John John ! Fibreglass mini !!!

[Grumpy Northener]

John - It looks like the bonnet has radius corners against the bulkhead and not the square corners that the standard mini carries ??

[JPB]

It certainly looks that way, Chris. Presumably this relieves stress and so prevents cracks across the corner of the scuttle, as seen on many steel minis where the latest round of Cataloy - that was hastily slathered all over the area - has cracked, this usually seen just before the car is listed on eBay!

[Talking Hoarse]

I seem to recall that there was a manufacturer in Northumberland making fibreglass replica Mini shells in the 1990's, probably sold as a kit car. The one(s?) I saw looked like normal Minis (maybe deseamed) but I think they also did a hatchback version. It also succombed to some damage with the front starting to separate from the rest I think.

[JPB]

Was that not a little garage in Forest Hall? FRA was the name of the one I'm thinking of. Largely stock looking, their car had an extra pair of 7" headlamps fitted where the indicators would otherwise have been. In the county itself, I'm sure that one of the small units in Coopie's Lane, Morpeth once contained at least one glassfibre bodied mini so that could also be the one you have in mind.
But the Cord is an officially sanctioned BL product and should be built to the Mother corporation's exacting standards.....
In spite of that I still like the idea!

"FRA":



That's the one built in Forest Hall as far as I'm aware. I hadn't noticed the extended front end before but that's generally done to accommodate a Honda or GM engine of some sort. The plate is certainly local as Gosforth VRO acquired RG from Aberdeenshire at some point during the '70s.

Perhaps the current owner of the green car will discover that someone borrowed his picture without asking and will come along to a) give me a bollocking for doing that and b) tell us more about the car. There's no such thing as too much mini.

[Mitsuru]

I don't recall seeing it at Ryhope, and the mini club usually give a good turn!

[Grumpy Northener]

John - How about accepting that it's never going to happen and look for an alternative - so here is my sugestion - it should tick a lot of your boxes - its a mini - its automatic - nice big doors for access / egress - its plastic fantastic - its very different - its not that far away from you - and its cheap enough - what more could you want - link below

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C567435

[JPB]

Driving that the 90 miles home from the seller's location somehow lacks appeal! Thanks for the heads up but I think I'll pass.
...On the other hand, if I found one closer to me. Hmm..

[rich.]

http://www.ebay.fr/rcm/Hawk-MiniSprint- ... 0040.m1843
this came up on my internets john

[JPB]

Ta Rich , though to be fair, that was the same link that Chris posted.

[rich.]

i cant get the one chris posted to work, but when i visited ebay it was there waiting for me