A mini history of one of the UKs leading parts suppliers for the classic mini.

Min-its was founded by Dave Adams in 1981 in Hockley Heath in the West Midlands.

Dave started out working on cars for customers doing all the usual mini jobs, replacement panels, servicing, engine and gearbox overhauls etc. Over time Dave became an engine specialist and built many race winning engines for both the track and grass track. Dave ran Min-its for many years and built up an enviable reputation for his outstanding knowledge of the mini.

Dave is well known throughout the mini business. As time went on the business evolved from purely working on the cars to supplying parts as well and ultimately as pressure on physical space grew to supplying parts only. Those who have visited Min-its will know what a pleasant, rural, location it enjoys and will understand the reluctance to move away to larger, more industrial, premises. By the time Dave had been running Min-its for over 20 years he felt the urge for a change and this is where one of those happy coincidences occurred.

In 2004 one of his customers was in the shop one day buying parts for his sons mini when Dave happened to say – “do you want to buy all of the parts?”

By a quirk of fate this customer was looking for a new challenge in life so a deal was done!

Not quite there and then but in April 2005 ownership of Min-its was transferred from Dave to a new owner – Julian Fishwick. The really good news in this was that Dave agreed to carry on working with the business to continue to develop it.

Julian's background is as an engineer having worked in vehicle development at Austin Rover (at Longbridge) and subsequent incarnations (Leyland Cars, Jaguar Rover Triumph etc) at Lode Lane and Canley in the 70s and 80s before moving onto specialist truck bodies in engineering management and then marketing. This is where Dave and Julian have a common bond – Dave left the truck business just before Julian joined so they have a number of mutual acquaintances. Julians association with the mini goes back to the late 60s when as a student he bought his first mini from a local garage - £20.00 but the engine was in the passenger seat!

This developed into a rally car with initially an 1100cc engine and subsequently a home brewed 1293cc. This first car ended its days upside down in a field in Leicestershire whilst competing on a night navigational rally. Another £20 mini was used to reshell the car and great fun was had over the next few years competing on various events – never with any great success but always enjoyable (apart from ending waist deep in a ford one night!).

Eventually marriage & children meant the mini was sold (having turned into a full rally prepared Allegro at one time – those were the days) and forgotten until one fateful day when 14 year old son said – “I need to do a project on engines”.

One thing led to another and there was soon a cheap mini on the drive undergoing a complete rebuild (which is where the association with Dave comes in as chief parts supplier) ready for sons 17th. After a year of service as a daily driver for an 18 year old the mini became too small so a different use was planned – sprinting.

This is where we came in – Julian in the shop buying bits for the sprint car and succumbing to Dave's sales skills and ending up buying the whole business – let that be a warning to everybody who deals with Dave!

Since April 2005 the business has continued to grow organically using the business model Dave set up – quality products, competitive prices, good stocks to provide rapid delivery (usually next day) and as much free advice as you can cope with! Stocks expanded so that a second unit was in use as a back up store and part time staff taken on to handle some of the packing and shipping of orders.

In late 2010 the decision was taken that the premises in Hockley Heath were no longer big enough to cope with the volume of business and the daily transfer of parts from the storage unit was becoming a chore. The search was on for new premises where we could have everything under one roof and give us space to do some other things. It proved to be quite a difficult task to locate suitable premises not too far from the original shop but in June 2011 we took over Unit 54  on Coleshill Industrial Estate. The unit needed to be prepared for operation so it was over the late August Bank Holiday weekend that a team of friends helped us move all the stock from Hockley Heath to Coleshill, it took 4 days and 2 vehicles to shift everything. Min-its re-opened in its new location at the beginning of September 2011.

Also during 2011 we were joined by a full time staff member - Mark Austin. Mark is an enthusiastic and experienced Mini owner. Mark worked at Longbridge until its demise in 2005 and went on to run his own Mini repair business. Mark owns several Minis and is currently restoring a Clubman estate. His experience and knowledge of Minis is invaluable in ensuring that we get the right parts to our customers.

We look forward in 2012 to continuing to support the Mini community and wish all our customers success with their projects.

Jan 2012