1967 Austin Mini

One of the challenges of making a model of the Mini car is deciding which badges to put on the model. The Mini was produced from 1959 to 2000 by parent companies with three different names: British Motor Corporation, British Leyland and Austin Group. During that period the car was marketed under at least 14 different names. I decided to build a model based on the Mark II, 1967 Austin Mini in the estate version, mainly because I saw one recently. 

The Mini had a 1.0 L, inline, transverse engine with a four-speed manual transmission housed in the engine’s oil sump. The car’s front-wheel drive allowed for more room inside this tiny car. It had a wheel base of 2.04 m, a length of 3 m and a width of only 1.4 m. The Mark II Mini was made in Britain and assembled in eight other countries.

#Mini #Austin #British Motor Corporation #Blender #Cycles

 

FIAT 124 Spider

 

In the early ‘70s, while living in Idaho, I bought a FIAT 124 Spider, a two-seat, 1.4L, 5-speed convertible. After accepting a job in Brussels, Belgium, in 1973 I drove the car from Boise, ID to Newark, NJ and had it shipped to Antwerp. In 1975, when my job was moved to the UK, I took the car to London. Years later, in Los Angeles, Susan and I fondly remembered the Spider and bought another one; great for zooming up and down the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down.

This model was inspired by those two cars.

 #FIAT #124_Spider #sports_car #Blender #Cycles

Sunbeam Alpine

In the mid- ‘60s, you could by a car in the UK, drive it around for a while and send it back to the States as a used car, which bore a very low import tariff compared to a new car. Taking advantage of this, I arranged to buy a US specification Sunbeam Alpine sports car from the Rootes dealer in Piccadilly Street, London, drive it around Europe for a couple of weeks and ship it to Seattle from Amsterdam. The difference between the cost of the car, all taxes in both counties, insurance and shipping and the price of the same new car in Seattle was enough to finance the European vacation. Hell of a deal!

So this is my model of that Sunbeam Alpine, same color and everything.

 #Sunbeam #Alpine #Series_5 #Blender #Cycles