When we first heard about Simon Fearnley’s collection of Minis, we weren’t quite prepared for what was in store. Not only does he keep a varied selection inside his spacious workshop including bare shells stacked on shelves, there are countless others lined up outside too. For any true Mini fan, this is undoubtedly a mouth-watering sight to behold, and we were keen to find out more.
It’s not uncommon for enthusiasts to own a small selection of cars, often in a garage or workshop, but Simon’s collection really is on another scale. In fact, you’d automatically assume he’d been amassing Minis for decades, but far from it – all of this actually began only two years ago!
“My first car was a Mini,” he explains.“I’ve owned many other types of cars since, but I’ve always held fond memories of that first Mini.” As the years rolled by and Simon’s day-to-day electrical business expanded, he noticed there was ample space inside his adjacent warehouse to store a few cars, or more than a few cars if they happened to be really small. The modestly-sized dedicated Mini garage space was soon turned into a workshop where almost all aspects of restoration work can now take place, and once some of Simon’s stock had been shuffled into an adjacent facility, even more Minis filled the available room. “We then had to start storing future project cars outside,” he says. “Every car here will receive its turn for special attention.”
