JEM RESTYLING

by Paul Mitchell

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Background

I acquired my Jem in 1975, unregistered, un-roadworthy and extremely unloved, having rescued her from the weeds of an Adelaide backyard.

Her previous owner had used her for circuit racing, but when I found her she was a kid's cubby house.

Back in my garage I found she had a perspex windscreen, a weary 1100 motor, no brakes to speak of, questionable wiring, damaged front wings and paint that had been thrown on with a bucket!

The initial rebuild was with a view to getting her registered for roadwork, but after several frustrating trips to the Motor Transport Department I decided it was all too hard, and satisfied myself with circuit racing and the occasional club permit run. I installed a Mk2 Cooper S motor and mechanicals, a roll cage, wider front wheel arch flares and lots of go-fast stuff to make race day a little more interesting!

In 1992 the idea of driving her half-way across the country to the Minifest 30 in Sydney and Bathurst started another rebuild with full road registration in mind, incorporating civilized things like a laminated glass windscreen, a heater and internal linings. The wiring was completely renewed and the mechanicals brought to as-new condition.

in the grass Now as much as I admire the workmanship and dedication that goes into the restoration and reconstruction of historic vehicles to concourse original condition, I have always had a desire to individualise my own car, after all that was why I had acquired a kit-car in the first place. So I set to work designing and building an opening rear hatch and cabin divider which made access to the luggage much easier and a lot safer.

After several more visits to the Motor Registry Department I finally convinced them that the Jem was roadworthy and was issued with full type registration and headed off on the 2500klm round trip to the Minifest in Sydney. I could be wrong, but I believe mine is the only Australian Jem that has been registered as such. All the rest were registered before the need to identify the body shell and were registered simply as a Mini.

That initial trip showed me what was needed to make the car useable as an everyday means of transport. The first thing was fresh air vents ducted from beside the radiator to the dash, the next was a better muffler system.

Around OZ

In 1994 my wife and I set out in our 30 foot Bedford motor-home on a working holiday around Oz that ended up lasting 8 years!

I had built the motor-home with the capacity to carry a small car in the back. We started off with our old faithful Leyland Minivan, but after it virtually dissolved from rust in tropical Queensland, I flew down to Adelaide, drove the Jem back up to Mackay and used her for the rest of the trip. You can't beat fiberglass cars for standing up to extreme weather conditions! That 4500klm trip took 5 days (5days x 8hrs x 110klm/hr) and the Jem never missed a beat.

Our working holiday took us right around the coastline of Australia staying a about year in each place. We parked the motor-home in the sea-front caravan parks, and whenever I backed the Jem out, a crowd would gather. I was usually asked to do it all again for the video cameras.

At the end of each stay I'd pack her away again and off we'd go to the next place - more cameras!

When we were in Broome (top end of Western Australia) I had to put her away in the motor-home in a real hurry - a cyclone was bearing down and all hell was about to brake loose. Luckily the center of the cyclone missed the town but we still copped 160kph winds for several hours.

Next day the place was mess but luckily the motor-home and Jem was safe and there was no damage.

The Jem and I went to some places that were about as remote as you can get - and still be on a bitumen surface!

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