California Towing

“ If It’s TinyWe’ll Tow It! ”

Anyone who has come across members of the Shasta Mini Club will no doubt know they are totally into Theme cars. With Minis like Norman Nelson’s MNE Eagle to Steve and Stacey Lowery’s XS Woody, the northern Californian club tends to hog the limelight at many of the events they attend. The newest addition to the club is Jesse Nelson’s Tiny Tows, a 1962 Mini pickup she had built as a Mini tow truck. Jesse had been after Eric Gunderson of Auburn, CA. to sell the truck to her for seven years and he finally gave in to her persistence in early 2014 and Tiny Tows is the result. The British Motor Corporation produced a total of 58,179 Mini pick-up trucks over the years but we are not sure how many made it across the Atlantic. Built on the longer Mini van platform the the pick-up and van shared a front facia that did without a separate grill, instead they had slots in the stamped metal panel allowing air to flow in and cool the engine as well as supply air to the carburettor. This added to the utility look of the pick-up and that was enforced with the fact that in early cases a heater was an optional extra. Norm and Jesse purchased the truck in March 2014. She wanted a plain truck, but then we decided to “theme” it. We thought about an ice cream truck, a cement truck, and others but we decided that we should honor the all the tow truck drivers who risk a lot for motorists every time they go out on a job. Mods that we did: Interior: New seats, harnesses, custom dash, custom center console, custom door panels, carpet, and door pocket covers. LED Lighting, stereo, with speakers and sub-woofer, Momo steering wheel, battery, Engine bay: Steel braded fuel hoses, oil cooler with steel braided hoses, chrome crankcase breather, custom starter, tandem brake master cylinder, electric fuel pump, exhaust header and custom exhaust, silicone coolant hoses, stainless steel fuel tank, Tow Truck Conversion: Aluminum frame and diamond

plate bed cover, tow truck boom, with 2500# electric winch, compressor, jumper cables with extra battery, fuel can, fire extinguisher, J-Hooks, tool box with tools, gloves, vest, custom LED warning lights and flashers, tow truck road markers, powder coated finish on boom & railing.

Spec Sheet:

Overall length: 130.2” Overall width: 53.5” Wheel base: 84.2” Bed size: 54.75” L X 39.2” W Weight: Front Axle: 855 Lbs. Rear Axle: 514 Lbs. Total Weight: 1369 Lbs. Right Hand Drive Wheels: Wolfrace 4-lig, 10” dia, X 5J wide VIN: AAU7198729 Original engine: 850 cc 4 cyl. HP+ 56.1 @ 5316 RPM

Torque: 62.4 Ft Lb. @ 3670 Rpm Current engine: 1380cc A+ engine 4 Speed manual transmission - special wide ratio with 2.98 final drive