MiniWorld July 2019 93
with car trim over the years down to
choosing vehicles that used similar
trim materials, as Richard explains:
“So they were all BMC cars, so MGs, the
Minis, the Morris Minors, the Triumphs,
they all had the same colours, the same
grains so we were able, and still are, to
mix all that lot into about six or eight
di erent models. We invested in the
making of the materials, the right colour,
the right grain. It’s got to be right.”
The success of their MG, Triumph
and Minor trim helped them to meet
and work with restorers worldwide
and deal with key players on each
scene at home and overseas. It inspired
them to improve the ways they
marketed and sold their products.
In 1990 the company built its second
factory, keeping the fi rst one for
manufacturing moulded carpets and
development work, “That’s when we
started doing Mini,” says Richard. “We’d
done a little bit of Mini trim but one of
the main reasons we hadn’t pursued
it was because we didn’t have a high-
frequency welder which made all the
pretty panels and seat covers. I think
we got that in 1987 but we were so busy
making all these other things that we
didn’t really get into Mini until very late
in the 1980s. I remember Vera saying one
day: ‘We’ve got to do Mini. We’ve done
all the others – that’s the new one now.’”
“It seemed an obvious way to go,”
explains Vera, “because there were an
awful lot of cars left. What you need
really is volume. There were a lot of
Minis and they were worldwide so
it was quite a big market to go for. It
doesn’t matter what you’re making,
what you are producing, you have to
keep expanding to your next market,
otherwise you stagnate. And there are
only so many MGs and Spitfi res left so it
was a good thing to do. Once we started
we realised that it was going to be big.”
Richard adds: “People were beginning
to restore Minis to original specifi cation,
in particular Mk1 Cooper Ss. We
managed to get hold of the original
print for the Gold Brocade in early 1991
so we could o er the Cooper S Gold
and Silver Brocade. We had all the vinyl
colours made for the Mk1 Coopers and
all the Mk1 Minis and we developed all
the trim panels, the carpets, everything.
Very quickly, in two years, we had the
whole lot done and that’s when Mini
really started. We started o with the
Mk1 and Mk2 and then the Mk3. We
then came to the 1973 period when
they changed the body from the early
round tunnel to the square tunnel so
the carpets then changed. We were
very fortunate in as much that I was
able to obtain the original Mk1 Mini »
Vera's Morris Minor at the site
of their first factory in 1986.Vera with Paddy Hopkirk and Ron Crellin
during the 1994 Monte Carlo Rally.Richard gives Paddy and Ron
words of encouragement
during the 1994 Monte.