Getting Ready for Paint

Now with our Mini Mark back in a rolling state, there were a few other tasks before getting it ready for paint. After all that time in pieces I could now put some gas in the tank and fire it up. Before that, one last bleed of the braking system, verifying the engine electrical and Vrooom! Pouring a little gas in the carburetor and a few cranks of the starter and there was life to my Mini Mark. At this point there were no doors, hood, engine cover, mirrors, windshield, or lights, but I couldn't resist taking it for a drive. It wasn't far, just up and down along the street, but if felt good to have it running again. Back into the shop, and let the body work begin. I didn't want the two spare tires, and rather than cut the wells out, I decided to fill them in, just in case someone ever wanted to return it to original. Fiberglass matting, resin, building up each well until they were ready to get the contours. Plastic body filler, sand, more filler, more sanding, sanding, sanding , primer, wet sand, finally getting both where I wanted them There was lots of other body work to do. I removed all the  snaps from covers and tops, Plugged holes from the original antenna, the power outlet for the hardtop, holes from the two driving lights on the cowl which I didn't plan on putting back on, and a few other holes which weren't needed anymore. Some had the edges cleaned up and resin added, other just received body filler. The whole body was sanded with 120 grit and then worked down to wet sanding. Red primer and more wet sanding, then finally a micro mesh pad over the whole body. Washing the body down and looking at the body lines until It was ready for paint.

Finding the right body shop was quite a challenge. Since I wasn't able to drive the car to each shop to get an estimate, I took pictures of the car at different angles and the loose body panels taking them to the shops I selected. A few came out and looked at the car in person, others just gave me a price, and a few never got back to me. The final decision was for the body shop I originally wanted to do the paint. I knew they would do a great job, and it wasn't far to trailer in. Dan's Body Shop in Michigan City, IN took on the job of turning my Mini Mark red. Jim, at Dan's made sure everything went according to plan. My son was given the task to pick the shade of red from all the color swatches. Dan's used PPG products, and this was actually a water base paint. PPG Mercedes Red was the final choice. I finished up the prep for the paint and asked my brother in law to trailer it there and back for me.



The day finally came and I rushed home from work and dove it up on the trailer. We got it down to Dan's and off loaded it. I gave Jim the keys and left it in his hands. While it was in paint for the next few weeks I started getting ready for assembly when it came back. Buying new Ford tail lights, polishing the aluminum brackets, polishing all the hinges and hardware, and doing something which wasn't done on the original. Each piece of hardware had a EPDM rubber gasket made for it where it would meet the body. The original had all the hardware screwed in with phillips head sheet metal screws, and direct contact to the body. Many of the screws were stripped or missing by the time I started the rebuild. My plan was to use stainless carriage bolts and serrated flange nuts for all the hardware mountings.

Three weeks after dropping the car off for paint I received a call that it was ready. The week was going to be busy and the weather just as unpredictable. The weather report called for light rain in the afternoon when I picked it up, and we made the decision to give it a try. Since the car was completely open, I didn't want to move it in a rainstorm. We were able to get the car back to my shop during a small window of no rain, or just light drizzle. WOW, what a change from the original tan to the new shade of red. The job of putting parts back on began. I installed the engine cover hinges first. That small porthole behind the passenger seat came in handy. I wouldn't be able to reach the nuts for that side without it. I was able to reach up to fasten the driver side hinge. Polishing the molding on the engine cover , re-installing it, and then attaching the engine cover to the hinges. The stainless carriage bolts looked great. I buffed and polished each head, cutting the bolts to length before installing them.

The Body

The first step after getting the body into the shop was to drop the gasoline tank. Four bolts, the hose clamps around the filler hose and down it came. The tank actually is rather heavy, so plan ahead for this and put a jack under it. Disconnect the sender wire and slip the tank out from under the body. You can now pull the sending unit and flush the tank. You can pressure wash the inside with special detergents to clean it. You will probably find a lot of rust inside, so clean it well and leave it dry out well. There are special gas tank paints which you can put inside and seal the inside of the tank, slowing the rust. You can still get the sender and gasket for the tank as it is original VW. They don't cost much and it is a lot easier to replace it now than once it is back in the body. You may have to bend the float arm a little to match what you took out. Put on a new gasket and tighten the screws down. It wouldn't hurt to get the outside of the tank cleaned and painted, then you can put it aside until you are ready to put everything back together.


A simple hint here. When you get back to working on the body, on the passenger side, way up on top, make a port hole in the body panel behind the passenger seat (I suggest around six inches in diameter). If you ever need to access the sender unit, you can get at it through that hole (you will never reach it through the engine compartment). It is also a lot easier than dropping the engine and tank to change out the sender. Make a cover plate when you are finished and screw it in place from the inside. Now that the tank was out of the body, I took my overhead hoist and turned the body onto its side. With the heavy fiberglass there was no worry of damage. Fabricating up some supports to hold the body in place on its side, and leaving the straps in place to the hoist I didn't worry about the body falling while I was working on it.

The inside of the body looked rough. The wiring harness was a mess, and the inside of the body was not painted. Under the dash was even worse, loose and frayed wires, bad splices, and a nightmare of wires running everywhere. There had to be a plan, so it was start at the back and move forward. Each wire was traced, labeled, splices soldered, heat shrink, tape and plastic wiring loom cover. I chose red loom cover, taping the ends, and lots of plastic wire ties giving it a professional look. Little by little, wire by wire, inch by inch I made it through each section of the body, painting the raw green fiberglass black, working the wiring at each section and finally ending at the dash. With all the ends of the wires labeled, it was now time to label the start of the wires and rebuild the dash. Patience was the key word here, I polished all the bezels on the gauges, checked each one for operation and cleaned the lenses. Once the dash was stripped out. I painted the under dash, put in a piece of plated steel angle for a ground buss bar, and started putting the dash back together. The front of the dash was a hand painted wood grain which didn't look very real. I also wanted to change some of the locations for the radio, lighter, and switches. I was able to find a wood grain Wilsonart laminate. It was a thin gauge, not like regular counter laminate. Making a pattern, checking it twice I cut the laminate and contact cemented it in place. I am a bit of a naturalist and would have preferred real wood for the dash, but with the constant sun, UV rays, and atmosphere, real wood wasn't practical. The color of the laminate matched the grain and color of the steering wheel and looked better than the hand painted dash. The naturalist side did come out however. I crafted all new knobs for the dash, (four-way flasher, lights, wiper, and inside door handles) from Padauk with a bit of stain to "brown" them up. I finished them with super glue, polishing them up to 12,000 grit with a final wax burnish on them. An added touch was to add a small polished stainless steel button in the middle of the wiper and light knobs. I finished putting the dash back together piece by piece.

Wiring all the instrument lights, reinstalling all the gauges, tucking and looping all the wires in a pattern and following the same red plastic loom and wire ties the dash was starting to take shape. Part of the rebuild of the dash was a new sound system. The original was an AM-FM with cassette player. The new was a Pioneer AM-FM-CD with MP3 and auxiliary input. I could listen to just about any format currently available. Commercial station, CD, flash drive and MP3 or Ipod. Along with the new radio were new speakers using the the speaker cups built into the front firewall, and adding three inch speakers to the center console. Rather than an external antenna I chose a hidden antenna which mounted on the front of the firewall close to the top. Since the body was fiberglass reception for a hidden antenna was better than a steel body.  It actually took more time to complete the body than the frame, but the inside of the body was finally complete. Lowering the body back to the floor, and re-installing the fuel tank the two halves were soon to be reunited. When you put the fuel tank back in, don't install the filler yet, That will be after final paint.

I purchased new stainless bolts and nuts, a new VW pan gasket and after lifting the body high in the air, wheeled the frame back under it. Connecting the steering linkage and shaft, assembling the brake reservoir, fishing some of the wires through openings and aligning the bolt holes joining the two halves back together again. A few hours later the halves were back together as a car. The body was still the tan color and it needed body work before it went to paint.

The Frame - Part 2

 Now that all four wheels were back on the ground, the engine and transmission in place there was just a little touch up work before moving on to the body. The original exhaust were low dual zoom, glass packed chrome trumpets. I had taken the heater boxes off the engine during the rebuild and added straight pipes in their place. with a little searching I was able to find the original low dual zoom chromes at CIP1 Some high temp exhaust paint new gaskets and the exhaust was in place.

Rebuilding the pedal assembly and master cylinder came next. The master cylinder had been replaced within the last few years from the look of it, so just a rebuild. New clutch cable, accelerator cable, and hook up the emergency brake cables to a new chrome handle. New pads on the three pedals, then temporary hook up of the brake reservoir. Adding fresh brake fluid and bleed out the system, fine tune the brake adjusters, brakes ready to go..

Next was rebuilding the rear axles with new CV joints, boots, grease and them mounting them in place. Rebuild the shifter assembly and after some minor adjustments to it drivetrain was ready to go. One other modification I made was to the front bumper brackets. The single bracket welded to the front suspension seemed a bit week, and I noticed the bumper vibrated when driving. I added brackets between the welded brackets and the fastening bolts for the front frame extension. I had to add a little bend to the new brace so it wouldn't hit the body when put back in place. I think it really "beefed"up the bumper. It was now time for the frame to change places with the body and start work on the upper half.

Compared to the frame you may say there wasn't a lot of work required on the body. In reality there was. I planned on going through all the wiring, all the gauges, wiper motor and linkage, then dropping the fuel tank and painting the interior fiberglass before putting both halves back together. I am getting ahead of myself though and that will be covered in another blog.

The Frame - Part 1

With the engine and transmission complete it was time to move onto the frame. With the benefit of an overhead hoist in my shop I was able to pick the rear end up and spend around a month rebuilding it piece by piece, the two rear bearing boxes (new bearings, shims and seals), rear brakes, (cylinder, hoses, shoes, hardware pack) transmission linkage, mounts, rubber bumpers, shock absorbers and exposed frame. Considering it was a 69 there wasn't the amount of rust I expected, and the brake drums were in decent shape. With the help of a wire brush, Wire brush cones for a drill, sandblasting, degreasing,  and sandpaper I eventually got down to solid metal. Once clean and shiny, I began priming, undercoating and painting, getting it into shape.

Once the rear half was completed, back on the ground and then turning the frame around I began work on the front half. The front  wasn't quite as easy as the rear had been. The brake adjusters were broken (not froze, but completely broken), brake cylinders leaking, brake linings worn, wheel bearings and seals worn and leaking, the ball joints very worn, the tie rods, steering shock absorber, brake lines, anything that moved was worn and needed replacement. The front took a lot longer to go through than the back did.

Since the frame was a VW, parts were readily available for everything through Auto Zone, Cip1, Mid America Motorworks and J. C. Whitney.  More wire brushing degreasing, sandblasting, sanding and overall cleaning and back to priming, undercoating and painting.  

Around three and a half months after beginning the frame, lots of blood sweat and tears and the frame was finally complete. My Mini really couldn't go too far though,, no engine or transmission, not to mention, seats, steering wheel, or any of those other things around you when driving. That driving part was a long way off although it doesn't hurt to dream. The refurbished frame was soon re-united with the engine and transmission. All the chrome on the engine and fresh paint on the frame made for a nice look. There was still a lot of work to go before the car would make it back on the road, but this was a big step forward.

Let the Restoration Begin!

Finding our Mini Mark and finally making the deal, it was time to get it home. It hadn't been run much in the past few years, but at least it did run. I took the chance of driving it the roughly six miles just to see what it felt like and what it needed. It kept stalling at every stop and the steering wheel pulled hard to the right when putting the brakes on. Half way home I passed a police car without plates on the car, and the exhaust was rusted and noisy. When I made it into the garage and turned it off I found out that there was a rather large engine oil leak as well. Doing a little more exploring over the weekend it became apparent that it would be better doing a rebuild rather than trying to fix one thing at a time and having it break down along the way.

My son and I took one last ride around the block and then back into the garage to start of taking it apart. My plan was to pull the body loose of the frame and work on each one individually. About two hours later my son and I had the body was up on my overhead chain hoist and we wheeled the frame out from under it. We lowered the body and put it on rollers finding a spot in the corner of the garage for it to "rest" for the winter.

The frame didn't look like much, it needed a lot of work. Worn ball joints, loose steering, leaking brake cylinders and rusted lines. The adjusters were frozen and broken, not to mention the engine, lots of work needed there. Another few hours more and the engine was up on a cart and ready for inspection. The following weekend I began disassembling the engine, laying parts out and making a list of what was needed as I went. Before the weekend was over it was down to a stripped block with parts laid out in the order they came off.

With the block being rather small it was somewhat easy to get it de-greased and flushed out. Patience, lots of solvent a few small wire brushes and the clean up began. Over the next four months inch by inch the motor was rebuilt. High temp engine paint, new gaskets, new parts where needed (oversize jugs and pistons) new oil pump with filter option, and lots of chrome. New carburetor, electronic distributor, chrome starter and intense cleaning of the intake manifold. Now it was beginning to look like an engine that could. New clutch and then a minor transaxle rebuild and the drive end was complete.

The move to the frame was not as simple, but that is another blog!

Mini Mark Advertising

Bremen Sport did a fair amount of advertising for the Mini Mark. One of the 8 x 10 color fliers which had a picture of a yellow Mini read. "For a color brochure and price sheet, send $1.00. For color brochure, price sheet and complete 22 page instruction building manual, send $5.00 (refundable with order). "Also available with mid engine chassis kits for Rabbit and Scirocco." I think there was even an advertisement that was run in Playboy. Another brochure showed a yellow Mini Mark with a small yellow fiberglass trailer towed behind. (I wonder if there are any of those trailers out there, or that 22 page building manual???????) The yellow seemed to be a striking color used to catch the eye of a prospective buyer. Smart marketing on the part of Bremen Sport. The tan was the most popular color they sold however.

Mini Mark Colors

What were the factory colors available on the Mini Mark? One of the sales brochures showed that there were seven factory colors available on the Mini Mark. White, Blue, Brown, Green, Red, Tan and Yellow. Vinyl look tops which came on the car were available in Black or White complementary or matching car colors were available to enhance the body color scheme. Browsing the web now days you can find a wider variety of colors, but these seven colors were the original. Talking with DeWayne, I learned that colors were added as years progressed. They even added a metal flake to some of the colors.

So How Much Did A Mini Mark Cost?

So just how much did a Mini Mark cost? Well, allot depended on the accessories you had on it, just like any car. Believe it or not Air Conditioning was even an option on the open top roadster. No power steering or power brakes but Volkswagen did offer the option of an automatic transmission, (I don't know if any Mini's were built with an automatic transmission). I was able to located two sales price lists which outlined the costs. One of the brochures listed the Mini at $15,950.00, and the other at $14,500.00. They promised average highway mileage at 32-34 MPG. Not too bad for a car built in the late 70's early 80's. 1850 pounds was the advertised curb weight with a 54-1/2" wheelbase. There was also the option of a 2300CC 4 cylinder Ford engine which did offer an automatic transmission. Does anyone out there have a Mini Mark on anything other than a VW chassis? The Mini also kept the VW factory heater which used air passed over the hot exhaust pipes to gather heat to warm the passenger compartment.

I was able to acquire a copy of the original Mini Mark warranty and have posted it here. I don't think any of us have a warranty claim on our cars anymore.

Mini Mark Name

So where did the "Mini Mark" name come from? If you look at the front end and the grille of a Mini Mark you will see the grille of a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV. It gives the car a real look of luxury, class and prestige. They removed the original grille inserts from the Lincoln and replaced them with a square pattern insert. (With just a little bit of work the original Lincoln inserts will retrofit into the Mini Mark Grille surround). The reliability of a VW, the luxury of a Lincoln, and a whole lot of stylish fiberglass in between. 

Mini Mark History

The Mini Mark was in a family of cars from the visions of DeWayne Creighton. He is also remembered for cars such as the Citation, Sebring, Creighton, Maxi Taxi and Mini Mark. Unfortunately they were well ahead of their time with the designs of these cars and they may have been appreciated more today than they were then. Bremen Composites as it is known now was founded in 1965 developing dune buggies in a chicken coup. Throughout the 70's and 80's Bremen expanded their automotive line in both kit form and factory built turn key production models. From what I have learned the Mini Mark was factory built conversion with just a few kitted to contractors (I know of three currently, one in Ohio, Illinois and in Kansas.). There was a fire at the Bremen plant in 1975 but the company rebuilt, ending car production in 1984 when DeWayne took a new job opportunity. 

Today, the current Bremen Composites operates out of five separate plants, including a full service paint facility, located on a 19 acre complex in the Bremen Industrial Park.  Some of the industries  currently serviced by Bremen Composites are van and truck conversions, truck aftermarket, commercial truck and trailer, RV, marine and other industrial markets.

Any additional information on the plant or the car would be greatly appreciated to share with other owners on this blog and preserve a bit of valuable history.

There was a Owners Manual for the Mini Mark. I have a complete manual which I will share with anyone who requests it. It looks to be a combination of a VW manual with inserts fro  Bremen.

Mini Mark Welcome

Welcome to the Bremen Mini Mark blog sight. The Mini Mark was a factory built conversion, not a kit car, it was built in Bremen, Indiana by the Bremen Motor Sport company. It was primarily built on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis making it reliable, easy to service and find replacement parts. Sales literature also shows it available on a Ford Pinto chassis. Bremen Sport started around 1965 building the Citation dune buggies. The two Bremen partners were DeWayne Creighton and Omar Hostetter. They ordered dune buggy kits from California and after building them thought they should build their own cars in Bremen. 

I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with partner DeWayne Creighton and learned many details of the company putting to rest some of the rumors and false information I had found since purchasing our car and starting this blog. The company built five different models of cars, the Citation, Sebring Creighton, Maxi Taxi and Mini Mark during it's existence. Creighton was the name of one the founders of the company and "Creighton" was also one of the car models built by Bremen. DeWayne gave numbers of around 300-400 of the Mini Marks being built, many more than the estimates of 100 I heard previously, but still low numbers to increase the value of the car 

Here are pictures of the start up facility and original assembly line in Bremen. It may be hard to see in the picture, but the original "plant" was a chicken coup. The partners ran extension cords and set up a salamander heater outside for their "factory". They started small and eventually moved into a larger facility on the east side of Bremen. (assembly line pictures)  I also talked to Lester M who is the man wearing the white shirt in the picture above. He indicated that originally production was one person built the entire car. As time progressed they were able to set up an assembly line in the plant which was estimated to be around 400 feet long. The picture above shows the end of the assembly line. Les indicated chassis and engines were purchased directly from VW, shortened and modified to allow assembly of the Mini Mark. They also purchased "donor" cars to keep up with production. A donor car was  gone through before starting it's life as a Mini Mark. 

I had read and heard rumors of a fire putting the company out of business in 1984. I learned that there was a fire but it was in 1975, January 2 by DeWayne's memory however the company rebuilt on the same site and continued production. Finally in 1984 DeWayne took another job opportunity and the company changed direction getting out of building cars. The company ran under the leadership of Al Hildenbrand during those changes. DeWayne believes the molds were put outside at a new Bremen plant and eventually sent to the dump. Sad ending to the beautiful cars.

While talking with DeWayne he mentioned that Wayne Newton was supposed to get a Mini Mark, and that Bremen did a special conversion putting a Porsche boxer engine in it instead of the normal VW.  Does anyone out there have a Mini Mark with a Porsche engine? DeWayne told me Wayne never actually got the car. It was built, sent to Vegas and before the presentation there was an argument between those who ordered it as a surprise to Wayne and the car was eventually sold to someone around Vegas. That was an interesting piece of history on this magnificent little car.

We found a 1969 Mini Mark a few years ago (August 2010), and it went through a ground up restoration of two and one-half years. I am amazed at the quality and craftsmanship that went into building the car. The fiberglass is thicker than most fiberglass cars (1/4"-5/16"), it is even thicker than a Corvette. The car is also a real head turner when driving it down the street.

The intent of this blog site is for owners and enthusiasts to share information on their Mini Mark's and hopefully find owners willing to develop a Bremen Mini Mark Owners Club, keeping the great car alive.

Lets see if we can find out how many of these unique cars are still on the road. I know there are a few that have made their way out of the United States. A handful have made it on eBay and a few even across Barrett Jackson's stage for auction.
I have documented 102 cars so far that are still in existence so the estimated count could be closer to 400 to those actually produced.

Thanks for visiting the blog, I am anxiously looking forward to your posts and comments. If you are interested in contacting me directly you can reach me at tatimm12@gmail.com. I would also be interested in seeing pictures of your Mini Mark feel free to mail them to me.

We are also on Facebook now, just type in Bremen Mini Mark and see the album of all the Mini Marks that have been tracked down. Feel free to put your buy, sell and trade there as well and pass the word to give us Likes! It is a medium for owners to share info back and forth without going thru the blog.