The Mini Scamp is a Mini based kit car inspired by the

Mini Moke The Mini Moke (styled "MOKE") is a small, front-wheel-drive utility and recreational convertible, conceived and manufactured as a lightweight military vehicle by British Motor Corporation (BMC), and subsequently marketed for civilian use under ...

, manufactured by Andrew MacLean and the Scamp Motor Company in West Sussex. The Mk1 Mini Scamp was built in 1969. Shortly thereafter, BMC stopped production of the Mini Moke in Longbridge. The first Mark 1 kits, which were styled similarly to the Mini Moke, were produced by Robert Mandry in

Ottershaw Ottershaw is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. The village developed in the mid-19th century from a number of separate hamlets and became a parish in its own right in 1871. The ...

, Surrey, England. Parts from a Classic Mini were used with all its running gear and both front and rear sub-frames. The Scamp body/chassis is made from a steel, square-tube, box section frame fitted with aluminum panels. Options included a van, estate, or pick-up body, four or six wheel chassis, and short or long wheelbase. Power units range from 850cc to 1400cc with a multitude of modifications. Nearly every Scamp is different, as most of the car is left up to the owner to complete. The Mark 2 version was launched in 1978, which had a squarer body and stronger chassis, not using the mini rear subframe. In 1987 Scamp manufacturing and ownership was taken over by Scamp enthusiast Andrew MacLean, a

retained firefighter In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to eme ...

from

Turners Hill Turners Hill is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The civil parish covers an area of , and has a population of 1,849 (2001 census) increasing to 1,919 at the 2011 Census. The village is located three ...

. A factory was set up in

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

, Sussex but was moved to Rowfant,

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

, Sussex. The Mark 3 version started production in 1988 with demonstrator appearing in Kit Car and Mini magazines. The Scamp Mk3 GT Scamp appeared in ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' magazine. This was followed by a version built on either a Suzuki SJ chassis or the Daihatsu F50/F55. In 2011 the Scamp Motor Company acquired the manufacturing rights to the RTV, the Rough Terrain Vehicle, also based on the Classic Mini running gear.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Scamp Motor Company - Official websiteScamp Owners ClubWebsite about the RTV
* German Scamp entry Kit car manufacturers Motor vehicle manufacturers of England Companies based in Crawley