Tuesday 18 April 2017

An Ogle in Australia

I am often surprised to learn that Mini based cars have made it to certain parts of the world. I never heard of any Ogles in Australia, but there is at least one, or so it seems. Simon Neilson‎ of Perth bought an example he owned before and asked me whether I knew more about it. He wrote: "I've been looking for a Cooper 'S' to have dad & son times in and I re-found my Mini Ogle SX1000. The car was originally purchased From The Chequered Flag garage by a Chinese rubber planter Tunku Mudzafa who didn’t register it in England but took it back to Malaya for his son Derek to use. After only six months Derek traded it for a new MG at Wearne Brothers Ltd where Arthur Rogers was the MG Sales Manager. Arthur bought the car and owned it until 1975. He shipped it to Perth, Australia in 1970.

"The Ogle comes with chassis number MO/62/040 and was originally light metallic silver but he painted it white as the metallic paint did not withstand the tropical conditions. He also ordered a second rear window as the one in the car had not been tempered correctly. The Ogle was never registered in England. It requires full body restoration, has 7.5"disk brakes, a reconditioned 1275, spunky 60's sports seats and a sporty dash. I have the full history for the car that I will post another time. Big thanks to my mate Peter (grey jumper) for taking me to Geraldton to collect it." Simon has much more of the car's history, so hopefully we'll learn more soon. I did not know it! But I do wonder if this is the only Ogle in Australia?

Simon's mate Peter (left) who towed the vehicle home, his son Cooper (middle) plus Helen and Allen -  the daughter & son of the owner Arthur who owned it from 1963 - 1975 and from 2004 - 2017
Picture courtesy Simon Neilson

And that's Arthur Rogers who owned the car for 25 years, here with Simon and his son Cooper
Picture courtesy Simon Neilson

The car requires a full body restoration, says Simon, but at least it's complete
Picture courtesy Simon Neilson

The front sees added air intakes. All because of the tropical climates it had to deal with
Picture courtesy Simon Neilson


1 comment:

  1. WOW! Great to be made aware of it's presence out here. The Ogle and the Unipower are my 2 favourite mini variants. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll ever see this one in the flesh being in WA but I sure hope it gets restored (although I don't find that blue very complimentary to the car).

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