It would be easy for any enthusiast to glibly say that Mini Minors are a way of life, but for Sam Brown nothing could be closer to the truth.

Since 1960 or thereabouts, Sam has been a Mini fan, enthusiast – even disciple. His Mini exploits over the years could fill more than a few issues of Mini World, but suffice it to say that today he owns a total of seven complete Minis and enough spares to last a century.

Yet when all is said and done, Sam’s Mini adventuring has possibly reached its climax with the gorgeous little pick-up you see here.

A pick-up, not a ute
Aussie readers will of course be calling the vehicle a ute and wondering which year of Morris van has been cut up to create the hybrid.

It’s a fairly common practice Down Under to ‘chop’ vans into utes, but in this case no such butchery has been performed.That’s right folks, Sam’s wee beauty is a genuine Mini pick-up.

"I’d been after a pick-up for some time," explained Sam, "but I was quite specific about what I wanted."

Sam wanted a genuine pick-up because of their rarity, but he also wanted something in reasonably good condition to begin with.

"I knew that finding one with the tilt intact would be near impossible, but I wanted to be sure that the floor pans weren’t rusted out and that the bulkhead behind the seats was in good order."

Built to spend their lives as workhorses, pick-ups can suffer quite badly in the bulkhead area thanks to the rigours of carrying equipment, machinery and even livestock.

Sam was certainly making his search all the more difficult, but eventually the hunting and persistence paid off, in the UK.

"I saw this one advertised in Mini World, so rang the owner, had a chat and then arranged for my brother Bob in Doncaster to go and check it out," recalled Sam.

"It was in Harrich - which is by the sea - and I was initially quite concerned about all the salt air which can get into every nook and cranny before producing some serious corrosion problems."

Accordingly, brother Bob was given strict instructions about where to place the obligatory magnet, but several days later he rang back Down Under to say that the magnet had stuck everywhere!

"I told him he hadn’t done the inspection right... he insisted he had and it was all I could go on really."

Ultimately, Sam made the decision to purchase and the genuine Mini ute - er, pick-up - headed for Australia in early 1999. When it arrived, he discovered that his brother had used the magnet correctly and the vehicle was actually in very good condition.

History shrouded in mystery
As the restoration process began, Sam also started tracking down the history of his pick-up - except that no history was available prior to 1985. In that year, the vehicle was first registered for road use and Sam is only the third owner since then.

According to the Heritage Society, the chassis number of FE / 458479 means the pick-up was built in 1963, but from then until 1985 nothing is known.

Still, the strip down before restoration led to a few interesting discoveries.

"It was originally left hand drive and that, together with some of the wiring and paintwork we found, indicates that the vehicle was probably used on a British military base in Europe," explained Sam.

"My brother-in-law has a few military contacts and although he’s drawn nothing but blanks, I reckon it was used on an RAF base in Germany."

Sam’s approach to restoration is a little ‘alternative’ to say the least, as he’d been collecting parts - and even built an engine - waiting for the day when he would finally find the pick-up he wanted.

"If you’ve got a focus on what you want and can pick up all the trinkets while you’re waiting, the work that’s ultimately required doesn’t come as a major blow," said Sam.

"So many people start these projects and then run out of steam when they find out what’s really involved."

With the body in such remarkable condition, a full bare metal strip down wasn’t required and the only real panel work was to remove some surface rust on the right hand side joint between the "A" panel and outer sill.

As is well known, Mini-itis is a contagious disease that can become hereditary, so sons Paul and Patrick were quickly involved in the project too.

As Paul works as a spray painter for the same company as his father, there are no prizes for guessing who applied the British Racing Green (MG version ...tut, tut) acrylic paintwork. Paul also hand painted those white stripes on the bonnet - with a template of course.

Paintwork aside, the exterior appearance of this pick-up is a virtual smorgasbord of parts obtained from far and wide.

Getting the parts together
Mini Bits and Mini Sport supplied numerous items, but there’s more than a few custom, rare and one-off pieces too.

"The chrome fuel tank cap came from a load of parts that was being thrown out from a ship’s surplus to requirements stock while I was in the Middle East," explained Sam.

"It came off an hydraulic tank, but rescued, repaired and cleaned it has come up a treat."

Look closely too and you’ll see that this pick-up has rare Mk 1 tail-lights, which replace the Mk II lights the vehicle came with.

"I’ve had members of my family in the UK chasing up all sorts of parts and it was my sister-in-law Carolyn in Sheffield who somehow managed to find not one, but two sets of Mk 1 tail-lights from a military source."

When the pick-up arrived Down Under, one item did cause immediate concern however.

"Maybe I didn’t look at the photo in the advert properly ... and my brother never mentioned it ... but I was shocked to discover there was a sunroof,"said Sam.

"I wasn’t too happy about it, but have grown used to it now. Mind you, I’m getting a bit thin on top these days and the sun was cooking my head quite badly, so my wife Georgie made a cover that’s held in place by Velcro pads."

Out the back now and while the tray was in amazing condition, the tilt was long gone even if the frame was in good shape.

The frame did have to be taken back to bare metal, before Paul from Modern Motor Trimmers in Perth fitted up a new canvas hood that is a work of art in its own right.

This includes a special tensioner over the back of the cab to retain the tilt in a special trough. Consideration had to be given to allowing rain run-off, so the front section of the tilt includes a pipe with a cord running through it, the cord then itself tensioned by hand made clamps.

And then there are those spare wheel covers which, like the fuel cap, have a Middle Eastern connection.

"I have some friends out there and one of them lives in Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates," said Sam.

"Believe it or not, but he makes wheel covers, so I gave him a picture of the BMC rosette along with the wheel sizes and the covers were then made up in vinyl. Admittedly, they should have been done in leather as the black from the tyres has begun to seep through."

Die hard enthusiasts will  be screaming about the split bumper at the rear, which should really be the full wrap-around version, but Sam has simply not been able to get an original wrap around bumper.

Still, the front grille has remained intact after all these years and that’s an item Sam is particularly fussy about as he detests those clip-on chrome grilles !

Making sure it runs
Meanwhile, the motor that had been built ready and waiting for the pick-up to arrive began life as an Australian spec’ LS 1275cc unit.

Sam performed the re-build himself, which should come as no surprise considering that he did part of his apprenticeship on Minis back in 1960.

Basics of the engine rebuild saw the usual block preparation undertaken, including replacing the original brass plugs with taper threaded plugs for future convenience.

The 1275 block was bored out an additional 40 thou’ to accept MG Metro flat top pistons, which pushes the capacity of the engine closer to 1300cc.

Then the crank mains plus 1 ¾" pins were re-ground before everything from the crank to the 1275 rods, pistons, flywheel and harmonic balancer were balanced.

With leaded fuel now being phased out in Australia - and Western Australia leading the way on this front - Sam wisely opted for a full unleaded spec’ stage 2 cylinder head from Mini Sport. As many will know, this came with all the necessary valve gear, to which Sam has added a ‘fast road cam’ from Camshaft Engineering in Perth.

1 ¼: carbies on a match ported 1275 manifold take care of induction, while a 3" locally made exhaust system expels the waste.

Admittedly, Sam could have done a touch more on both the inlet and exhaust fronts, but figured it would have been a bit on the risky side.

"I didn’t want it to be too obvious on the noise front ... the WA Police are a bit eager sometimes with regards to modified or restored vehicles and I wanted to play it safe."

Lateral thinking time
Fundamentals aside, it is Sam’s unique engineering which makes the engine bay on this Mini so special.

Looking at the photos, it’s not hard to see that something isn’t quite – well - normal, over on the left hand side. That’s right, there’s no brake booster in the engine bay, as it’s been tucked up under the driver’s side mudguard! The access that this allows to the clutch is a Mini enthusiast’s dream.

There’s also a bit of custom plumbing in the same area, which includes a remote pick-up point for externally checking oil pressure. The engine oil filter has also been remotely mounted under the mudguard and the major reason for these modifications is to allow space for an air conditioning system which Sam is still designing.

As for ignition, the vehicle’s original points system has been retained, although there are plenty of other electrical surprises.

A custom built 8-plate wet battery now lives in its own special compartment under the tray behind the driver’s seat and whilst a larger output Bosch alternator was considered, the original Lucas item is back in service because the Bosch product wouldn’t fit between the engine and the rear of the grille.

The pick-up’s wiring has been completely re-done too, thanks to workmate Tony Valenti.

"The wiring harness is only loosely based on the original," explained Sam. "The routing of the wires has been completely changed and much of it runs in special flexible conduits."

The 90-odd horsepower that Sam estimates his pick-up engine to be producing, is fed through a heavy duty clutch sourced from Conno Onofaro at Mini Craft in Perth.

The flywheel has been lightened and balanced, while the 5-speed gearbox from Mini Sport is said to carry sports style ratios. The gearbox is actually a rod style box, a factor that required a custom made mounting for the remote gear stick box because of the exhaust system.

Once the gearing is sorted, power is fed to disc brake hubs, which have replaced the original drum brakes. Such conversions are not exactly uncommon, but do require an intimate knowledge of the parts involved.

"The discs came off a 1982 LS Clubman and the heavy duty CV joints with taper roller bearings had to be fitted too of course," says Sam.

Keeping it legal
At the rear, the original drums have given way to wider spacer drums, which allow the fitment of those Mini-Lite rims and fatter 175 profile 10" Bridgestone tyres.

Interestingly, while spacers which fit over the original wheel studs to produce the spacing effect can be bought, it is actually illegal to use such items in Western Australia (although buying and selling them is not illegal of course!).

It should also be said that the WA Police are particularly fussy about tyres protruding past the edge line of a vehicle’s wheel arches, which was reason enough for Sam to add those wheel flares from Mini Sport.

Suspension duties meanwhile, are handled by the original rubber cone system, albeit fully revamped.

And so to the interior, which was largely dealt with by the afore mentioned Paul from Modern Motor Trimmers.

Sam believes the seats that came with his pick-up are from a Cooper S, but the re-trimming in stone beige leather with green piping is based on the 1997 Mini Cooper Classic.

Sound suppression pads were installed underneath the carpet on the floors and doors, but trimming the roof lining was a somewhat tricky affair.

"Somewhere back down the track of time, someone had butchered the roof lining frame, so we had to fix that and make it fit properly around the sunroof too," explained Sam.

The steering wheel came with the pick-up, but the walnut veneer dash complete with six gauges and anti-theft system was bought from an advert in Mini World. Once again, sister-in-law Carolyn in Sheffield was called upon to collect and send it Down Under.

The dash actually combines with the top dash section from a Mini Clubman, again covered in stone beige leather to match the seats.

At the end of all the work, a fastidious restoration on a rare vehicle can make for something truly unique and that’s certainly the case here.

Thankfully, Sam does drive his amazing rarity on club runs and occasionally puts it on display too. The look on people’s faces when they learn that this is a genuine Mini pick-up is apparently a sight to behold.

Nuts`n’Bolts