1964 Mini De Luxe "Time Warp"

SOLD BY PRIVATE TREATY

Sir Alec Issigonnis' legendary Mini hardly needs any introduction. Often voted THE car of the 20th Century, it is of course always associated with "The Italian Job".

The Mini here has had a fascinating history. The file is more than worth perusing, as it shows that this was a special purchase example, ordered on 8th May 1964 under The Austin Motor Company Ltd's "Works Employees Scheme". The invoice was supplied "in quintriplicate" to Mr N.S.G. Jeffery, who shows in the green log book as the second owner of '617 MOM' after "Austin Motor Co Ltd, Longbridge, Birmingham 31". Mr Jeffery worked for the specialist body firm of "Fisher & Ludlow" and apparently used his 'contacts' to get a car at a cheap price as, having registered it in his name in June 1964, it passed to his son, Edward V Jeffery of Lep Air Services in Denis Road, Birmingham 12 on 3rd September 1964. When he took ownership the car was, of course, "as new" and his is the last name in the log book.

By 1969 Mr Jeffery had decided that he wanted to try his hand at motor sport. To this end, he went about it most thoroughly, going to the Jim Russell school and joining Nick Syrett's BRSCC. As far as his competition car was concerned, he felt the Mini was the ideal car. So, he went to Austin and ordered a "Works Specification" Cooper S 1293cc engine. This cost him the grand total of £36:15:8 from Downton Engineering and he paid for it in full on 10th March 1969. He then went to Jack Knight and had a Mk III Mini limited slip differential fitted to the now rather "hot" former 850cc road car! By now it was April 1969 and he turned his attention to the car's interior, taking it back to what was now The British Motor Corporation Limited, Austin Division, where, on 13th May 1969 he paid for a set of tubeless tyres, a new gear lever system, a number of flexy hoses and a roll cage with racing seat. Whilst this was being put into action, he was researching the subject of wheels and tyres, writing to Fort Dunlop and securing a set of Dunlop wheels and "Green Spot" competition tyres - which are still on the car today!

Mr Jeffery had clearly decided that this was to be an exclusively "track" machine and he was as diligent in his trailer research as he had been with the car's transformation. The history file contains details of trailers from John Reid & Sons and Don Parker Trailers. The trailer the car now sits on looks like the one he has marked with an "X" in the Parker catalogue, so we must assume he bought a "Mk 2 12CWT" and brought it all the way back to Birmingham from London!

To complete the transformation from road car to fire-breathing racing machine, Mr Jeffery went to 'Guy Performance' in Alcester and bought a glass-fibre "flip front" and boot lid. These were professionally fitted and so the car was ready to take to the circuits. Armed with his "John Rhodes Hints on Mini Tuning" and a full set of "King Dick" tools, Mr Jeffery was ready and set to start his competition career.

This cataloguer would love to be able to list the successes achieved by Mr Jeffery, but, sadly, he can not. It seems the car made 1 single outing "in anger", the driver, for whatever reason, deciding that life in the fast lane was not for him, trailered the car home, backed it into the garage and locked the door. It emerged only in 2010.

This Mini is an amazing "time warp", it is genuinely exactly as it was when it came home from that one-off race outing in 1969 at Mallory Park. All of the best period items were put into the build, and the history file attests to the car's preparation and the time lavished on the conversion of an 850 De Luxe into a Cooper S equal. Silverstone Auctions are delighted to be offering this machine for sale for only it's second time since May of 1964! What an opportunity.....