Table of contents for May 2023 in Mini Magazine

Everyone wants to have their car on the cover. It’s the first question people ask when they learn that they’re getting a mag shoot: will it be the main cover car? Well, much as we’d love to give everyone a shot, there’s only room for one each time. And if people approach us saying that they’ve got the perfect car for a cover feature, that always has to be treated with a pinch of salt… but when former editor Jeff rang to say he’d had a stop-press moment, that was something I had to pay attention to. Because the man knows his stuff. Sure enough, the vividly jaffa-hued Clubman that’s making front-page news this month really is something special – a super highend supercharged build with incredible attention to detail…

Visitors to the Classic Motor Show at the NEC last year were wowed by the sight of Deja, a one-off custom Delahaye-styled Riley that stunned onlookers with its shimmering purple finish and incredible detail work. Of course, coachbuilt 1940s classics aren’t exactly at the heartland of Mini enthusiasts’ proclivities, but there was a deeper tale to unearth here. This car was the latest creation by Andy Saunders, and for a lot of automotive enthusiasts this is a name that will require no introduction. A solid-gold legend of the UK custom car scene, he’s been building outrageous, inspiring and record-breaking cars for decades, and Minis have appeared more than a few times in his stellar back-catalogue. The legendary Mini Ha Ha was a shorty that once featured in this very mag,…

GET LISTED Email minimag.ed@kelsey.co.uk to let us know about any upcoming events. Due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid, please be aware that events are subject to change. Keep an eye on the organisers’ websites to stay up to date with any developments. 15-16th April Goodwood Members’ Meeting Spectacular racing is always guaranteed at the Members’ Meeting. It’s like the Revival, but without the time-period restrictions – which means racing Clubmans, among much else. www.goodwood.com 21st-24th April Cotswolds Charity Classic Based at the Puckrup Hall Hotel, Tewkesbury, this classic car tour takes in the sights of Broadway Tower, The Classic Motor Hub and Highnam Court, with funds raised going to Ovarian Cancer Action. www.bognor-regis-mc.co.uk 29th April – 1st May CMC Riviera Run Outstanding Mini weekender at Pentewan Sands Holiday Park in…

Debate has long raged in pubs across the globe over which hot hatch came first, and which is ultimately the best. These are nigh-on impossible arguments to circumnavigate, the former being a minefield of pernickety detail, and the latter being entirely subjective. For certain diehard fans, it all began with the VW Golf GTI, or perhaps the Peugeot 205 GTI. But what about the Simca 1100TI, the Vauxhall Chevette HS, the Autobianchi A112 Abarth? Well, whichever way your proclivities swing, it’s undeniable that the Radford De Ville beat all of those names to the punch, combining hatchback practicality with fast-road thrills way back in the early 1960s. And a large part of this premiumisation of the Mini is thanks to the whims and visions of Peter Sellers. The splendour of…

Perspective is a tricky thing, isn’t it? We spend our whole lives honing and refining our view of the world, perfecting our cognitive powers in order to uniquely analyse and interpret the goings-on around us, but it only takes one shift in reality to totally throw off all of our reference points. Take a look at the Ministox racers you see spread across these pages: if these cars had been appearing here in the magazine back in, say, 2019, we’d have been prepared for an onslaught of feedback decrying how these cars aren’t fulfilling their potential (because some people do like to bang that drum). But we presumably don’t need to point out just how radically 2020 shifted everyone’s perspective. We couldn’t go out and see our mates, we couldn’t…

it might not look it, but the secondgeneration R56 hatch is 60mm longer than its predecessor, thanks to reshaped rear styling. This meant an extra 10-litres of boot space, although on first look you’d be hard-pressed to notice any difference over the firstgeneration R50 and R53 versions. While you could buy a secondgeneration MINI hatch for the fun drive and handling, you wouldn’t for the boot space, as it was still tight. So, any added practicality to the MINI’s combination of retro looks and keen drive would open up the MINI brand to more buyers. That MINI model arrived in November 2007, roughly a year after the R56 hatch was launched, reviving the Clubman name last seen on the classic Mini estate that was discontinued 25 years before. Based on…

The struggle between good and evil has kept mankind variously on its toes, on the edge of its seat, and otherwise precariously positioned since the genesis of the species. Vice versus virtue, it’s a hard balance to strike if you’re trying to walk the line between the two, and if you’ve set up camp on either side then it’s not easy to swap teams. A fact of life as old as time itself, the universe’s yin needs its yang; for every good egg, there needs to be a bad guy to keep everything in balance. Sherlock Holmes had his Professor Moriarty, the Montagues had the Capulets, Brad Pitt had Kevin Spacey (in the movie Se7en, that is – presumably not in real life, but who knows?), Road Runner had Wile…

Name: Darren Duffield Car: ’69 Deluxe Location: Brisbane, Australia ■ Bought as a $500 bare shell, Darren’s Deluxe has been treated to an incredible amount of work to bring it up to the stellar condition you see it in today. A full bare-metal resto was undertaken, the perfected shell painted in Old English White, and the interior is all new. The mechanical package is the real party piece: the engine is a 1445cc based around an 1100 block with Cooper S internals, built by Readspeed in Brisbane. It’s packing twin Weber 45s, a ported and polished head, lightweight Mini Spares flywheel, big alloy radiator, and a full custom wiring loom. The 2” exhaust system makes all the right noises, and the chassis is pretty fancy too – behind the 6x12”…

PROJECT PROFILE THE OWNER NAME: Pete Bowden AGE: Old enough OCCUPATION: Painter & Decorator LOCATION: UK THE CAR: CAR: 1978 Austin Mini START CONDITION: Rolling shell CONDITION NOW: Most of the welding and major bodywork done TIME TAKEN SO FAR: Long enough ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: Hopefully out by next summer! As the old saying goes: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” All of us who have even the slightest interest in all things with an engine and wheels have experienced this and, let’s be honest, it is frustrating and can often dampen our spirits. But in the case of Pete Bowden, it was an opportunity to put all his skills to the test and go above and beyond what the previous owner had attempted,…

After regrettably having to sell his cherished Nardo Grey Cooper, Rob Whiten went on the lookout for a replacement project to keep him busy during lockdown. Tackling the vast majority of the work himself, this stunning ’91 Neon, now with a distinct retro twist, has quite rightly left him feeling pleased as punch. We last saw Rob and his Mini in a partfinished state in January 2021, during that miserable winter lockdown most of us would wish to forget. At the time, it was at the perfect stage to appear in one of our On The Job features, though we’ll admit this wasn’t the easiest project to shoot. We still hold distinct memories of needing to push Rob’s car up his steep driveway on to the street to obtain our…

The more interesting characters in world history are the ones who go out of their way to do what they’re not supposed to do. Jane Austen, for example, writing engaging and transcendent fiction at a time when women should have been seen and not heard (n.b. that’s the 19th century’s opinion, not ours – if it angers you, punch a historian). Or Salvador Dalí, who tirelessly yet effortlessly subverted the everyday with offbeat unusualness, or John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who brought about world peace by refusing to get out of bed, which definitely worked. The nonconformists make life interesting – that’s why Sid Vicious will always be cooler than Cliff Richard, even if the reality was that they were equally irritating company in person. “It was my dad’s influence,…

Like a chihuahua baring its fangs, the ACV 30 was simultaneously very cute and a little bit menacing. This concept was put together in 1997 to mark the 30th anniversary of Rauno Aaltonen’s victory at Monte Carlo in the revered LDL 6D Cooper S. And while it doesn’t look all that much like the production R50 MINI that would follow a few years later, it’s not actually a million miles away when you start looking at the details – check out the colour-contrast roof, the blacked-out pillars, the central exhaust that would be carried over to the R53. Under the skin, however, it was a completely different animal: having been based on the MGF platform, the ACV 30 was mid-engined and rear-wheel-drive, which would have proved to be a hilarious toy…

We’re winding the clock back to September 1999, and one of our absolute favourite issues from the Mini Magazine archive – the MASSIVE ANNIVERSARY EDITION (capitals fully justified) for the Mini’s ruby jubilee. The cover car mashup that phases through Mk1, 1275GT, ERA Turbo and RSP looks so cool that we kinda wish someone would build such a thing in real life… any takers? September 1999 was a pretty exciting month even without this landmark Mini milestone: era of coloured round sunglasses and bucket hats, this was when we were first introduced to The Sixth Senseand Mickey Blue Eyes, Muse’s first album Showbiz, and the UK TV debuts of Spaced, Futurama and Family Guy. But all of that played second fiddle to the Mini of course, and we had the…

This year saw the London Classic Car Show return to Kensington Olympia. Previously staged at the ExCel, it moved to Olympia for 2020 – which, as nobody could have predicted, turned out to be the UK’s last major car show before the Covid lockdowns hit. Moving to an outdoor setup at Syon Park for pandemic reasons, it returned indoors this spring and it felt like a return to form. And among the myriad treats to enjoy (including 732 HOP, the original Cooper S pre-production prototype), the coachbuilt Minis built for The Beatles were reunited in style. It wasn’t quite The Fab 4 as John Lennon’s black Mini has been lost in the mists of time, but the three survivors here were something very special. Paul McCartney’s car was built…

Excuse the overly personal tone to the beginning of this feature, but it’s never easy writing about Minis that belong to your friends. And it’s even harder to admit that when Mel Toombs told me what she had in store for the rebuild of her 1976 Clubman, Ralf, I had serious doubts. You’re going to do what to it, Mel? But I was clearly the one in the wrong. This build might go against the vogue for factory-spec or period-perfect, but by blending new tricks with old techniques, Mel has masterminded a brilliant custom Clubby that boasts incredible bespoke touches, looks superb and goes like stink. What’s more, she’s put in some serious graft to make it happen. ORANGE FLAVOUR Ralf is the culmination of a long-standing passion for Minis…

The jungle telegraph of the retro car scene allows petrolheads like us to share and enjoy cars from the, shall we say, more obscure corners of the automotive sphere as if they’re the most natural thing in the world. The person who sits two desks away from you at work, or the chap who checked your train ticket this morning, may furrow their brows in befuddlement if you were to attempt to spark up a conversation about a Tatra 603, a Zaporozhets ZAZ-966 or a Volkswagen SP2, but within our allencompassing old car scene these are icons of brilliant strangeness. (To be fair, it’d be an odd thing to start chatting to a train conductor about out of the blue, though. Perhaps his befuddlement is just caused by wanting to…

BEFORE STARTING The first rule of working on cars and using tools of any kind is don’t be stupid. Make sure personal protective gear – goggles, gloves, ear defenders, masks and a set of overalls - are hanging on a hook in your garage and use them wisely. If you’re working with power tools, protective gear is essential. Never attempt to work under a car without supporting it securely using suitably strong axle stands. If you haven’t got a fire extinguisher, buy one and keep it near to hand. The bottom line? If you’re not completely confident of your own ability to complete any task safely, don’t even start it. Leave it to the experts. This is probably one of those jobs you’ve been putting off for ages. The wind-up…

history is studded with inventions so improbable and brilliantly unlikely that it’s hard to fathom just what spark of genius can have spirited them into being in the first place. Plate glass, for example: you could leave us alone with a bucket of sand for an eternity and it would never once occur to us to heat it up until it turned into a window. Or radio – what manner of madman decided that you could send intangible sounds over wiggly invisible lines through the air, and some magic piece of equipment in people’s homes could replicate the noises in real time? It sounds ridiculous. There’s no way it should work. The R55 Clubman Cooper S is another invention that beggars belief. The idea of cramming enough horsepower to whiten your…

for many years, R53s have mostly been owned by B-road carvers and track day nuts. Sharp handling, bags of character and a buzzy driving experience make it the perfect platform for hooning purposes, and by using tried and tested components, anyone can put together a very capable machine. In more recent times, however, the Gen 1 platform has been lovingly adopted by stance show-goers, who have used air-ride, negative offset and wild interiors to take the little hatchback in a completely different direction. Some stancers say that hooners build uncreative clone cars, and some hooners say that stancers stray too far from the R53’s core driving ethos. Luke Ives is someone who appreciates both points of view. He admires the two very different approaches to modifying MINIs equally and has…