Mosquito (Hollier)

Mosquito was the first of two automobile marques used by Chris Hollier's C. L. Hollier Services. Hollier founded the small operation at South Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon in 1989 and offered complete automobiles as well as self-assembly kits. The Mosquito deliberately crossed a sand-track racer with a leisure buggy rather than copying a conventional saloon or sports car. Its chassis incorporated Mini subframes at both ends and reused Mini running gear, but placed the Mini four-cylinder engine and transaxle at the rear. That relocation and the purpose-built open recreational structure make it a Hollier automobile rather than merely a rebodied donor Mini. Accessible kit-car and marque encyclopedias agree on manufacture from 1989 through the company's 1993 end and estimate approximately three examples. They do not preserve a dependable chassis material and layout beyond the subframes, body material, wheelbase, track, dimensions, weight, number of seats, weather equipment, road-registration status, donor engine capacities, gearbox, brake specification, performance, prices, kit-versus-turnkey split, chassis numbers or survivors. Those omissions are stated instead of filled from generic Mini data. In 1992 Hollier introduced the separately branded Mountaineer as a more off-road-oriented relative with Austin Maxi power; it is not a Mosquito engine option and receives its own marque history. C. L. Hollier Services ceased production in 1993 after approximately five cars across both badges. The qualified catalog name Mosquito (Hollier) prevents collision with the de Havilland aircraft, Mosquito automobile projects and numerous unrelated two- and four-wheel vehicle names. One model row, also called Mosquito, accounts for the entire known range without multiplying donor capacities or individual builds.

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