|
|
 |
THE MINI MAG. Volume 2 No.1 |  |
 January 2000Vol.2 Home Page | Index Page |
| Subject this month is the de Joux Mini GT, a little coupe produced in New Zealand using a Mini floorpan as the base for a good kit car. Originally designed by Ferris de Joux in 1965 and finally marketed in 1970,this car gained good reviews upon release. Ferris de Joux had been in contact with the Mclaren development team to enable him to perfect a new spot welding technique allowing the metal and fibreglass sections differing expansion rate to not affect the bodywork. These cars didn’t use a separate body like a Jem but this shell sat on a Mini floorpan with a new scuttle built behind the firewall to add strength, the original sills were retained. The overall height of the car was around 225mm less than a Mini and the frontal area also decreased by 22%, a good performance boost was gained, this combined with an increase in width gave quite a long look to the car and it received a good report in articles at the time. Unlike many kit cars this one had no cooling problems due to the radiator being mounted in the front, a bonus was that the nose of the vehicle could be lowered. Most of the rest of the car followed kit procedure such as good instrumentation and rally style bucket seats that hadn’t yet been taken up by the mainstream companies. Only a couple of these cars made it here and as no one took up the job of producing them they faded into the haze, if any remain they are hiding somewhere gathering dust. For internet fans there is a site dedicated to these and they still don’t look too bad even with the passing of time. |