A little off season work on the Mini Mark. I have always had concerns with the small brake lights on the Mini Mark, so using modern technology and LED's I was able to find two high intensity red LED bars. Taking the bar apart I was able to get some clear acrylic tubing, slide the LED bars inside, and seal the tubing. I drilled thru the chrome mounting bracket to route the wires down into the read compartment and spliced them into the brake light wiring. End result, very bright additional brake lights giving me a bit more security from being rear ended while out enjoying the road!
I had a once in a lifetime opportunity recently, first to learn of one of the co-founders of Bremen, and then secondly to be able to sit down face to face and discuss these wonderful cars with him.
While discussing the production of Mini Mark's with co-founder DeWayne Creighton, he shared some insights on what period of the company's production your car may have been built in. I will break these down to early, mid and late production units.
The very first Mini Marks did not have an operational trunk in front. The "trunk" had no doors and you could only gain access to the area through the passenger compartment.
There were also two different versions of door latches and interior handles. The early cars had a slide rod for the door catch. DeWayne indicated the early latch actually had to be built into the doors. The interior fiberglass door panel was installed after the latch was installed. (May be one reason I wasn't able to fully remove my latch during my rebuild.) As years progressed cars moved to a conventional door lock mechanism as on current production cars. The inside handles were different on these units as well. Early versions had a push post and later versions had a pull out interior latch.
The last items 0f distinction were the bumpers. early cars had a solid one piece flat bumper front and back. mid years had two piece flat steel bumpers, and later years had formed steel bumpers.
Working with these three "keys" you may be able to determine if you have an early, mid or late production car.
We also discussed the molds that were used in production. The molds and tooling were destroyed in the fire of January 1975, Bremen rebuilt all of the tooling and he stressed that it wasn't cheap tooling. Some companies made molds which were held together with he said, but our molds were all braced with steel tubing, giving consistent bodies each and every time. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, the sad ending is that he believes the molds were hauled to dump after production stopped in 1984. The bodies were madeof chopped strand rather than laid mat, and DeWayne was confident you could pick up the car from the lip of the fender. (not sure I want to try that to prove him right or wrong)
I know it has been a while since I have made a post to the blog, the blog is still getting many views and I have been busy enjoying our Mini Mark and conversing on the Facebook page. The weather has been a bit cool, and rainy, but while not necessarily out driving I am busy looking for new car shows to attend this summer. Recently I came across something that just seemed ironic to say the least.
The Bremen Indiana Fire Department was hosting a Car Show July 2, 2015 as part of their Summer Fair. Bremen is only around an hours drive, and as long as the weather held this was a show I was looking forward to. This would be the first trip our car had made back home, and it was being hosted by the Fire Department, which worked the fire that destroyed the production plant and put the nail in the coffin for the Mini Mark.
As it turned out the day was beautiful, mid 70's and barely a cloud in the sky. I had been in contact with Adam who was in charge of the show with a few emails and he knew we were coming. I had also asked him for ANY information he could dig up on the car or the plant.
Adam was able to get me a name before the show, but that wasn't the end of it. He spread the word and during the show I made contact with around eight people familiar with the cars and the factory. I will be following up over the next few weeks with the contacts made to see if I can put the story in a little better verified format than what I have posted.
The Mini Mark didn't bring home any awards at this show, but the contacts made far outweigh any award. One thing for sure, the car did get allot of attention and comments during the show. There were also a group of people who didn't know a car was built in Bremen.
There was a rather interesting story that one of the ex police chiefs shared. There was a Mini Mark in Bremen and it was driven in the local parade. After the parade the owner took the car home and parked it in the driveway. A few hours later the owner came out and the car was gone. Now mind you Bremen isn't a big town by any means, but someone had stolen the Mini Mark. Police reports were filed, and a few days later the local police were contacted by a department in Alabama, as it seems they had recovered the Mini Mark. Two teens had stolen the car and driven it to Alabama to a buyer. Well, on their way, an office was intrigued by the car on the road. The car hadn't broken and laws, but he pulled it over for a look. One thing led to another and the thieves are apprehended and the car returned home.
Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to correct and update previous posts on the Mini Mark, Hopefully I will be able to piece together more of the history of this great car.
Until then, enjoy the summer and getting your car out on the highway.
February 12, 2015, Our Bremen Mini Mark has been honored to have Heidi Van Horne post an article on her Houston Chronicle Blog about it. Here is the link for your reading pleasure:
http://blog.chron.com/heidispics/2015/02/bremen-mini-mark-is-a-rare-and-sophisticated-model/
Heidi did an excellent job of capturing the uniqueness of this car and sharing it with her reading audience. She has a series of other fine articles on her blog so why not take the time to save it to your favorites?
Hopefully her post will enlighten her readers and others to what we have know as owners, the Mini Mark IS Rare and Sophisticated!
January, 2015! Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2014 was a very good year for you and that you were able to spend some time behind the wheel of you Bremen Mini Mark.
Even though it is snowing outside as I sit here writing this I am already making some "drive to" plans for the upcoming year.
I am finding less and less to do on the car during the winter months, so it must be finished.
Still getting many views on this blog as well as the Facebook page, and still finding a few cars that I haven't seen before.
Keep posting the questions, pictures, and just what you are doing with your Bremen Mini Mark. That is the only way we can keep them alive!
