Minis and Imps

[ERC]

My abandoned 1300cc Broadspeed Elf project. Shell (and another) went for scrap (pre Trade Me) before I had the chance to slope the screen and start on the rear end.

[Paul Wilkinson]

Here's my old de Joux chassis with chromolly rollcage. Sold many years ago due to job loss.....



A different de Joux body of mine (since sold to Oz) next to my old Clubman GT....

[Roger Dowding]

Here's my old de Joux chassis with chromolly rollcage. Sold many years ago due to job loss.....



A different de Joux body of mine (since sold to Oz) next to my old Clubman GT....

Paul, that is one substantial chassis, I always thought the Mini De Joux, was just the Mini floorpan, now realise had the front bulkhead
and part of the inner guards, as well ar the rear bulkhead the back seat support.
A friend of mine had a De Joux, back in 1978, which had a lift up back window, it was a deep green. I was envious as only had 850 cc standard Minis by then, although they were slightly modified

[Roger Dowding]

My abandoned 1300cc Broadspeed Elf project. Shell (and another) went for scrap (pre Trade Me) before I had the chance to slope the screen and start on the rear end.

Paul did you shift the grille down to run a standard bonnet ?, I always thought an Elf / Hornet bonnet would be great to push air to the carburettor, although often the speedo was moved and the 40/42 DCOE Weber had it trumpets in the speedo space.
Spgeti will love this ..

[Paul Wilkinson]

Paul, that is one substantial chassis, I always thought the Mini De Joux, was just the Mini floorpan, now realise had the front bulkhead
and part of the inner guards, as well ar the rear bulkhead the back seat support.
A friend of mine had a De Joux, back in 1978, which had a lift up back window, it was a deep green. I was envious as only had 850 cc standard Minis by then, although they were slightly modified

The stock de Joux chassis had the front bulkhead with extra box sections to hang the doors from. As you say, they also had extra box sections inside the car -running up the length of each sill and boxing in the rear seat panel. They got zero stiffness from the body. Mine was obviously a bit different. Mark Herbert built it for me - this is the original I delivered to him....

[Paul Wilkinson]

He built a beam rear end too.

[ERC]

Paul did you shift the grille down to run a standard bonnet? I always thought an Elf / Hornet bonnet would be great to push air to the carburettor, although often the speedo was moved and the 40/42 DCOE Weber had it trumpets in the speedo space.
Spgeti will love this ..

Its Ray, not Paul, Roger!!!! I never had an issue with airflow using a standard bonnet and the twin 1.5" SUs (which I also still have) as I did the same grille drop with the tattiest Wolseley Hornet you have ever seen, (same engine, but before a full, rebuild) which I sprinted and hillclimbed in the UK, with a fair bit of success, in the under 1300cc road-going modified class... That shell got left behind in the UK, but all the mechanical bits came with me.

With the Wolseley, I just cut the bottom off the grille, but with the Riley, I cut back the front valance and parked the oil cooler there and retained the full length grille, which looks better IMHO.

I had a fibreglass bonnet for this car and dropped the grille as my pet hate is bonnets that lift with the grille, usually making access difficult, not to mention smacking your head on it! When I look at my drawings of what the Broadspeed Elf was supposed to look like, I thought it would look pretty good, as the rear overhang was better looking than the standard Broadspeed with the GT rear end on a standard Mini base.

It was always going to be 'SMILEY' the Riley so I bought the personalised plate as soon as they came out. That plate is now on the Marcos, which has been off the road since 2006. The car was on the road legally very briefly in the early 1980's, but sadly, I never got the chance to see what it could really do, so the engine has only done about 200km running in since the build by a specialist in the UK who competed with a Turner (BMC A Series engine).

I have done the same with the Magnette project. The grille is now fixed - though easily detachable.

[Roger Dowding]

ERC, sorry about the name had just commented on Paul's De Joux.. mea culpa !!

[Roger Dowding]

Autonews article March 23, 1970 entitled Fords Imps and Minis


Frank Hamlin " Sprint " type Mini.



and two Imps, Brimar and Harrington..

[John McKechnie]

Paul- what ever happened to your old De Joux ?
It has been a long time since I have ever seen one.
I had an orange one with a 1100 back in 1974/75 its on this thread-#155.
They were a really neat shape, very light and my wife loved driving it.
A friend Alex Isbey had one, it was Colin Broadleys old one- he was a radio DJ back in 60s/70s and he rolled it off the northwestern motorway. You may remember Alex in a Mini Cooper from the old Hill Climb days early 70s, very quick he was.
He built a Mini with a 1500 Maxi with 5 speed in, rolled it in a rally. He was part of the way putting this motor and subframe in this damaged De Joux and go racing again with it.
Last saw it at his house in 1976, sadly he is no longer with us, but what happened to this car?

[ERC]

Post #636 in my Mix of Pics' just added. Mini & Imps...

[Paul Wilkinson]

Paul- what ever happened to your old De Joux ?
It has been a long time since I have ever seen one.
I had an orange one with a 1100 back in 1974/75 its on this thread-#155.
They were a really neat shape, very light and my wife loved driving it.
A friend Alex Isbey had one, it was Colin Broadleys old one- he was a radio DJ back in 60s/70s and he rolled it off the northwestern motorway. You may remember Alex in a Mini Cooper from the old Hill Climb days early 70s, very quick he was.
He built a Mini with a 1500 Maxi with 5 speed in, rolled it in a rally. He was part of the way putting this motor and subframe in this damaged De Joux and go racing again with it.
Last saw it at his house in 1976, sadly he is no longer with us, but what happened to this car?

That de Joux is one of three I have owned over the years. I had a rather special engine and box built for it and all the suspension/brakes was brand new and adjustable yadda yadda yadda.... Then the business we were in went a bit pear-shaped and we had to liquidate the toys, the de Joux, an s4 Lotus 7 and a Manta Mirage. That was 8 1/2 years ago and apparently the de Joux hasn't been touched since it was rolled off the trailer by its new owner all those years ago!

[ERC]

Keeping the thread alive...

Goodwood 2009





Icebreaker 2015

[cooper64]

Keeping the thread alive...

Goodwood 2009





Icebreaker 2015

[kiwi285]

I see some comments above about the De Joux cars. At the recent opening of the Eastern Link road at Papamoa in August I saw this car and had a quick talk to the owner who is from Tauranga. Might be of interest to some of you.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks to Laurie Axcell for the following images of his various road and race Minis, owned during the last 39 years.

This is his beautiful 1964 1,071cc Austin Cooper S which he still owns:

[Steve Holmes]

More Laurie Axcell pics. These are from his Mini 7 racing days during the 1980s:

[Steve Holmes]

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Laurie's beautiful Britax Cooper replica he currently races:

[khyndart in CA]

Here in California I get a lot of people that laugh at my 1962 Mini Cooper and do not believe that they could compete in a race with
Mustangs and Camaros etc.. I have this picture on my desk at work to show that Minis were competitive.
I am not sure when it was but I do know it shows the Mini and the Mustang climbing the hill to approach Druids Corner at Brands Hatch and you can see how the crowd is enjoying the race.
(It looks like the "Britax" Mini in NZ and the "Kent Cams" Mini in England had very similar paint schemes )





(Ken Hyndman )