34 July 2019 MiniWorld
[ 1959 Morris Mini-Minor De-L xe ]
Dave Rippard has raced and scrapped Minis over the
years. It was time to make amends by taking on an
epic restoration project of a 1959 Mini-Minor...
Words: Karen Drury. Photos: Jim Jupp.
ATONEMENT
D
ave Rippard has been around
Minis since the early- to mid-
1980s. “I used to go rallying
with a friend and then I joinedthe autograss scene and then started
racing.” Although not one to brag about
his achievements he was a pretty good
racer. “It was Minis in the juniors and
then I just progressed with that over 10
years. I was National Champion in 1997
and British Champion in 1998 in a Class 1
Mini. I also won Champion of Champions.
In the early days, when I was doing
autograss, we’d find a shell, you’d rip
it all out, race it and then skip it, bin it
or burn it. People bought an S from a
scrapyard, took out all the seats and
burned them and welded the doorsshut. It was a good part of my life,
crashing Minis, but now I’m putting
them back together.” Quite right too!
Dave has also won trophies for Mini
concours and has a collection of seven
Minis including the beautiful example you
see here. “I’d always wanted a 1959 Mini
because, personally, I think they are the
one to have.” He saw a for-sale post on