Well, as the title says, I’ve just got a mini, but it’s not my first run-in with them.
The first one is a tale of woe. Back in '97 my mother bought a used mini. A K-reg in Nordic blue with cooper stripes. It looked shiny enough but underneath it was a right mess. The front end had had a nasty little collision, the floor was creased and the seats weren’t actually anchored properly. In heavy braking they would have this tendancy to kind of tilt forwards… She’d bought it from a dealer so Trading Standards could get involved. The man who had arranged the hooky MOT got into a bit of hot water too.
Well, as you can imagine, after that wreck I wasn’t to enchanted with minis. Every time I saw one I had shivers.
Well, the good news is that I did calm down! My mother said that she wanted a small car as a runabout. Since I’d end up being the one maintaining it, I needed something with good parts backup, competitive insurance and something which you could get dress-up items for. (Likes a bit of bling does mother dearest) Well, a Mini seemed like a logical choice. It had to be pre-1990 (for obvious reasons) and as standard as possible. And, of course, automatic.
Well, after a bit of research I uncovered what was quite possibly the right car. 1986, Auto, 25k from new, 2 owners from new, good and solid! Well, it’s not all good news. It’s been sitting for a couple of years so there’s no MOT and it looks like the cones have collapsed. I’ll post that up in another thread though.
I’m in the process of recommissioning it, so far I’ve pugged a spare headlamp in and I’m currently tidying up the original sills. There’s a lot of light surface corrosion but it’s solid as a rock so far. There’s a few little defects to weld up on the sills and the rest will be sloughed back with a 3M disk and treated to a dab of red oxide to secure it. The rest will be doused in WD40 for the time being. I’ll see if that will suffice for the MOT so I can have a rolling project. I’ll finish the sills, overhaul the brakes and pug it in for an MOT. I’ll either get a pass or a list of things I need to do!
Get some more pictures up and maybe start up a project thread so people can help and advise you along the way. Best of luck with it, lovely looking little car
The paint’s not in overall bad condition. The slight blistering here and there should scuff off nicely with a 3M disk and I can make some localised repairs and feather them in. As you can see, I’m made some temporary repairs for now to the worst bits. There’s one or two holes in the original sills but again, localised repairs will do a handsome job!
The interior is almost minty fresh. The front seats will need a bit of a wash down and the carpet’s threadbare in the driver’s footwell, but that’s not a problem.
Engine! Yes, it has one, all 998cc’s of it! It runs like a top but only when it has petrol. It was running on what was left in the float bowl when it came off the transporter! I’ll pick up the jerry can from the workshop tomorrow when I get the MIG.
Yes, the colour will be original. I did think about a full respray, but I don’t want to disturb the original decals, but the pinstripes will need to be replaced, they’ve weathered a bit. So, I’m going to see if I can ‘hide’ any joins under them. So, localised paint repairs only.
Don’t worry about the wheels, I’ve got the centre caps stowed away! I did think about minilites, but the original wheel trims are so nice (and, well, original) that I’m going to stick with the steelies.
The O/S wing is actually a replacement, but it’s been done well enough even I had to look twice!
If you want to keep the wheels original, i have the centre caps from mine, or the whole wheel cover in good condition, plus other parts such as alternator and air filter but it looks like you’ve got yourself a good one there
Cheers matey! I have all of the original hubcaps/ centre caps. They’re in a box in the footwell! I took them off in preparation for the upcoming brake checkup. Well, it’s one less thing to do. What I could use is a pukka set of original charcoal bumpers as the ones on it are a bit bent. Not too much, but it’ll bug me when the car’s ready for them.
One question I do have is whether I buy new carpets or make them. I’ll be making a couple of sets for the Deadly Dinosaur and Doc. Savage (the Mk1 Civics) so I could quite easily knock up a set for Dusty too. Question is though, can you get ready made carpets which are a good match for the originals? Does anyone have any suppliers they can recommend?
Newton Commercials is what many use for their carpets, but if you can make them yourself for a cheaper price then I don’t see why not. I have my old bumpers but their azure blue and some on the studs broke off when removing it so i doubt you’d want those :L
There’s a nice little carpet shop I know of. All the remnants you can imagine!!! I want to keep the same colour, but have something with a slightly better pile.
when i first got her
so i doubt you’d want those :L