Hi All,
Joined the other day, been having a good lurk.
I’m Ian from Stroud in Gloucestershire. Wife (Elizabeth) and I have just bought a 1990 Mini Studio that a previous owner has dropped in a 1275cc lump. Also has wide Minilites and arches. Dark red with black arches, roof and bonnet. And that is about all we know. Other than it has 10 previous owners.
Shell was resprayed 2 years ago so exterior is very nice. Interior is a mess as are the electrics. Came with no working reversing lights, stalks span on steering column, no wipers, no washers, no horn, no fan on the heater and a battery that showed 9 volts.
Two days later, multimeter and some swearing later, everything is working bar reversing lights (I suspect the switch now), nor the horn, looks like a seized compressor for air horn. No worries, looks like simple fixes.
Elizabeth always wanted a Mini and I love older British or foreign motors (especially Italians) so made sense. I’ve a history (long ago) of running Alfasuds and Alfa 33s and original short wheel based rally Quattros (when they were cheap), so no stranger to multimeters and blown fuses 
We’ve had modern cars between us for 15 years, so wanted some “soul” back in our lives. Sure, I love modern engines, state of the art ECUs, braking hard with only your big toe, aircon, excellent stereos etc. But most would agree its too easy, too sanitised.
So here we are, full of excitement in our 40s, sucking up info. as we go. Turning the key and hoping he’ll start. (He is named “Stan”).
Had our first proper drive this evening and what a laugh we had. Brakes are actually ok once you learn you need to press them. Engine is very sound and strong. Induction noise through the carb takes me back 20 years. Suspension works, just. Had a few roundabouts where we scared a few folk etc.
Car was bought for the wife to drive and for me to spanner on. But I think the driving will be shared.
Hope to get to Himley at the weekend for some bits we need (all steadies need new bushes for instance), so hope to say hello to some local folks.
Happy to be here, I feel at home already.
Cheers
Ian (& Elizabeth)
P.s. I’ll get some photos up once I can find that stupid cable for the camera.
