We get a very rear and special look at the smallest of all compact trucks. Owner Mike Syfritt from www.aestheticreations.net has been a MINI Cooper nut for some time and when he needed a truck for his growing business, it was a no brainer that he would find himself the perfect pickup in mini proportions.
It's a 1980 Leyland Mini95 Pickup. This truck is all original and a rare find! They only made a grand total of 58,000 from 61 to 83. Now these Mini pick Ups are more sought after that the MK1 Cooper S from the 60's. What makes them rare because they were never imported to the US, and secondly; they were used as utility vehicles. That means they were used well and then when they rusted out they where junked. As far as I know there are maybe a few dozen in the US but are even hard to find in the UK because of their history. I don't really know all the history of this pickup but I find out more every day.
From what I can put together so far is. It was built in Oxnard UK just like all the rest. At some point it was shipped to New Zealand where it spent a good part of it's life, (Hence the small amount of rust), then brought to the US. Somewhere in the middle it was changed over to a Left hand drive car. In some countries you have to change the drive train over to match with their driving specs in order to register it there. Not sure if that is the case for this ill' truck or not.
It could have just been swapped over when it reached the US Now since my Business is primarily MINI and Mini Coopers I bought this truck as a unique way to market my company.
I plan on doing a full restoration and taking it to all kinds of car shows. First on my plans for restoration is to restore it back to factory spec. It's almost there now but still needs some TLC to look nice. I will make some small changes to it like adding a bed cover and the paint will stay black. It was originally blue.