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I just looked at the ad and it states quite clearly that this was the prototype of the series and that it was owned by the Service/Competitions Dept. Nothing about actually being used in the field.
That's not correct anyway.
Quoting from The Mini Experience, Issue 29, p33 (and believe me, I did a lot of research on these, and this is backed up by former BMC Competitions Dept assistant manager Bill Price) "BMC25 was based at the BMC Advanced Driving School at Abingdon, run by Harry Shillabeer. The school's main purpose was to train BMC employees who were not professional drivers, but who drove faster cars in the course of their work - engineers, salesman and service technicians - to do so safely. There was also a section for training people to drive heavy transport."
By the early 1960s BMC25 was re-registered as 441MO, which is how it appeared in Safety Fast magazine (the official in-house mag of MG) in 1965. There is also a photo of an Advanced Driving School unit here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brimen/5441505646/in/set-72157608734124638 but this is a different unit - a Series 2, with a different registration (NWL885H).
Edit: Trond has just informed me that this unit was based at the Nuffield training school at Bathgate, Scotland - where the BMC trucks and tractors were made - from 1970.
While BMC25 was one of the first batch of six vehicles built, (not to be confused with the later Series 2, as the ad correctly states) I have not been able to prove or disprove Paul Stanworth's claim that it was the prototype vehicle. It is possible, so I will not dispute it.
However, it was certainly not the vehicle used by the Service/Competitions Department - though the Service Dept and Comps Dept were two separate entities. It may have been used by the Service Dept, but it was certainly in use at the driving school by 1962, when Bill Price said it was used to clear snow from the old airfield at Finmere so the Works Team could test the MGBs for Sebring. That hardly constitutes it as being an ex-Works vehicle, in my book.
The title of the ad says this was the
ex-Works BMC Transporter and that it is a very well-known vehicle. As only one of these mobile service units, which is what they were originally used for, was modified in such a way, painted in the Comps colours and used as a vehicle transporter, and consequently very well known, then the ad is stating quite clearly, if not merely by inference, that it is exactly that vehicle - which is simply not true.
Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting vehicle, has an interesting history and is one of only two known replicas (an important point) of the BMC Comps Department transporter - and I would love to have it in my shed, if I had a shed - it is not and should not be represented as the ex-Works transporter.
This is a very important point, and judging by the fact that the other replica sold recently for a lot less, 35,600 GBP - see here:
http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/19286/lot/465/This vehicle was actually also misrepresented as the vehicle used by the BMC Comps Department. However, it is clearly a Series 2 (look at the differences on the windows for a start) and in the ad it says the owner contacted Basil Wales who confirmed it as his. To quote from the ad:
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When this particular unit's training function ended, Basil Wales transferred it within the company to the Competitions Department where he worked. In its new role the vehicle was used to store and transport display boards with Special Tuning parts mounted on them, while also serving as a mobile stores and workshop on UK rallies carrying spares, welding equipment, a Hydrolastic pump, etc. After the Leyland merger with BMC, the 5-tonner was refinished in Unipart livery and used during 1975 as a race transporter by Leyland ST, which was running a team of Triumph Dolomite Sprints and a Morris Marina for promotional purposes.
And:
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For various reasons the restoration took nearly ten years and was not completed until 2005, during which time the owner contacted Basil Wales, formerly employed in BMC's Competitions Department. Basil was very helpful and soon discovered that this particular truck was his: the one used to sell Special Tuning parts and to support the works rallying programme. Originally registered 'BMC 43',
There are images of the vehicle here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brimen/3015388049/in/set-72157608734124638
So, that vehicle was not the BMC 34 vehicle either.
Yet this one we began discussing is advertised as the real thing and nearly three times the price.
I think someone is telling porkie pies to try and increase the value of their vehicle.
I rest my case, your honour!
