25 replies to this topic

[InnoCooperExport]

Those gts ones look fabulous. Had anyone here built one using the abs sprint shells? They are looking better and better value now good early shells are going up and up in value.

[Mini-dude]

I have to admit the sprint look has recently grown on me after seeing this one (http://miniobsession...show-stopper-2/)
And this site (http://www.roskilder.../minisprint.htm)
Also what shell is this base on?
https://youtu.be/sCY5ngYJs7s

[jonny f]

I have to admit the sprint look has recently grown on me after seeing this one (http://miniobsession...show-stopper-2/)
And this site (http://www.roskilder.../minisprint.htm)
Also what shell is this base on?
https://youtu.be/sCY5ngYJs7s

That is z-cars own shell.

They used to call it a Monte Carlo

[Mini-dude]

Thanks for that information I always thought the Monte Carlo was made by someone else, did not know it was z-cars own shell.

[jonny f]

Thanks for that information I always thought the Monte Carlo was made by someone else, did not know it was z-cars own shell.

They may have outsourced the production but i'm positive it was there design etc.

[Tortellini]

 

What happened to this topic? I seem to have run into a similar wall, ABS said the owner, a Shaun, disappeared a couple years ago. But... assuming alien abduction isn't real, it shouldn't be impossible to track him/them down.

Yes you are correct Shaun Dyson is believed to have the moulds. I have his Facebook, not got any contact though I dont think he uses it anymore.

Theres an active Facebook group called Miniminus.

Are you after a shell?

 

Yes, though having tried looking into this before, I've gotten a good head start on being ready to make the purchase; plus, US, so shipping's a whole thing that needs figuring out as well.

Anyone have any thoughts on the Hawk shells? Neat that they make sprinted vans and trucks as well!

[Shooter63]

I know about the Hawk shells as I asked Gerry the other week at Race retro, he sold the moulds on ebay after being told by Bmw that they would sue him as people would get the classic Mini and the crappy Bini mixed up etc , i think he said he made 14 or 16 all in, also he still gets enquiries about them.

Shooter

[ckneller321]

Any idea on what shape those 14/16 were?

 

I heard he produced both standard saloons and sprints.

Just wondering whether that number included a mixture of both shapes or just one.

[DeadSquare]

To be a Sprint both the body and the roof must be cut, yes the cuts will be around 2 inches each

 

 

Commiserating over a pint or two, the evening after I landed the late Len Brammer's Mini on its roof, taking a short cut over the hairpin at Mallory Park, we consoled ourselves with the thought that the lower frontal area might be an advantage;   ...   a notion that never really went away.

 

Until   ...   another evening, several pubs and many pints later, I mentioned that I had been offered the chance of a cheap 997 Cooper, the snag was that it was a write-off with the floor ripped out.;  did he know of a shell from which I could cut the bottom?  He did !  He'd call by the next day and ask about it.

 

Early next evening I got a very excited phone call.  No mention of the floor pan, he was there, the place was closed, BUT, he reckoned that he could see a "MiniSprint" in the back of the workshop.  The aspiration stirred.

 

In little over an hour we were peering in turn through the letter box and agreeing with each other, that undoubtedly, side on, partially obscured behind a Mini Van whose roof line was at least four, or even five inches higher   ...   was a tartan red MiniSprint.

 

What was it doing there?  Why was it tucked away at the back?  It wasn't that far from Len, he'd have noticed it if he had seen it on the road.  Were we in luck?

 

As I left for home, a couple of pints later, with a note of the telephone number, we'd convinced ourselves that it was for sale, for a price that we could afford.

 

By quarter past nine next morning, the opperator knew which number I wanted, and this time it was engaged.

 

When at last I got through, trying to be casual, I asked about the crashed Mini shell that "I  had stopped and looked at when passing the evening before".  It wasn't for sale "Oh dear". "By the way, on the off chance that someone might have been working late, I'd peered through the letterbox and noticed the tartan red MiniSprint at the back of the workshop"

 

Silence.   ..........     Was he cross?  Did he think I had been nosey?  Should I ask if it was for sale, or had I blown it?  Still silence.  If the shell wasn't for sale, perhaps we were wrong about 'being in luck', and then there was a sort of "dawning chuckle".

 

"That, oh that"  "That was thrown out when BMC became Leyland, that I got that"................. "That's a full-sized plywood advert, leaning against the back wall".

Edited by DeadSquare, 20 March 2018 - 12:07 AM.

[minisprint]

Ive got two hawk mini sprints , they are so much better than minus cars both in looks and quality

[ckneller321]

Ive got two hawk mini sprints , they are so much better than minus cars both in looks and quality

 

Do you have a build thread for those anywhere? I'd love to see what you've done with them if they're built up.