Hello! My name is Warren and I work at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. I started enjoying classic cars nearly 20 years ago. Most of my experience has been in air-cooled VWs. I’ve owned a couple of British cars in the past (Hillman Minx and Triumph Spitfire) but never a classic Mini…
Several weeks ago a found a 1977 Mini listed on a local classifieds website. I figured that the car would sell quite quickly, but as of a few days ago it hadn’t. The ad stated that it had had just returned from the paint and body shop and that it needed reassembly. So I decided to go see the car in person.
The owner said that he was going to cancel the ad, so I’m glad I showed up when I did. He had lots of calls and visitors, but no one was interested in having to put the car back together. He had planned on restoring the car himself (hence having it repainted) but has too many other projects right now.
All the parts needed for reassembly (interior, lights, etc) are included, but as the owner says, should be replaced. Why put dingy parts on a nice shiny car? My current hobby car is a 1970 VW Type 3 Notchback. With so few new parts available for the Type 3, I’m used to cleaning and restoring parts out of necessity. But I’ve been told that new parts for the classic Mini are readily available…
The engine is an 1100 with a manual transmission. It wasn’t running when I saw it, but the owner will have it squared away in a few days. That’s when we will finalize the sale and delivery.
Anyway, I’m very excited to have a new project and can’t wait to get started. And I’m sure I’ll have plenty of questions for all of you along the way.
Hi Warren & welcome to TMF
It’s not difficult to get any parts you need, most are readily available. You’ll get all the advice & tips on here that you need.
Will wait for pics when you get it.
Here are some photos from when I went to see the car earlier this week:
The water in the boot is from the lack of a seal. I’d like to get the car home and in my garage as soon as possible to protect from any further damage.
I’m to meet the seller again tomorrow. He’s been busy the past few days helping his brother repair his roof.
Can anyone tell what type of rims I have? I’m parital to the stock style with the chrome hubcaps, but if what I have are special I might keep them.
As soon as I get the car home, I’ll start a build thread in another section…
I met with the seller this morning. He’s been very busy and hasn’t had a chance to work on getting the engine to start. Rather than make him rush, and possibly make things worse, I decided to buy the car as is. He also came down from his original selling price, so that’s a good thing! I’m buying the car for the cost of the paint and body work… Anyway, the car is to be delivered tonight!
The car also comes with a complete spare engine/transmission/carb (a 1000 I believe) and some other misc. parts. I asked him about the rims, and he said he had a second set of “Dunlop” alloy rims, which were a special option during the 70’s. I wasn’t real impressed with them, but then again I like the look of the stock rims with chrome hubcaps. I’ll post photos of them later…
I have some questions about the VIN and other numbers on the car. I’m told this is a '77, but the tag inside the engine compartment says MK II. It has concealed door hindges and roll up windows, so it’s a MK III, right?
Anyway, here are the numbers:
VIN: XC2S1N 1054595 B
Body: 362581 (front of engine bay)
Engine: 8057 ER40515 AD
The square tag inside the engine compartment reads British Leyland. I found a smaller round-ended tag loose inside the car that has the same VIN but reads Austin Morris Group, British Leyland. Where does this small tag go?
