Deep dive into rare Sanderson’s history
One of the first sports cars to use the Mini’s mechanicals was the Deep Sanderson 301, mating the BMC baby’s front-drive powertrain to the rear wheels. It was conceived and built by Lawrencetune boss and Morgan racer Chris Lawrence, who famously took the miniature coupé to Le Mans in 1963 and ’64.
Exactly how many DS301S were built is hard to pin down and Jeroen Booij, author of Maximum Mini, thinks some 15 examples must have been constructed throughout the 1960s, with seven known survivors in the UK, Europe and Japan. That another would turn up in Mexico, however, was a great surprise.
Booij was contacted by Henry Davis, who’d found out about the DS301 in Mexico City and was thinking of making an offer to buy it, but knew nothing about the cars. In the end he decided against it, but his friend Victor Milke instead purchased the British rarity, which appears to be in a very original state. The left-hand-drive car retains its signature ‘Lawrence Link’ rear suspension and gearbox linkage, along with some curious holes in the bonnet, possibly Buicksourced, that were presumably added to help cool the radiator in the Central American climate.
With the Mexican vehicle licensing agency being closed due to COVID-19, unravelling the car’s history is proving to be a challenge, but Milke has discovered that it uses an 850 engine from a Morris Mini-minor that was first sold in Mexico in 1960, and was last on the road in the early ’70s. He is now embarking on a restoration, and plans to retain it as a road car.