I'm at work which is why im on so early, but reading the thread and stories.... wow. This is a brilliant start to a morning Uncle cooperman LOVE THESE STORIES amazing haha so far favorite has got to be the rally one!!!! with 850 mini 16BOJ.
as everyone asks, Keep them coming.
Ashley.
16BOJ was probably the most famous 850 rally Mini ever. It was actually built by the 'Works' for David hiam who was Dunlop Tyres Rally Manager and he was also a great driver. Peter Gilbert bought it from him. Now Peter is a great guy who ran the Passport Photo Service in Oxford Street. He and I are still great friends after 50 years and he lent 16BOJ to Bill Rogers and me when we were leading the London Counties Championship in 1963 and Bill's car was a bit poorly, mine was not prepared for rallying, although we woulkd have used if if we had to, but Pete insisted we used 16BOJ and we kept our lead with a solid 2nd overall. I once borrowed it to drive on an autocross and I had a great first timed run, but after a guy called Mike Benton rolled a Mini he had borrowed from Mo Mendham I slowed down a bit in case the same happened to me. On an earlier autocross, in 1962, Mo wanted to try out a Morris 1100 in competition, so he hired one and put the comp number on the doors with some sort of emulsion paint, which he couldn't get off when it was time to return the hire car, so we took it to Watford and used cutting compond on both doors. It didn't half shine then!
One day Peter, who lived in Luton, was driving through Park street in BOJ when a large alsation ran in to the road and took out 2 of BOJ's spotlights. It didn't do the dog much good either. A young lady, who was the dog's owner, stood on the pavement screaming "is it dead, is it dead?" A bus driver leaned out of his cab and said "Of course the f*****g thing's dead, but it wouldn't be if you had kept it on a f*****g lead". Pete had to buy a new grille and new Marchal spotlights.
