"FOR THE FULL UNABRIDGED HISTORY OF HARRY RATCLIFFE & BVRT VISIT THIS SITE"
http://mountgreen.co.uk/
The BRT Developments V8 Mini Cooper-Buick re-appeared at some shows a couple of years ago!
"1964 Mini Cooper S Buick. The car is very original and has been stored for over 30 years. The body is in excellent condition and is better than it looks in the pictures. The car was originally a fiesta yellow 1071 Cooper S, which was a new car when the project started in 1963. The car was built by Harry Radcliffe and Jeff Goodliff and was also raced by Harry and many other celebrity drivers. The car has a tremendous amount of history. There is an original Buick engine to go with the car, also a Jaguar gear box, original Les Leston steering wheel, seats, wheels, some of the Perspex screens. The car needs a radiator (which could probably be found using the under bonnet pictures).
In the 1964 season Harry Ratcliffe of BRT had demonstrated with his Cooper Buick that when it came to low volume specialist cars, there was no such thing as bad publicity. The Cooper Buick had been a bit of a disaster from the start. A Mini with a 3.5 litre Buick V8 in the boot driving the front wheels through a special prop shaft and converted E type Jag axle in the front.
Harry described driving it at speed as being like trying to throw a sledge hammer shaft first. The strange thing was that the motoring press loved it. The Cooper Buick was featured in almost every major motoring publication of 1964 bringing some much needed publicity to the, at that time, little known northern outfit.
http://www.minisprint.eu/page2.html
More photos of the Cooper Buick V8:-
http://www.jdclassic...ick-V8/8770.htm
http://mk1-performan...ita_history.htm
