St Patrick’s Day mystery: where is Odnik?

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Today is St Patrick’s Day and thus an excellent day to take a look at one fascinating motoring mystery. Somewhere in Ireland, the world’s oldest surviving Mini might still exist.

It may not be instantly recognisable as such, though. The car’s story took a turn when Dublin enthusiast Jack O’Donoghue got hold of it at an early stage. Period photographs show a heavily modified car based on a very early Mini. The roof had been removed, the rear end reshaped in steel into a roadster tail, the doors shortened with lowered handles, and a windscreen from the Austin-Healey Sprite fitted to a modified scuttle. It was given the name Odnik.

Odnik first appeared in competition in December 1961, when O’Donoghue drove it during a qualifying trial for the Hewison Trophy – winning its class. At that moment the Mini itself had existed for just over two years and Mini-based specials were almost unheard of.

But what makes Odnik truly intriguing is its possible origin. The car carried Dublin registration CZA 333, issued in November 1959. The photos reveal the stamped grille seen only on the Mini Vans and… the 1958 development prototypes. So this car may have been built from one of those elusive, hand-built prototype Minis – vehicles widely believed to have been scrapped after testing.

There is a plausible connection. O’Donoghue reportedly worked for the Austin importers and assemblers Lincoln & Nolan in Dublin, where Minis were being built under licence from 1959 onwards. That position could have given him access to one of the earliest cars, possibly a prototype sent from Longbridge to help establish Irish production.

More recently resurfaced photographs and even a period sketch have strengthened the theory that Odnik was indeed based on an extremely early Mini, but its fate is uncertain. The car is said to have been used in the UK in 1965/66 before returning to Ireland, where it was sold. It may have been scrapped, but no one seems entirely certain. It is certainly tempting to imagine that somewhere in Ireland, beneath decades of dust, Odnik still survives – waiting to rewrite the earliest chapter in Mini history…

Words Jeroen Booij; Pictures Jeroen Booij archive

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