Codford Mini

Sectioning a Mini’s body to turn it into a Mini Sprint is one thing - the Codford Mini took things one step further…

- Jeroen Booij

The first chopped Mini came in 1964 when master car craftsman Neville Trickett teamed up with racer Geoff Thomas, who decided to market a seriously modified Mini through his motor accessories shop GT Equipment. With 1.5 inches removed from the Mini’s body above and below the waistline, another 1.5 inches from the pillars, steeply raked front and rear screens and not a seam in sight… this was a seriously good looking Mini. The improved aerodynamics gave it a more streamlined front, making it the perfect sports car. Around 85 were built originally before the project was sold to BMC dealers Stewart & Ardern, who knocked out another dozen. Meanwhile, the idea had caught on and petrolheads started building their own versions in sheds and garages all over the country.

The prolific Neville Trickett went on to design a whole range of wild kit cars under the Siva name, but kept his work as a freelance draughtsman going at the same time. One of the projects that he got involved with was the Codford Mini of 1966, which took the idea of the Mini Sprint to a whole new level. The car was the brainchild of David De Souza, who had also been involved in Donald