you’d get your head bashed in with pieces of equipment and stuff.…

2020 June 20 Bicester Scramble Multi-marque gathering for pre-1990 vehicles at the former RAF base, Bicester Heritage, Bicester, Oxon. +44 (0)1869 327 928 www.bicesterheritage.co.uk 21 Kent Classic Car Rally Annual multi-marque event at Rare Breeds Centre, Tenterden, Kent. Parades, competitions, arts and craft stalls, autojumble, restaurant and food outlets. £8 entry includes Rare Breeds Centre. nikki@rarebreeds.org.uk 21 National Metro and Mini Show Annual event at British Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire. Displays, club stands, show 'n' shine and concours. Ticket includes entry to the excellent museum. +44 (0)1926 641188 www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk 28 Mini & VW Bus Meet Camping weekender with Saturday night live music and karaoke at DK Rugby Club, Kingswinford, West Midlands. +44 (0)1384 897779 www.britishminiclub.co.uk July 2 Mod 'n' Mini Meet At London’s Ace Café on the first Thursday of…

The very smart looking Clubman you see here started life on the demanding roads of Snowdonia, Wales, having been ordered by a Mrs Nellie Robinson, as Alex Moir explains: “I spoke to Nellie’s grandson, Garry. He said she was from Barnsley and tough as old boots. She lived in Snowdonia and bought it from her local dealer, GE Evans in Bontddu, near Dolgellau.” Nellie ordered her new 998cc Automatic Clubman in Glacier White for the princely sum of £811, with the automatic transmission adding £97 to the bill and a seat belt set at £8/10s, prior to discount. ”She was very late to driving from what I understand, in her 60s, and she was in her mid-80s when she decided to stop driving.” Nellie wanted her Mini to go to…

Going back two or three decades Minis of all descriptions were an everyday sight. Today I can only think of two Minis in my local area that are used as transport on a daily basis. Minis now, in the main, are preserved as classic cars and are often spared travelling through the worst of the British winter and the long term damage it can inflict upon them. In some ways this is a shame, as it is great to see Minis driving around, but it is also good as the classic enthusiasm ensures that as many as possible are preserved long-term. This is partly thanks to the continuing excellent availability of spares and modification components. Classic cars still need routine maintenance and this is especially so if they are emerging…

Show off! To get your Mini on these pages, email mw.ed@kelsey.co.uk with photos of you and your Mini, plus some information (put ‘My Mini’ in the subject box) or post to: MiniWorld My Mini, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL, UK. Benjamin Myllyluoma Ground Zero Minion Mini I am Benjamin from Finland and I would like to introduce you to my Mini which began life as a 1975 998cc example. It is my first Mini but I don’t think it will be my last. When I bought the Mini it had been standing for 13 years. The engine was damaged and in pieces in a box. A lot of the car’s parts were missing. Over 11 years of ownership my Mini has evolved over…

In the 20th century, Cowley in Oxfordshire became synonymous with car manufacturing, being the location where William Morris chose to build his motoring empire. He left school aged 15 and was apprenticed to a bicycle repair shop. Aged 16 he left to start up on his own in a shed at the back of his parents’ house, making his own bicycles, even racing them with some success. In 1901 he turned his attention to motorcycles but subsequently got involved in buying, selling and hiring cars and, by 1912, he had designed the Bullnose Morris, the car that was to make his fortune. He bought the former Oxford Military College in 1912 and moved his company into ‘The Old Tin Shed’ in 1914. From humble beginnings he transformed it into a…

John Spencer was a photographer who got involved with some of the memorable press photos, including the one with Sue Cuff sitting on the bonnet of a 1275GT, in a miniskirt, for the four-millionth Mini press release. “She was Miss UK or Miss England, Miss something.” John was looking at some of the memorabilia on display at the ‘Mini Memories’ event, including a special edition of the Sunday Mercury which was printed for Mini 40, which included the photo of Sue. There was also a photo of Noel Edmonds at the five-millionth Mini press day. “I’m not sure if I took that actual photo but I was there on the day taking photographs. “I worked in the BMC Photographic Unit which was based in the assembly plant. We used to…