Following the success of the Mini Moke and Scamp and the successful if unstable twin engine'd "Twini" John Cooper built the military wanted to see if British Leyland could make a four wheel drive platform for the Mini as they were using Mini vans quite extensively at the time and four wheel drive would be advantageous. In the late 60's they did. Similar to the Austin Ant BL replaced the diff' from a 1969 Clubman Estate with a transfer box and a prop shaft going the a modified Morris Minor van rear axle. A prototype was built but by the time I wrote about it in 1997 (work experience for Miniworld magazine) it had been converted to a pick up body and given mud tyres. The loom was never completed; it didn't have lights or windows and only had a drivers seat bit it was this prototype that gave me the idea of getting something similar. A week later I bought my first Panda 4x4.
A few years later I built a Subaru Justy powered Mini (that was great but died shortly after I sold it because the new owner insisted on using it in four wheel drive all the time). As for the original Mini 4x4 it was shelved as it cost too much and the extra weight and drag from the prop' shaft put too much strain on the already flustered gearbox. There wasn't enough room without expensive alteration to the body for Gypsy, Ant or even Land Rover running gear but as a concept the idea lived on with the Subaru Vivio, Justy, Dihatsu Domino 4wd, Suzuki Wagon 4x4, Panda 4x4 and even things like the Rav4 and Mitsubishi Pini.
So even though the Panda 4x4 was the first production car of its kind the idea had been floating about for ages and if it wasn't for crazy people like John Cooper we wouldn't have cars anywhere near as much fun today.
Slightly off topic but it does explain where my obsession started.
