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Mini Van Blog

Some background information
What we have here is a 1982 Austin Mini Van that was purchased on e-bay in 2006. I had intended to drive the van to the International Mini Meet in Sweden in 2007, however, it soon became clear that this car was not "as advertised". It had far too many mechanical problems and there was no way this van was going to be able to complete the trip.

It was then that I considered "customising" the van and with sponsorship funding from Securus, we started to build a specification. It looked something like this:-

1. Hot Rod styling - exposed engine compartment
2. A powerful V8 motor - we found a rebuilt TVR 4.6 litre V8
3. Dual fuel - we want it to have an impact on the eye, but not on the environment
4. Significant structural modifications - the motor will need a chassis and rear wheel drive
5. Major revisions to the bodywork - it still needs to look like a Mini Van....  but different!

Click here to view the Mini Van photo gallery

March 2007
A friend of a friend at the local Mini Club said that he could do the mechanical and fabrication works and so after some discussions about timetables and costs the Mini Van was transported to Bungay in Suffolk for work to commence.

September 2007
Things were not going well. It turned out that our fabricator couldn't put the necessary hours into the project and so, with very little work done we decided to find another fabricator to continue the project.

February 2008
Following discussions with another Mini Club member we had the Mini Van tranported from Bungay to Run-a-Moke in Maldon, Essex. Things were looking up, this looked like a well resourced organisation with good workshops and plenty of experience with this type of vehicle.

May 2008
Run-a-Moke ceased trading and despite an assurance that we would have a full refund of one of the advanced stage payments for work yet to be completed, the money never arrived. Certain Run-a-Moke staff members are trying to "phoenix" the business, but there seems to be some problems regarding the business name. Yet again this project seems to be on the rocks!

September 2008
Things haven't progressed. There seems to be all sorts of wrangling between the "phoenix" company, the former Run-a-Moke Directors and new investors. I haven't seen the van for a couple of months (I'm not even certain where it is!) and I'm wondering just what we've got to do to find a company that has the resourses to actually take on this project without going bust!