Table of contents for June 2023 in Mini Magazine

Your car is your car. That simple truth is, always has been, and always will be the perennial constant of the modifying world. You build your car to please yourself because you’re the one driving and enjoying it; if you’ve built it primarily to please other people, something’s gone wrong. That’s easy to say, of course, but we live in an age when hurtful and personal criticisms are just a refresh-tap away. Social media, for all its merits and benefits, can be a toxic place – just ask Dom, owner of this month’s cover car. He’s taken more than his fair share of abuse from online haters who feel he’s ‘ruined’ his Mini. But his story is clear proof that you only live once, life is short, and you’ve got…

■ Mattel is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Matchbox brand with a line of limited-edition models. Featured in seven different assortments across the range, these selections are a combination of collector favourites and iconic vehicles spanning seven decades and regions around the world, and of course the Mini is included. And to support Mattel’s commitment to sustainability, a portion of the new 70th anniversary die-cast collection will be made from recycled zinc. For more information, visit https://shop.mattel.com/pages/matchbox-70th-anniversary.…

The Cornish Mini Club’s Riviera Run has become a must-visit event for so many fans, and 2023’s running of the show is set to be a belter. With an actionpacked programme running through April 28th to May 1st, the action all centres around Pentewan Sands Holiday Park, St Austell. You can expect to see demonstrations of engine tuning, vinyl wrapping and car detailing, as well as a great many traders and, as ever, AC Dodd doing static tuning and carb setups for the classic Mini owners. (Single-carb cars at £65 plus parts; recurved dizzies at £95 exchange). Competitions include a showand-shine, rocker cover racing, glow show, and sound-offs for ‘loudest exhaust’ and ‘loudest stereo’, while evening entertainment includes a Mini quiz, bingo, and plenty to keep the kids amused. There’s…

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. 30th April Mk1 Action Day Popular and diverse track day at Blyton Park, Lincolnshire, raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. www.mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk 7th May British Mini Day Held in the pretty environs of Himley Hall (near Dudley, West Mids), this huge Mini show features traders, club stands, show-and-shine and concours. A must-attend event on the Mini enthusiasts’ calendar. www.britishminiclub.co.uk 21st May London-to-Brighton Mini Run Could this be the last ever L2B? Better go along, just in case… Like last year, it’ll be starting from Cheam Recreation Ground, Sutton, then heading down to Brighton’s Madeira Drive in traditional style. www.london-to-brighton.co.uk 25th-29th May…

There’s a strong case to be made for the notion that your own happiness is more important than trying to win the approval of others. That you should stop caring about what other people think because, hey, have you met other people? Some of them are awful. Dom Mattholie should know. In his quest to build his dream Mini, he’s had no end of abuse from the sort of stuck-up people who love to comment ‘RUINED’ on any picture they see online of a Mini that doesn’t meet with their own ideas of how things should be. And frankly, Dom stopped giving a toss a long time ago. This is the Mini he always wanted to build, and he relishes the brickbats. If his ruined Mini has hurt your feelings,…

The modern world is a complicated place. The Mini harks back to a simpler age, a time of wholesome family pursuits,Living Doll, clinking milk bottles, Ronnie Scott’s, and Astérix comics. In 2023, we inhabit a world where most of the news and information that’s ever existed is less than twenty years old – from the dawn of humanity until 2003, a total of five exabytes of data were created collectively by everyone combined, anywhere, ever; we’re now creating five exabytes every two days. In the time it’s taken you to glance over the photos and read this far, 2,800,000 pieces of content have been shared on Facebook, and 300,000 photos were posted on Instagram. It’s exhausting just thinking about it, isn’t it? A strategy that works for many is simply…

ALEC POOLE A LIFE BY THE POOLE £19.95 + P&P Regular readers will have seen our interview with legendary racer Alec Poole in last month’s issue. And if you enjoyed that, you’ll love this – presented as a series of short stories, this new book tells the life story of one of the true characters of motorsport. Varied, colourful, mischievous and sometimes hard to believe, this is an intriguing read which features a foreword by none other than Paddy Hopkirk. Each copy is individually signed and numbered, you can find out more at ● www.alifebythepoole.com NEWTON COMMERCIAL SUFFOLK MkII SEATS From £768 Made with a classic retro styling incorporating tartan cloth and elegant top stitched finish, Newton Commercial’s Suffolk MkII range for the classic Mini builds on their popular Suffolk…

Taking a strong inf luence from his first road car back in the day, Martin Farrar recently decided to recreate his sorely missed Kawasaki green saloon. And, armed with a larger budget this time around, he’s opted for Honda VTEC power along with a vast inventory of trick mods. Martin’s lifelong passion for the classic Mini stems right back to his youth when both his parents drove road-going examples. Keeping them company on the Farrar’s driveway was a far from road legal autograss saloon which Martin’s dad regularly competed in. Inevitably, Martin was often to be found handing his dad the spanners and as soon as he was old enough, he began competing in autograss too. “I raced for a while in my teens, then after a few years…

The order book is full. Really full. Our (fantastically patient) customers are waiting over 18 months before we can start restorations of their beloved classic Minis. We are routinely turning away minor jobs, servicing, and MOTs from faithful customers – which really hurts not just financially, but crucially it also damages the loyalty bond of the owners who have been coming to us for years. There seems to be a shortage of manpower in just about every profession, whether skilled or unskilled. Like many other engineering-based companies we are finding it just about impossible to recruit– we have a vacancy in our stores, but most importantly we cannot get appropriately skilled workshop staff and two positions have been vacant for a year. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many older workers (who…

PROJECT PROFILE THE OWNER NAME: Steve Yates AGE: 41 OCCUPATION: Company Director LOCATION: North Lincolnshire THE CAR: CAR: 1990 Rover Mini 30 START CONDITION: Rolling shell CONDITION NOW: Shell almost ready for paint, suspension and brakes fitted, engine in and currently driving TIME TAKEN SO FAR: Six months ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: Depending on work commitments, sometime in the next six months Sometimes a standard car isn’t always quite enough to settle that nagging urge to own a certain iconic classic you’ve built up over the years. Steve Yates had always planned on a classic Mini when the time was right, and 2 although the 1275cc Rover Sportspack he bought himself appeared to tick all the boxes, he soon realised it lacked the performance he’d dreamed of. While a sensible…

As you’ve probably guessed, this striking 1974 Clubman was never built to please the purists. But armed with an uprated 300bhp MG6 conversion and a vast array of unusual mods – including a roof-chop – it’s sure to keep tongues wagging. It was back in the ’90s when Pete Hughes really began to take an interest in cars. This was an era when crazy bodykits, lairy paintwork and deafening sound systems were a must at any given Saturday night cruise, the madder the better. “My uncle always had Minis and I used to help him out with his cars during the ’90s,”he recalls. “Once I’d graduated from school, I went on to become a qualified mechanic and began working on other people’s cars.” While many of his friends proudly drove…

Steve Webster has always had a strong passion for Minis, but as a self-confessed scooter addict, he’s often to be found spending his time riding or restoring Lambrettas. When he was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to buy this modded Mk2 saloon from a friend, he just couldn’t resist adding a slightly larger vehicle to his fleet, this time with the luxury of four wheels! As you’ll probably be aware, there’s a strong following for classic scooters in the UK with countless rides out and events taking place on any given weekend throughout the country. 64-year-old Steve became part of that growing trend back in his youth and soon built up a fondness for the Lambretta brand. “At the time I owned a few examples and had great fun riding them…

Rover had a thing for art cars in the nineties, and this shimmering vision was spirited into being in 1998. Such luminaries as Kate Moss, Paul Smith, Jay Kay and Natasha Caine were all approached to apply their own stylistic vision to the classic silhouette, and in the case of this mirror-finish marvel it was David Bowie who came up with the idea. “I wanted to make something that could not be distinguished from its surroundings,” he explained at the time. “It’s the Emperor’s new clothes.” This shiny one-off was conceived by none other than David Bowie The commitment to reflection was impressively thorough. Pretty much every conceivable surface was wrapped in chrome-effect film, save for the lights and tyres in order to keep the car driveable. It’s a clever…

ambition is critical. Anyone who’s watched Twin Town will tell you that (they might even chuck in a bonus expletive for kicks), and of course, it’s a phrase that’ll be familiar to residents of Swansea and/or fans of the poet David Hughes. The crux of the matter is that a yearning for bigger, better, newer and more interesting things is what pushes mankind forward, and that’s particularly evident across the car modifying scene: after all, how many people do you know who’ll carry out a few mods, say ‘Yep, that’s finished’ and then keep the car like that forever? No, project cars are never finished, there’s always a fresh set of wheels or a higher echelon or power or what-have-you to strive for. And Sam Jones is a keen example…

Avaried selection of classics assembled for Vintage Tyres’ first breakfast meet of 2023, held in the car park of the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. “The format is really simple,” explains Vintage Tyres’ Ben Field. “You can turn up from 8:30am in any car, bike, or truck you like. Park up, chat to like-minded enthusiasts, leave when you're ready.” The eclectic nature of the cars saw an Alpine A110 sharing space with a Lotus Cortina, while a selection of American pickup trucks rubbed shoulders with British classics such as Lotus Elans, Austin- Healey 3000s and – of course – Minis. Whatever you bring along, you’re made to feel welcome. For details of future meets, head towww.vintagetyres.com.…

■ Early June is a boon for Mini enthusiasts as, in addition to the Mini Cooper Register's flagship event at Beaulieu on Sunday 11th, the week before sees the British Motor Museum at Gaydon host its annual National Metro & Mini Show. MCR will be showing a wide range of Minis at Gaydon. Always popular is 977 ARX, the Morris Cooper driven by Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose on the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally, which must be one of the oldest ex-Works vehicles still going to shows today. The BMC & Leyland Show follows at Gaydon in July and MCR will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Cooper S. Alongside ex-Works and rally cars, we’ll see the restored ’63 Cooper 1071 S that featured on the club stand at…

This month we’re hopping over the pond to catch up with an American classic Mini racer – Don Racine. He has raced Minis across the world and his appetite to race internationally is as strong as ever. His association with the Mini is not just on the race track; he also owns a Mini parts and accessories business. Coupling these together, he certainly knows his way around a Mini… What was the first Mini you raced? A 1967 Cooper S. I restored it as a rally car and ran my first pro rally in it - the Mendocino Forest SCCA. After having raced Porsches in the early days, the front-wheeldrive of the Mini was the stand-out feature as we rallied in off-road conditions. The only negative part was the low…

Tribal behaviour has always been at the heart of modifying culture. Fans of Japanese tuning, for example, will be well versed in the history of the bōsōzoku; to outsiders, this is a subculture that often takes a lot of explaining. Literally meaning ‘reckless tribe’, the ethos traces its roots back to illegal motorcycle street-racers of the 1950s, their outrageously styled bikes tearing up the streets of suburban Japan with little regard for safety or the law. Similarly, the kanjozoku were 1980s outlaws in Honda Civics whose modus operandi was to go out on the expressways and try to outrun the police for kicks. Fast-forward to Hollywood in the early-2000s and we find Dom Toretto and his cronies telling pizza boys that the street’s closed so they can engage the NOS…

One of the most animalistic tendencies of human beings is our propensity to get carried away with things. For all of our species’ superiority by virtue of how we have the ability to do things like live in houses, operate mobile telephones, cook our food in pans, and have thumbs, there’s no denying that we all have animal urges lurking just beneath the surface. If you think it’s barking mad when you see a dog running round in circles chasing its tail until it throws up, or a cat batting at a ball of tin foil for hours on end, or a hamster scampering in a wheel until the spindle starts smoking, remember that you do this too: whether it’s powering through whole a Netflix series in one sitting, smashing…

For those in search of extra performance, reducing weight is surely the most logical path when modifying a Mini for road or competition. Tuning up the engine will be cost-effective to a point, but push the A-series too far and things become very expensive very quickly. If you can safely remove weight from the car, it’ll often prove more affordable in the long run. Reducing unsprung weight in particular, so that’s anything not supported by the suspension such as the brakes, wheels and tyres, will not only benefit 0-60 times and fuel economy, but handling too. This allows the wheels/tyres to track undulations in the road surface far more readily, for increased grip and a better ride quality. With that in mind, we’ve covered all manner of go-faster weight-saving modifications…

For this issue’s casual comb through the dusty Mini Magazine attic, we’re once again finding ourselves in a year that doesn’t sound like it was all that long ago but actually was – 2006. (Which was somehow seventeen years ago, DAMN YOU CLOCKS.) Specifically it’s March ’06, and that was a pretty entertaining month all things considered. For one thing, that’s when Twitter was launched, and who could have imagined how bananas that little website would ultimately become? Speaking of astronomical craziness (sort of), that was also the month in which NASA’s Reconnaissance Orbiter entered the atmosphere of Mars, and ice crystals were found on one of Saturn’s moons. Down here on Earth, we were enjoying new albums by Graham Coxon, Be Your Own Pet, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The…

an iconic name can make or break the fortunes of an automobile, as time runs grain by inexorable grain through the celestial hourglass. Some cars are able to transcend a humdrum moniker to ascend to greatness (the Maserati Quattroporte, for example – it may sound exotic to an Anglo-Saxon ear, but ‘Four-door’ is hardly an inspiring name), while others are pulled up on the coat-tails of arguably inappropriate titles: the Mazda Bongo Friendee, for instance, or the Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard. Without that astounding badge there’d be no reason to buy one, and yet they shifted units like nobody’s business. The Cooper name has long been synonymous with hot Minis and MINIs, dating back to 1961 when BMC marketed the first Mini-Cooper. John Cooper himself was an established racer and…