If you're outside the UK and interested in acquiring any of these pieces, do send me a message here or to angylroper@proton.me so that we can find out the postage costs and arrange accordingly.
At present, I'm only posting to the UK using Royal Mail Special Delivery as I've found that the most reliable service for the price over the years.
Yesterday, I explained how Austin’s 1969 Zanda concept was designed to take a mid-mounted version of the Maxi’s engine and gearbox. In 1995, the mid-engined MGF followed the same principle: mechanically it was based on a 180 degree flip of the Metro’s front subframe, engine and gearbox. Another link to the Maxi/Metro - the MGF had Hydragas suspension, although this was replaced by steel springs when the F became the TF. Pic taken at the British Motor Museum
The same year Austin launched yesterday’s rather dowdy Maxi, 1969, the company also released the much more go-ahead Zanda concept. The Zanda was designed to be powered by a mid-mounted Maxi engine/gearbox combination. The wedge shape later influenced the Princess and TR7, while the idea of flipping around a transverse FWD powertrain to make a mid-engined car was later seen with the Metro and MGF. Snapped at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
Today, in celebration of World Marbles Day (thanks for the reminder @MarSolRivas) we are featuring the Austin Maxi, snapped here at Techno Classica Essen in 2014.The Maxi was brilliant in concept but let down by patchy execution. One reviewer famously compared the action of early cars’ cable operated gear shift to stirring a bag of marbles with a knitting needle. The Maxi deserved better and I shall return to this story of what might have been soon.
Ordered myself some stickers for the Princess today, hopefully that'll help get some eyeballs on the website. The car is pretty difficult to miss so it's daft I've not been making more use of it as a billboard really.
I mean, my art business logo is literally this car with my initials incorporated into it, how have I not thought to do this sooner?
Today, we’re back on the Minis. This is a 1965 Mini Traveller, a small estate version of the Mini with a similar silhouette to the Mini van. Note the wooden pillar treatment, which is visually similar to that previously seen on the Morris Minor Traveller. I believe the wood is structural on the Minor but purely decorative on the Mini. Snapped at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire.
Today we’re marking the recent loss of one of the leading car designers of our times, Marcello Gandini. One of his most famous works, the Lamborghini Miura, dates right back to the very beginning of his career. This particular example, seen at Techno Classica in 2013, is a late P 400 SV from 1971/2, and lacks the distinctive headlamp ‘eyelashes’ of earlier versions.
One last special edition celebrating the birth of the original Mini in 1959. This is the BMW Mini 60 Years Edition from 2019, seen here at Techno Classica in Essen that year. UK market sixtieth anniversary cars, of which there were 500, were finished in British Racing Green, but other colour schemes such as this black/silver combination were available in Germany.
Today, after yesterday’s Mini 25, a further trio of luxuriously equipped commemorative ‘milestone Minis’ from Techno Classica Essen, 2019. The Mini Thirty (maroon car), Mini 35 (car with bumper over-riders) and Mini 40 were released in 1989, 1994 and 1999 respectively to celebrate the launch of the original Mini in 1959.
These old Minis seem to be popular so here’s another one. I can’t find much information on this particular one but it seems to have been created by a company called L&H in Germany for the 25th anniversary of the original Mini in 1984. Snapped at Techno Classica Essen in 2019.
Production of the ‘classic’ Mini ended in 2000 but you can still buy an effectively brand new super-luxurious version - if you have the cash. This is the Mini Remastered by David Brown Automotive, captured here on the first press day at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018. Available with every conceivable luxury, although the price can creep over £100,000. An electric version (Mini eMastered) is also available.