IndigoBlueCooperS wrote:
Thanks for the link to the Hottest Minis magazine.
Any ideas on the whereabouts of the black Twini Mini?
An Adelaide car owned by a Rob Burns back in the day.
I have tried a couple of Rob Burns without luck
Any ideas on the whereabouts of the black Twini Mini?
An Adelaide car owned by a Rob Burns back in the day.
I have tried a couple of Rob Burns without luck
I haven't seen Rob for years, probably since 2001-2002. Back then he was living down towards Port Adelaide, though I'm sure he had moved since then... maybe up into the hills somewhere? He was a school teacher and used to move around a bit when he changed schools. I expect he'd possibly be retired now. I'm almost certain he had an unlisted number.
The last time I called in to see him he still had the Twini, but it had been off the road for a few years and needed a bit of tidying up. It was parked under a tree in his back yard due to a lack of shed space at the time as he was doing an engine swap on his wifes BMW with a Toyota or Nissan 6 cyl.
A few years later he advertised the Twini for sale, I think due to his new place having insufficient shed space, and a guy I know who also knew Rob went for a look but didn't buy it. I remember him saying that it was squeezed into a shed with so much other stuff in it that you couldn't get around the car to look at it! I have the feeling Rob didn't sell it then and decided to keep it. But that was also 10+ years ago.
I didn't realise it had been in any magazines. Rob is a quite private person so not many people actually knew about the car.
It was fairly quick for its time - both motors were out to about 1400cc, twin carbs, ported heads, etc. I remember a friend describing what it was like when driven in anger... straightening up from a u-turn, Rob planted his foot. It accelerated fairly hard and the front starts to break traction and slide slightly left as the rear is still pushing hard, the front upshifts and pulls straight as the rear started to spin/drift left, then the rear upshifts as the front starts to drift left again before it upshifts, then the rear again then front again and so on. He described it as a wierd crabbing snaking feeling, all while it kept accelerating. It braked fairly hard as well so I'm told. "out of the seat and hanging by the belts as he braked, before throwing it into another u-turn through the traffic island" or similar!
In fact I think the guy that was describing it still owns the turbocharged Oldsmobile V8 powered FJ that Rob built and is mentioned in the magazine article. That had been off the road for a long time and was getting a slow rebuild last time I saw it.
Damn... This is making me feel old!
