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Tim Harber Contributor www.minimail.co.uk

MINI LIFE Driven them since 1967 and started a business around them in London in 1977. Moved to the countryside in 1989 to allow more space to fit cars and family in. Started racing in 2002 (aged 52). Have raced Mighty Minis but have concentrated on Historics since 2010. MINI SPEC 1961 Racer is re-shelled test-bedcome-toy with 7 port motor at present. Mini Super. Spare back-up for 65 racer. 1965 1293 racer is FIA Appendix K spec. Woody. Was wife’s daily driver for 7 years now resting. 1971 Biota. Mini-based sports car waiting to be fettled. Freestyle buggy. Looking for new home. Air vents or speakers?

Itch scratched

MINIS OWNED

1961 Racer 1962 Mini Super 1965 Historic Racer 1967 Woody Estate 1971 Biota Freestyle buggy

To do list

1. Keep sorting my junk 2. Try to think about next year’s plan

Impromptu autumn adventures as Tim delves into the details

Thinking the season was all over, unexpectedly I did get out in the Biota to a new local show, and only a mile away from me! One of those fortunate days where the local council told the organisers they couldn’t have their show in my local town two weeks before the event; there were a lot of notices that the event was going to be moved a mile away and it happened to fit the bill for all the pent-up car nuts. I ended up next to an odd-looking kit car so felt quite at home. It’s a Liege – like a modern Dellow (Google it, young peeps) but with 60 built, it’s relatively common!

I had, earlier in the year, succumbed to a long-held itch: to put nice period rear lights on the back of the Biota to get rid of the ugly trailer lights. The 1960s Fiat 850 Coupe had lights that came to fame on more than one model of Ferrari and the Ford GT40 in the sixties. They’re nice and simple but fetch up to £750 for a pair of originals! My first attempt was to buy a pair of ‘Hamburger’ lights – the popular trailer option, massproduced and £14.95 a pair delivered. I found that you could slip a period Lucas chrome rim on and bingo – period-looking rear lights on the cheap. Trouble is that they stick out quite a way and we would be back to an ugly blob if I didn’t make a hole, so they got put on one side up till the day when I was idly looking on eBay and a pair of new Fiat ones were available for around £120 and I seemed to have pressed the button. Now, they look OK, but look a bit lost on the big slab at the back. Never happy! If you look at the pic, you will see that the number plate is lowered to allow it to be filled with fuel with an interesting shaped funnel - all good fun.

I have had odd encounters with Mini wood this year. I ended up sending off a special JCW MPI one to get it re-lacquered as it wasn’t available new and it was over £300, but it came back with a superb finish. I also dug out an old Rokee

Woody interior in the ‘90s...

“I have had odd encounters with Mini wood this year”

...and some time later

dash for a chum which was hidden amongst my junk and I noticed I had a stash of Riley Elf ones and other period lovelies. There is an unpleasant ’60s/’70s version, a Riley Elf one and a Rokee centre clock one as well as the Rokee Clubman version as well, together with door cappings and a centre console. The Elf ones stem from the fact that my wife’s Woody has one in and it had my attempt at re-lacquering (aerosol) which has never looked quite the part, so every time I saw a dash I tended to hang on to it thinking one day I might improve matters. It gets more confusing as the early ones don’t have air vents either end and I was torn between having speakers in the air vent hole. My wife used to love her ‘cupboards’ as she called them, but I am now thinking I ought to convert it back to period spec and I am collecting parts to do that in case. Trouble is, estates don’t fetch the money that saloons do, so I am torn between ‘original is best’ to keep the value up or ‘we did it our way’ with the practical Mk4 twin switches on the column. Decisions, decisions...

Both master cylinders had to be replaced

several more to replace the ones that disappeared and couldn’t be found again.

After a maiden test drive when I ran out of fuel (anyone got a fuel gauge sender for a pre-Export 1001?), the car’s first major outing was on West Country Minis’ annual Isle of Wight Mini Adventure. I’m delighted to say I made it to the island in one piece too – although, lo and behold, several of those clevis pins reappeared one-by-one to jam the brake pedal on and scare me witless.

AC Dodd was present at the event running tuning sessions for pre-booked cars, and though the Innocenti wasn’t one of them, he agreed to get a later boat and squeeze it in at the end of the day. The car has never run particularly well, so it’s fair to say this was well overdue. And while the new carb had already improved matters, the fuel mixture was way too rich. AC readjusted things and tinkered with the carb needle to get it right, as well as dialling back on criminal amounts of ignition advance. Now it runs much better, and I’m sure it uses less fuel too, although a working gauge may help with that.

There was still the matter of yet another jammed clevis pin though. Using a handy magnetic bendy tool thing, I think I’ve finally got them all out now…

air horns, Benelite grille), then mothballed in a shed for fifteen years. In the early-’90s it was exhumed, stripped down, and built up into what you see here. That gorgeous paint is Maya Gold, a VW Beetle shade, and it really is fabulous. People should definitely be building more gold cars.

5 6 7 The Volkswagen theme continues in bizarre style with this unique custom. Based on a 1963 Minivan, this long and wide open cruiser is packing the 1.8-litre fuelinjected engine from a Golf GTI, complete with the Golf ’s gearbox as well as its entire suspension setup and braking system. And yes, the paint is a Volkswagen colour. A magnificently demented creation.

8 9 What you’re looking at here is an Ecurie de Dez – a two-plus-two coupe based on a 1962 Morris Mini 850. This makeover sees it packing an Australian 1098cc motor along with an incredible glassfibre fastback moulded to the deseamed rear. Thanks to the slinky aero, it had a higher top speed than a factory Cooper S…

10 11 …and if aero is your bag, get a load of this. A Mini Minus, redesigned to be as slick as a Tef lon bullet. Recessed headlights, stubby mirrors, swoopy nose, this is a slippery bar of soap.