Irish Mini Owners Club

A few days before Christmas, I got a call from a friend of mine Tony who drives for UPS. He told me he had seen a red Mini parked outside a house in Mallow, Co. Cork.

I went over that afternoon to find it was actually a Mk3 Hornet. The owner had moved house 3 weeks previously and it was pushed out of the garage. Cutting a long story short, I tracked down the owner, did a deal, put it in the mother-in-law's shed, stuck a bow on it, and presented it to Majella for her Christmas present. And the best part, I got away with it.....

The plan is to be ready for IMM2008 in Holland. I've already picked up a new rear valence off Ebay but there's some serious work ahead. It's worth saving as an Irish car.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p87/ ... PI-NSF.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p87/ ... arView.jpg
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Billy

A bit of polish and you will be laughing!

Billy,was your hornet assembled in Ireland or were any hornets or elf,s assembled here,it,s just that I was back in the Kingdom over the weekend and I was talking to Mike Moloney,the guy with the maroon and white elf that was at the Killarney show and his had shamrocks on the window but it was not triplex,some other maker.He also gave me the number of the guy with the 63 van for sale in south Kerry so there may be more van rescue pics during the summer.

10" is enough for any man.

KMG, to the best of my knowlegde they were assembled in Ireland but I can't find any information on what exactly was built at either Brittains or Lincoln and Nolan.

Has anyone ever researching Irish car production?

Billy

billy; if you type in lincoln and nolan cars, hit search theres a page Around the world Ireland. there a bit of info there.not alot though

Might be a good article for Irish Vintage Scene some time in the future,tracing the history of Brittans and Lincoln and Nolan.

10" is enough for any man.

There was a book I remember reading a good few years ago about car manufacture in Ireland which had a bit of info. Actually just found it "Motor Makers in Ireland" by John Moore. It is referred to on the Austin Rover website / around the World / Ireland, hope this link works:


http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/

Dave,

I have that book but it refers mostly to indigenous motor manufacturers in Northern Ireland and says little about assembly of cars by foreign manufacturers i.e. if it wasn't an Irish company, it doesn't get much mention.

Billy

My old Elf eas built in Ireland.
There is a story about the Paddy O'Reilly Elf but we'll save that for a drunken night.

Saturday night on the MTM it is so.

10" is enough for any man.

I think the Hornets were assembled by Booth Poole in Islandbridge, but I may be mixed up between the Wolseleys and the Riley Elfs. They also assembled MGs.

Alec Poole, who was a member of the Booth Poole families, raced an S in the 1960s in Ireland and UK with great success. The car he drove in Ireland was based on one of the Mini Shells which had a boot, TMG or other genius may know whether his was a Hornet or an Elf which might indicate if it was the Hornet or the Elf that was Booth Poole assembled.

Booth Poole were involved in competition preparation for Minis in those days, I was told that Noel Smith who was then the top man in rallies had his car prepared and serviced there in the days when he won the Rally Championship. Noel was a lovely man, not at all arrogant, who drove the mini in a grey suit, both car and man immaculate. I heard that he died last year, may he Rest in Peace.

The rumour was that when Booth Poole closed down there was a batch of Cooper S engines buried in a pit in Islandbridge, so out you go lads with the metal detectors.

The Irish company which did the toughened glass was Lancegays, which had a shamrock etched on the windows.

Good luck with the rebuild, its good to be able to save Irish Assembled cars.