Jiffy!

[bigalan]

Took my dogs to the beach this morning. Spotted an unusual motor home in the car park with a surfboard strapped to the side!

Sitting on a tasty set of 12s and looking spot on! Didn't have a clue what it was so checked the tax disc. Manufacturer was Indispension. Quick search on google this afternoon and I found pics of the exact same one!

Apparently its called a Jiffy and its based on a Mini. Anyone know any more about them? I WANT ONE!! ;D





Apologies any Copyright issues on pics!

[PandaSelecta]

Why does it have a Honda badge on it if its based on a mini ?

[dave21478]

The camper body is a fibreglass affair made by Romahome, usually found on the back of citroen C15 vans. The not-very-well-finished gap between rear wheels and camper body along its length suggests to me that its either a home-made affair or a very limited production from a company who frankly, arent very good at it. No idea what the cab or chassis are from, but its quite obviously meant to have much narrower track / wheels on the front. Ill bet its shocking to drive, but I'm intrigued by its quirkyness. ;D

[mk14dr]

Apr 10, 2009 14:26:18 GMT PandaSelecta said:

Why does it have a Honda badge on it if its based on a mini ?

Going by the time and effort gone into the stance, it could be vtec powered a-la a lot of other minis?

[dave21478]

Looks like its one of only two ever made.

google turned up this...



Hello there,
I was wondering whether you would be interested in details of my near 'Unique' Motorhome!
I say near Unique as to my knowledge there were only two ever built.
The base vehicle is actually a Kit Vehicle that was built in the early 1980's called a Jiffy.
A company called Mechanical Services of Bolton, better known now as Indespension the Trailer Manufacturers, manufactured it.

The vehicle was available in kit form or built up as a complete cab and bare chassis to which a number of body variations could be used.
These included a Flatbed, Pick-up (which I also own) Milk Float, Box Lorry, Luton Van and Hydraulic Tipper.

The donor vehicle used is the Mini, which makes repairs slightly cheaper too!

Due to the manufacturing laws regarding kit vehicles back then, and the huge cost that would have been involved in putting in a production line, the manufacturing of the Jiffy stopped with only around 70 made.

I have been involved with Mini's, being the chairman of the West Of England Mini Club, and when I bought the original Pick Up I also decided to start collecting information about the Jiffy and start up the Jiffy Register.
Due to this I had a call from a gentleman who had a Jiffy with a Romahome body attached!!! This was of great interest to me, as I�ve always wanted a �Mini Based� Motorhome/Camper to go to the events in, and the only vehicle I�d ever wanted before this was a Wildgoose!!!

Anyway, I talked to this gentleman and he informed me that Romahome had made TWO around 1984, just before the Jiffy production was ceased.
He had never heard anything of the other one, and wouldn't even contemplate an offer!!!!

About three weeks later another gentleman called saying his father-in-law had a Jiffy Romahome and may want to sell it as he hadn't used it for ages.
My first thoughts were that this was the same one BUT as the first one was in the Midlands and this one was in Colchester, EXCELLENT I thought!!

After several telephone calls we agreed a price, (I�ll get to that later!!!) And I arranged to travel all the way up from Torbay to Colchester to collect 'Buzz' as it had been named!

On arrival, I was met by a very green, slimy vehicle on a damp and misty morning to be told, 'There she is, you'll be glad we removed the wildlife yesterday!) This referred to the families of mice that had taken up home in the dashboard!!!

Well I parted with the money, I drove it onto the trailer, (yes it ran!!) and bought her down to my girlfriend�s parents house.

[kee]

bolton, that explains it

[grizz]

Interesting, and I would be interested in looking one over.

[trg1984]

theres all different types of jiffys, check this site out www.jiffyregister.fotopic.net/ i really like the eddie stobart one

[minitravellerman]

This is an Indespension Jiffy - a Mini based kit car. Incidentially it used to belong to my dad and is based on a 1986 Austin Mini 1000 and was one of six such cars bought by the main technical colleges in Northern Ireland (hence the NI reg) to aid in the mechanical engineers courses.
In my dad's ownership we rebuilt it as a chassis cab pickup with a timber rear deck and was repainted in orange to match the existing gel coat colour.
Dad sold it to the current owner (from Scotland) who converted it into a Romahome camper.
It still runs its original 998 Mini power unit.

[composimmonite]

The camper body has Honda on the back because it was originally fitted to the Honda Acty pick-up. I had one and surpisingly spacious. To work on the engine you had to remove part of the camper floor for access

[fred]

Stuff you learn on here!

[retrowrongun]

Is this were the term "back in a jiffy" comes from lol

Quite quaint but totally nuts haha

[bavarianretro]

There was one for sale quite cheaply on here about a year ago.