My CUB started life as a brown 1979 Leyland Mini 850 and is still registered as such, having retained enough of the Mini when built to meet the less strict SVA regulations of the time.

Officially it is a Cub Special as the car is fitted with all the “Special” options i.e. Front & rear crash bars (mine are TUV spec ones, they wrap round at the ends), sump guard plate, tow bracket, mud flaps, matting and Hella front & rear indicator lampsBased on the information I got when I bought it, XCF598T was given it’s new body around 2000 by a garage owner in Wimborne Dorset, who used must have only used it only on dry days (not often then!) as he did not buy the weather gear for it.

At some stage “XCF” acquired a 1275cc engine from a Metro HLE with a 3+E gearbox and 2.95:1 diff, this means the 4th gear is so tall it can only be used at motorway speeds like 5th in a modern car – great for getting to and from shows but rubbish acceleration! This re-power could have been when it was still a Mini or after the conversion when it was found the 850cc lump could not cope with the extra weight of the CUB chassis/frame. In August 2002 “XCF” was bought by a gentleman who had the intention of using it as a promotional vehicle for a children’s powerboat charity, being aware of Britain’s weather he had a boat cover maker produce weather gear for it. Unlike the genuine AMC weather gear which had an extra support loop at the back “XCF’s” follows the line of the rear roll frame giving it a more sporty look but less read head room if I fit a rear seat. Unfortunately the gentleman suffered from ill health which prevented him from driving “XCF” much and it was put into storage in a friend’s garage.In March 2005 I was looking for a “different” mini to buy as I had just sold my mod’ed British Open Classic Mini, I found a Stimson Mini Bug on Ebay (not just any Mini Bug but the ex 1971 Motorshow car) unfortunately I was out bid at the last second – that’s Ebay for you! So I remembered seeing “XCF” in the garage two down from mine several months before and that the guy who owned the garage had mentioned it may be for sale so I asked if it was still available... it was, so I had a closer look and a drive, the price was set and a deal was done… and now I’m glad I have the Cub as I can mod it and have fun, where as the “Bug” would have had to been restored and cherished. Since owning “XCF” I have carried out a few other modifications to make it more useable and more fun… The front drum brakes were replaced with disc brakes from a post ’84 mini, although “XCF” stopped well on the drums they require constant adjustment to work at their best and I like to drive as fast as the law allows on motorways and prefer the confidence disc’s give me. I hope to fit a late mini servo and master cylinder assy in the winter this will require rerunning all the brake pipes as ‘70’s mini had diagonal split brakes (RHF & LHR wheels on one circuit and LHF & RHR on another) and later minis had front/rear split (fronts on one circuit, rears on the other) the later system also has a proportioning valve that splits the effort so the front discs domore of the work.

A Minisport stage 1 tuning kit inc. LCB, Superflow exhaust, cone air filter, heated inlet manifold has been fitted to improve performance and get rid of the modified (read as “forced to fit”) Metro system that had been there. Once fitted I had the car rolling road tuned by Slark Race Engineering – it now runs smoother and produces 64.5 bhp up 9.5 bhp on the rolling day I did that was published in Mini World magazine.The “jean popper” fastenings for the weather gear were replaced with Tenax fasteners (I found out months later this is what AMC supplied with their soft top) as the poppers would not stay done up when the fabric flapped while driving. I still prefer to drive without the weather gear but it is a must if the rain gets too heavy.

I replaced the square front indicator/side lamp assy’s that had come with the kit,as mentioned before mine is a “Special” that means the builder paid the extracouple of hundred pounds for the lights, flaps, carpets etc. I’m sorry but they looked tacky and had to go. The new round front lamps are from a S3 Landrover (same as late Mini’s) for a much better “look”, the rear lamps will get the same treatment S3 Landrover again and I will fit matching reverse lamps at the same time at least that’s the plan if I can get them all to fit.

Demon Tweeks GP style mirrors have replaced the ones that were there when I bought it as the ones fitted were so unstable I could not see anything in them!For a bit of fun I fitted a 5 note Stebel “River Kwai” musical air horn under the back (I chose his brand out of nostalgia as I used to sell them 20 odd years ago when I worked for New Zealand’s Austin Morris dealer), musical horns are illegal for road use on post ’73 cars but are great a shows, a 2 tone “blast” air horn is under the bonnet too this is the work a day horn as most standard horns are just too weakAs the Cub is so open there is little secure storage, (the rear locker is full of weather gear), I modified the shelves on either side of instrument panel to make glove boxes where I can store sunglasses, night driving glasses and wool beanie hats all essential for Cub driving oh yes and show passes/tickets.

A new dash was fitted in December 2005 using the three clocks from an Austin orMorris 1300GT to replace the inaccurate accessory gauges fitted when built. I also fitted new metal toggle switches with doomsday covers. Plus a proper oil guage and a clock, I'm quite pleased with the result. Another result I am pleased with is the alloy wheels I have referbished they are Rover Mini Premiers from the late '90s fitted with my original mud & snow tyres.

Other modifications I am looking into are putting in the a battery/cubby box door in the right pontoon as used in earlier Cubs (currently I have to remove the roll cage & pontoon top to get to the battery!) and who knows what else my warped little mind will come up with...a Slark or Minisport fast road engine is a possibility or maybe I’ll just do something with the 1.3 engine & ‘box I pulled out of a smashed Mini 35 that had only done 38000 miles, a head & new cam are tempting!

I like to take the Cub out as often as possible (with the top down of course), there are plenty Mini shows about, London To Brighton and Mini In The Park being just two of them. There are also several classic car events near wear I live, Poole Quay is closed on fridays during summer for an informal car show with a different type of car each week of the month, mini's are the second friday of the month. Bournemouth also run a waterside event, opening the Promenade to classic cars every sunday from April until September (the Cub qualifies on the age of the donor mini) so it gets a good showing, although the number of times it has been called a "Moke" is beyond counting.

Contact me at wayne@thecubclub.co.uk