Two hulks in OK...
https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/d/mini-cooper-project-cars/6699876404.html
I know "The Luggage". It was owned by the late Rocky Frisco, who was a keyboardist for some very high profile bands. He lived in Tulsa. I'll try to find his webpage here in a few. I met the new owner last year at a Harbor Freight but never went and looked at the car.
http://www.rockyfrisco.com
If you read through you'll find mini and car things he was into. I don't remember if it was on that page or another where he was interviewed about music but started talking about his mini.
Hey, I remember Rocky. We met on another Mini forum (I don't even remember which one) about 20 years ago. At one point I found out he was playing at an outdoor gig in San Marcos and I drove my Mini wagon up to meet him. We discussed Minis out in the parking lot between sets. He was a nice guy.
Bummer than "The Luggage" has fallen from it's earlier condition. Man, Rocky ran with some top flight musicians. Dan, what is it with Minis and Tulsa?
I had talked with him a time or two over the years. Hugh Cannon was friends with him so I forwarded this link. What he told me was this was the original luggage and the new/rebodied luggage is in storage with a bad engine.
Any one can relate the story of the name "luggage"?
Probably need to ask Hugh about that one.
Compared to most cars, especially from the 60s and 70s, our cars are about the size of the luggage you could carry in one.
Wild guess.
The name The Luggage comes from a series of novels that Rocky was a huge fan of. I never read them, but the author was Terry Pratchett and from my limited knowledge he's sort of a cult hero among some people.
I wonder how far gone the luggage is? Be neat to bring it back if there is enough of the body left.
Dan's skill + $$$ = Restored Original Luggage. But then again, there's apparently a revised version of the Luggage resting in a garage close by...
Luggage plural:)
Dan's busy. But the luggage twin may live on.
Has anyone here seen the car in person? I am interested depending on condition I can't seem to reply to the CL add anyone have contact info? when I click reply it says sorry something went wrong.
Try emailing this: cbfxs-6699876404@sale.craigslist.org
It's on the KC Craigslist now....
https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/d/project-classic-mini-cooper/6699280422.html (https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/d/project-classic-mini-cooper/6699280422.html)
I was contacted by a guy named Brad who was a very good friend of Rockys. He is the current owner of the Rocky's Mini "The Luggage". That is the reshelled Mini that Rocky re-bodied probably 20 years ago. Anyway, the original Luggage body was wrecked and that is why Rocky re-bodied it. Somewhere along the line, the city of Tulsa was giving him a hard time and he put 3 Mini shells into long term storage at a friend of his junkyard. Over the years Rocky had offered the shells for sale, but I never got a chance to see them while he was alive. I visited him on several occasions when I passed thru Tulsa, but never seemed to get out to the junkyard for various reasons. I enjoyed spending time talking to Rocky and he had some wonderful stories. But I digress. Fast forward to recent history. A couple of years ago, Brad contacted me as he connected me to Rocky and the Mini somehow. I talked with him on the phone and asked about the cars in the junkyard. He hadn't heard of them, but did some checking and found them. Shortly after that I did make it to Tulsa and ate breakfast with Brad and another guy who was a friend of Rockys. They took me to a storage building where The Luggage sat, in a very sad state. Rocky was a great musician, but paint and bodywork were not his forte. The paint on the Luggage was terrible, probably from when Rocky first painted it, and got worse over time. It was complete, but damn ugly. Looked like a McDonald's ad more than a classic Mini. Red and Yellow do not make a good combo in my personal opinion. Anyway, overlooking the bad paintwork, The car did have a genuine Cooper S 1275 engine in it. Sadly, they said it was knocking when they got it, so it is not good. Perhaps a good core engine for a rebuild, but not a turnkey car. The VIN and title are for a mid 60's Morris 850. Although Rocky called it a Cooper S, it is not. I think at the time, Brad said they wanted $5,000 or $5500 for the car. Not worth it in my opinion, but time passing, it might be worth it now. At least it is a solid shell (MK3) but would need a complete rebuild. After looking at the Luggage, we drove to the junkyard. The bodyshells that were there were absolute junk. Between crash damage and sitting outside unprotected, it would take more to fix them than you would want to spend. None of the bodies at the junkyard had VINs or titles. That itself might be a problem. Anyway, if anyone is interested in The Luggage that is still complete car, please email me and I can give you Brad's number.
Good info! Yeah I had ran into Brad at harbor freight and believe gave you his number since you both were tied to Rocky.
In the early 1990s Ron Graham was racing the Trickey Mini in Miglia in the UK and had access to new factory shells. At some point he told me he was getting out of the service and moving back to the US so I arranged with him to get me a new complete shell, including doors, bootlid and bonnet. After not doing anything with the shell for a few years, in the late 1990s I advertised the shell on Mini Mania and Rocky was referred to me by another member. I spoke to Rocky on the phone and about 3 days later one of his buddies was at my door with cash in hand (well cash in a money belt) to purchase the shell. That shell is what Rocky used to rebody The Luggage. So if it hasn't been severely neglected, the rebodied Luggage should be a good buy.
The plot thickens. MEB, that's a great story on top of Dr. Mini's story which fleshed out a pretty damn good story to begin with. Dr. Mini, can you email me Brad's number?
The Luggage is in Tulsa, right? Does anyone know a good Mini painter in the Tulsa area?
Quote from: velopackrat on October 09, 2018, 07:13:06 AM
The plot thickens. MEB, that's a great story on top of Dr. Mini's story which fleshed out a pretty damn good story to begin with. Dr. Mini, can you email me Brad's number?
The Luggage is in Tulsa, right? Does anyone know a good Mini painter in the Tulsa area?
I'll ask around. ;D
Be prepared to wait a long time......
;D ;D ;D ;D
A very long time.
Note that the shells available to racers were supposed to be as light as possible so they didn't have any sound deadening material added to them. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think there wasn't even seam sealer present in the seams. Hopefully, who ever painted the Luggage took time to apply seamsealer.
Quote from: 94touring on October 09, 2018, 07:49:23 AM
Quote from: velopackrat on October 09, 2018, 07:13:06 AM
The plot thickens. MEB, that's a great story on top of Dr. Mini's story which fleshed out a pretty damn good story to begin with. Dr. Mini, can you email me Brad's number?
The Luggage is in Tulsa, right? Does anyone know a good Mini painter in the Tulsa area?
I'll ask around. ;D
I just sent you a private message with the numbers. Hopefully you can make contact and they still have the car. Keep us all informed as to what you find.
Mike B, AFAIK the new bodied Luggage was a MK3 body and not MK4 or later. It has MK3 taillights, and that's as far as I really know. Can you verify this? Ron Graham left England in 93 and they were building MK5 bodies at that time. I'm not sure where Ron sourced the body from, but it's possible it was NOS body that had been assembled several years earlier. I know the racing community over there tried their best to get Ron into a later body style than the MKi he was racing. Between the historical aspect of the Trickey Mini and the possible deterioration of the MKI body, I know they really didn't want him racing that. That is really irrelevant now, but might shed light on why Ron got the body in the first place. Issues to consider would be what type of front subframe it has, which might also have been taken into consideration for Ron to use earlier subframes in a racecar. Do you remember such details?
Quote from: drmini on October 09, 2018, 01:26:29 PM
Mike B, AFAIK the new bodied Luggage was a MK3 body and not MK4 or later. It has MK3 taillights, and that's as far as I really know. Can you verify this? Ron Graham left England in 93 and they were building MK5 bodies at that time. I'm not sure where Ron sourced the body from, but it's possible it was NOS body that had been assembled several years earlier. I know the racing community over there tried their best to get Ron into a later body style than the MKi he was racing. Between the historical aspect of the Trickey Mini and the possible deterioration of the MKI body, I know they really didn't want him racing that. That is really irrelevant now, but might shed light on why Ron got the body in the first place. Issues to consider would be what type of front subframe it has, which might also have been taken into consideration for Ron to use earlier subframes in a racecar. Do you remember such details?
The shell I got from Ron and sold to Rocky was a contemporary production shell. It was not a MK3 body. Ron bought the shell specifically for me, it was not intended for the Trickey Mini. It was just that as a racer he had access to purchasing the shell. Rocky may have simply installed the MK3 lights because that's what he had. I've forgotten whether or not the shell had the big hole in the LH inner fender for the electric fan. When I got the shell from Ron it included used front and rear subframes, and other used and new parts. When I sold it to Rocky I kept the parts including the single-bolt front subframe. Don't know if Rocky modified the shell to accept the twin-bolt subframe setup, or if he bought a single-bolt subframe.
As an aside, it was while I was arranging to purchase the shell from Ron that I mentioned to him that Henry had left Seven Ent and he decided apply for the job with Michael A. After Ron and the shell got here I think Bob J and I, and possibly Paul S, went down to Hampton Roads/Newport New to pick it up. After I sold the shell to Rocky I regretted it, so in 2000 I bought a Heritage shell which I had painted and partially assembled in the UK. I completed that car in 2001 and I still have it.
I made contact with a couple of the Tulsa area guys in regard to The Luggage and they say it's now sold. I wasn't comfortable prying for details, sorry guys. Hopefully one of you guys struck while the iron was hot and if so, good on ya!
One of the fellows, Brad, relayed a good story about Rocky having rebuilt the motor himself. They fired it up and it ran for about 3-4 minutes before developing a nasty, loud rod knock or similar. Rocky shut it down and that was that.
So whoever tears it down? Ya gotta share with us what you found:)