Marvellous Mini’s

(13 Photos, Part 2) – Continuing on from the previous post at Tasmanian MiniFest ’21, more Mini’s and some rare treats!

With a turn-out of just over 100 vehicles, the Claremont event was a huge affair for the little cars. I was disappointed not to see my old Mini there, I had only seen it a couple of times shortly after I sold it and am not sure what happened to it.

This original Leyland Mini S in the same colour was very similar to mine. I had seen this well looked after one previously at MiniFests that I attended in my Mini Mal.

Wilson Automotive bought up a lot of the Mini’s in Tasmania for spare parts. It’s pretty rare to see one on the road now-days. They still have quite a collection and race some regularly.

First appearing in 1959 and initially drawn on a napkin, Sir Alec Issigonis designed a revolutionary small car that offered the largest possible interior for a family of four and luggage – on the smallest possible footprint.

Mini was the first car designed with the engine mounted sideways – to save space. Let’s take a look under some hoods!

Below is a rare 1969 Taylorspeed Gem with 1310cc engine, one of only 12 ever produced. The roof comes up not much past your waist, your bum sits so close to the ground it almost scrapes the asphalt! Hard to get into, but I reckon it would be hard to stop driving and get out of – pocket sized fun!!

Modern BMW Mini … While the retain the shape, sadly they don’t maintain the small footprint but they are still a nice car and fun to drive.

Finally, to finish off, only 28 original Broadspeed GT 2+2 fastback cars were built, reportedly 16 of them went to Spain. They had a beefed up motor and interior upgrade.

Beep beep! Thanks for visiting 🙂