Dean Stockton has his Mum to thank for his love of Minis. “I was into motorbikes. I nagged my parents from the age of 15 to get me a 50cc which, after a year of pestering, they did. I tuned it and drove around everywhere flat out, like a maniac. I passed my test at 18 or 19 and got a 125. I was desperate to get a bigger bike but Mum said that all the time I was living under her roof there would be no more bikes.”
He was crestfallen but his Mum offered to help him buy a car. Sensibly, he realised that he could have just as much fun in a Mini. “I had seen many Minis driving around because I grew up in Surbiton, very near the original John Cooper Garage. My Dad was a car mechanic and metal fabricator so cars and bodywork were very much part of my childhood. “I bought my first Mini for £300, a white Mini City E, A-reg, which I then set about modifying as best one can at that age, with a limited idea of aesthetics. That car caught on fire and burnt out and that led me to my next car, which was a blue Mini City with a 1380cc race engine that was reader since issue one. I have all the mags still in the loft.”
