Back from holidays and ready to treat you to more exploits, new and old, from the land of Mini based (sports) cars. How about the one-off Mini Shark? It was built between 1969 and 1974 by Terry Lee of Leeds, who was later also responsible for the Mini Beaver in a quantity of seven.
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Work on the Shark started with the acquisition of a much-corroded Mini Van in '69. Lee took the mechanicals out and placed the front subframe with its 1000 engine now placed into the back of a chassis frame he’d welded from square tubing. Next, he started making a body from carton board, at first in the shape of a coupe with gullwing doors. Construction these to work properly proved to be a bit too difficult and Lee decided to turn it into a roadster with tiny little doors and a soft top instead. The eventual body was made in fibreglass and did materialize, too. More on the finished Mini Shark later this week.
The base for so many Mini based cars: a tired Mini Van bought for scrap money
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
Get rid of that rusty body and re-use all the bits that are still okay. It's easy! Well, to some
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
Lee made a chassis from steel square tubing and started work on a body in carton board
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
Gullwing doors were very much the fashion of the late 1960s, so that's what he needed, too!
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
Mrs. Lee posing with the mock-up body in carton board, still with its gull wing doors...
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
But these doors proved to be one little bridge too far for the young designer / builder...
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive
...And so the Mini Shark was to become a roadster with tiny doors and a hardtop instead
Picture Terry Lee / Jeroen Booij archive