All about the book...
Fresh
from the publishers, this excellent 255 page hard-cover book tells the story of
the Mini in South Africa. It’s all
there, the entire production history, from the very first locally assembled
Austin 850 in 1959 to the very last Mini to roll out of the plant in 1983. If
that were not enough, there’s plenty of unique South African motorsport to
whet the reader’s interest.
Written
by Ryno Verster, official historian in the Mini Owners Club of Southern Africa,
it is, without a doubt, the definitive source of information on all aspects of
the unique South African Minis. Ryno
previously published a booklet on the South African Mini history, but has gone
to a great deal more effort for this book. It’s
the result of more than 4 years research. In
the process, Ryno has travelled extensively across the country interviewing all
sorts of people. Interviews that
included Ralph Clarke, the Engineering Plant Manager at the BMC/Leyland SA
plant, to personalities from the SA Mini motorsport world, some even located as
far afield as Qatar and Belgium. Many
of these former racing drivers provided much of the source material for the
motorsport story from their personal scrapbooks.
However,
as Ryno admits, the extensive material provided by Ralph Clarke took the book to
a completely new level as a reference source.
The information has lead to a whole section devoted to the BMC/Leyland
plant located at Blackheath near Cape Town.
The chapter provides an invaluable resource of information on all models
made at the plant and is probably the first time this has been published in such
detail. This will undoubtedly appeal
to fans of all classic BMC and Leyland products.
It will be of real interest if you have never heard of a 2.6 Leyland
Marina or an Austin Apache.
The
book consists of 15 varied chapters, each with a different emphasis.
From chapters on the early history and the Mini’s launch, the drive to
increase local content, information on the plant and the people who built them,
to chapters devoted to unique South African models and special editions, and, of
course, the motorsport. There are
122 B&W and 108 colour photos throughout the book to support the text.
To keep the smooth flow of the storyline in the chapters, detailed
information has been placed in a comprehensive set of appendices. 9 appendices
cover every detail from homologation papers, local component production and
technical specifications unique to South African Minis through to production and
prices, as well as a section on the Mini Moke and ADO19 (the ANT).
This book is a must-have for every Mini fan, and will appeal to all classic car enthusiasts with its extensive information on South African BMC/Leyland models and manufacturing.