The First Mini Specials

• 
• 

Even if you’re not a fanatic for the BMC Mini, it is easy to find out who built the first sporting specials based on the world-beating baby. Simply pick up the programme for the 1961 London Racing Car Show and you will find the answer: the Deep Sanderson 301 and Butterfield Musketeer were both on display, the first examples of countless such cars using the Mini’s compact drivetrain wrapped in low-slung, sporty bodywork.

But, as our PostWarClassic Editor Jeroen Booij has discovered, there are even earlier examples of Mini-based cars hitting the streets. Birmingham garagiste Kenneth Nightingale took delivery of his Mini in September, 1959, just weeks after the model’s launch, and immediately set about making modifications. The car’s roofline was chopped down, its headlamps were recessed and it lost its distinctive radiator grille in favour of an Alfa Romeo-inspired item. The completed car was christened the New ERA Mini Coupé and was on the road in 1960. Nightingale managed to sell two more close copies, each slightly different, but today only one still exists.

In fact, there was an even earlier attempt at a Mini-based car – read Jeroen’s article in the new issue of The Automobile to find out what it was.

Kommentar abgeben...