There are a few more historic photos at this link...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27560220@N03/sets/72157621848910413/

Brimen-

 

I need your e-mail addy , so that l can send you the pic of BMC # 29 taken in Austria-

BIG AL

"Mr. Big Al!!!

Is it OK for you that I post the photo you gave me of the two units you owned???"

Certainly-

Just a little clarification-

I know for sure from BMC personnel here in Canada, that both of the units that l owned were the only two in Canada-One served Ontario Dealers, whereas the other one, ran across Canada-

There is evidence and a picture of one unit on display at the Chicago Auto Show in the sixties-Where the other 4 units in the U S A got to, is a mystery-

Keep in mind, the original batch of units were destined to be unveiled at the same time as  the launch of the mini but BMC missed the mark by a couple of years-

I also have a pic of a unit in Germany (Austria) on a training mission-BMC 29-

BIG AL

 

HOW MANY ARE LEFT???

It seems to be different numbers on how many were made and how many were "here and there" !!!

I will try to give some help, but I'm only 98% sure. 

As far as I know, there is nine survivals today:

 

#1.  The Norwegian unit that were based in Sweden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2. The first unit that Big Al discovered 1998 and exported to UK 2000.

It is license BMC 27, but I have no photo of that vehicle.

 

 

#3. Second unit that Big Al discovered in 2000. The one you ALL know so well!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4. 960PJO. Seen at Silverstone July 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#5. NWL683H. Seen at Clackett Lane 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#6. 168UXS. Converted to a Race Transporter in the nineties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#7. The Unit that appeared in the Bay area, Aug 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#8. BMC 25, the unit converted to a race transporter by Mr. Stanworth. It's a copy of

the original transporter, BMC34, that were burn out in the nineties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#9. The AU Camper, almost unrecognizable, but it's the Unit based in Victoria, AU.

Used by The Young Lions Race Team early seventies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were build a total of 33 Units, (ref: BMC Rosette 1963),

6 of the first series 1959-60), 

then 27 of the second (1963). (ref: BMC Rosette 1965).

There were one in Scandinavia, two in Australia (one of each series) four in US and two in Canada. The CanadaUnits are well known, and it now seems that one of the US Units have appared.

Some says 17 in UK, but I'm not sure of that.

 

I'm sure there's more Units out there, YOU NEVER KNOW!!!

 

Mr. Big Al!!!

Is it OK for you that I post the photo you gave me of the two units you owned???

I will mail you scan of the Newspaper article this weekend !!!

Thank you very much, appreciated it.

 

 If anyone got some facts, don't hesitate, TELL ME!!!

 

Many thanks,

Brimen

 

No credit to me, thanks.... just posting Racing Green's pix for him.

The pic Dan posted is of aul Stanworths' converted Bus to a transporter-

It took Paul, 3-4 years to complete this as the engineering to finish it off correctly was daunting-

I believe this particular vehicle was made in the original batch 0f 9 units, whereas mine came out in 1963, as a slightly re-designed model-

BIG AL

 

there ya go!

To post a photo, I open two browser windows, one with the source image and the oterh with this post message editor. On the original image I right'click and select "copy image location". The I go to the message editor and select the little tree icon from the toolbar, and paste in the image location URL. PRESTO!

 

Here's the BMC25 again on this years' IMM:

//img21.imageshack.us/i/dsc02603w.jpg/

//img3.imageshack.us/i/dsc02602o.jpg/

I'ld like to post them as thumbs but I still don't get how to do this.

 

 

 

"As you can imagine, I declined his kind offer"

 

Really??

Isn't that a bargain???     25K !!!

My oh My...

 

As you can imagine, I declined his kind offer:

From: Mark Mitchell <[email protected]>
To: Marcel Chichak <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: '63 Pininfarina/BMC Competitions Dept. Support Vehicle
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:01:57 -0700

Hello Marcel, I have a proposal from RM to sell my nicer bus in their January auction. 

I would consider selling the 2nd bus for $25,000.  The busses are identical and are believed to be the only 2 that exist in the US.

If you have interest, please let me know-

Regards, Mark

I'm sure this isn't BigAl's bus, as this photo is from 1971!!!

The car in front, licence SJO439K, is a Morris Marina 1.3 Coupe, first registration Aug. 01 1971. It was prepared by Special Tuning for 1971 RAC Rally.

The bus were most likely painted like this in 1969 or 1970.

Cheers...

 

 

 

 

I have nothing at all meaningful to add to this thread, but I can honestly attest from personal experience that when you have to sleep in the big BMC because your tent got washed away in a monsoon, and you have to pi$$ like a race horse in the middle of the night after a long evening of drinking, and you have to quietly tip-toe around in the pitch black tripping over a snooring Captain JJ, only to finally find the door handle and figure out how to use it, work your way down the stairs and stumble thru an ankle deep river of cold rain water right outside the door, all during the pouring rain, life is a bitch.

Bob/Arwally-

Pretty hard to tell, lf the one you show in the brochure is a

Left Hand Drive model, then quite possibly-

Out of the 9 produced, only 2 LHD models came to North America & I owned both of them-

The first one l purchased went to the U K to be refurbished & then l restored the second one (in the pic)-That is the one , presently in California, that went there via Texas-

Great machines, those 6 cylinder Perkins engines never quit-

 

BIG AL

Hi, all friends.

Search Google for "1965 BMC Marshall Bus" !!!

I understand that Mark Mitchell, the owner of BigAl's second bus,  purchased this "Unit" too !!!

I'm glad this vehicle were discovered, as it now seems to be a total of nine survivals!!!

That makes it 1/4 of the total build.

 

Many thanks,

Brimen - Norway

 

 

 

big Al...was this yours? MM part# HMCC2006

The pics of the Watkins Glen show have made me smile - it was 7 years ago yesterday that I proposed to Suzy after the event.

The Beige mini looks a little like mine, when and where was this?

From the seller:

Subject: Re: '63 Pininfarina/BMC Competitions Dept. Support Vehicle
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 22:14:42 -0700

Hello Marcel, Thank you for the email.

I have not settled on a price yet, but it will be quite a bit more 
than $20K.  I just talked to RM Auctions today and they are interested 
in consigning it for their London auction.  I am hesitant to ship it 
overseas, so I may wait until their Arizona auction in January.

By a strange twist of fate, I actually own 2 of these Pininfarina 
busses.  I understand that there were only 2 dispatched originally to 
the US, so I most likely own them both.  The second bus has a nice 
body but it has a funky camper interior, and has been partially 
converted to a V8 powertrain (no engine currently).  I would think 
that this would be a good candidate for a modern chassis swap since it 
is already modified.  The price on this unit will be much less than my 
other one.

Kind regards, Mark Mitchell

 

Hey, is that the Domino in the background of the second pic?  I loved that car.  Should have taken you up on that when I had the chance Al!

Great pics Darren!

 

Great pictures! That was a wonderful weekend, winery tour, laps on both the old town course and the Glen long course. That amaranth purple sports pack was a nice driver...now owned by our own "drufly", Drew Elliot in MI.  Thanks so much for posting them. Bob