EBay Finds

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I had loads of Minis as a yoof. They were a rite of passage before moving on to better things. I made the mistake of trying to go back in time, spending thousands buying and rebuilding a 1965 1275S twenty odd years ago.

At the time I had a B plate Nova 1.3SR that just shat all over it and cost £800.

[Eddie Honda]

Fuck Minis. You'd be better off with a Hillman Imp.

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[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Sunbeam Stiletto or a Californian. I bet this goes well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-SUNBEAM ... Swi~JgRgMs

[Eddie Honda]

I bet it doesn't. What twat decided to stick a K-series in the back? (I saw the gear knob and had to check)

[mercrocker]

I've never won the Imp v Mini argument with myself. Having owned both, they each did things that the other couldn't do as well. If I was buying now it would be an Imp hands down, mainly because I could continue to get in the bloody thing.

[nebuchenezer]

I've decided/convinced myself the next classic I buy has to be a Mini. I've figured that they're expensive but at the same time still not ludicrously expensive. Prices are all over the place for them too. I really would like a pre-80s on skinny wheels and certainly no plastic arch extensions. Likewise it has to be a full runner and not a project. I've got far too many of them!

This in particular would be lovely to own, especially as it has many of the original Issigonsis quirks. I wonder what he'd class as a sensible offer...


https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1298927

Of course what I'll probably end up doing in practice is buying a post-80s example with shit paint and metal weak enough that a finger will poke through. But of course I'd have got it "cheap"

Taken from the old Wob:

Father Neb was in charge of his works company car fleet (mainly cortinas, cavaliers, granadas etc.) so when the cars came to the end of their useful life a fair few found their way onto our drive so we were never short of something to hoon about in, my favorites being the 1.6l base blue cortina I learned to drive in and the 2.0 ghia S cortina that I had use of after the Peugeot went.

I was still desirous of a bit of a project so when this was offered to me for the massive sum of £50 i snapped the sellers arm off:



1966 Mini Cooper

It came as a shell, engine, gearbox and many crates of shit.

It was many shades of colour so the first thing I did was rattlecan the roof red and give the rest of the body a brush with some grey garage floor paint. It looked OK from 20 yards

The engine was a bored out lump to the heady heights of 1022 cc and had the correct Cooper head and cam. After a strip down and rebuild the lump was slung in the shell along with Cooper S discs, negative camber arms, reverse rim steelies and an Alfa Romeo drivers seat. After a lot of faffing about it actually achieved an MOT and was pressed into service a few weeks before I left Aberdeen for college in Cornwall.

Me, my 25" framed racing bike and a heap of other tat were crammed into it and off we went on a 600 mile overnight drive.

It averaged 50 mpg no matter how it was driven and was a riot on the twisties.

It handled the drive faultlessly and subsequent drives as well. Bar the usual weekly fettling require it was trusty old thing and never really let me down.

Rotten as a pear mind.

Do it

[DodgeRover]

Minis are also incredibly heavy on fuel when modified for power, a friend's van used to manage 19mpg, which he said was about normal given the modifications it had.
Like a go cart to drive though, I really would like to try one I didn't care about round a track to find the limits of the handling.

[SiC]

I've decided/convinced myself the next classic I buy has to be a Mini. I've figured that they're expensive but at the same time still not ludicrously expensive. Prices are all over the place for them too. I really would like a pre-80s on skinny wheels and certainly no plastic arch extensions. Likewise it has to be a full runner and not a project. I've got far too many of them!

This in particular would be lovely to own, especially as it has many of the original Issigonsis quirks. I wonder what he'd class as a sensible offer...


https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1298927

Of course what I'll probably end up doing in practice is buying a post-80s example with shit paint and metal weak enough that a finger will poke through. But of course I'd have got it "cheap"

Oh FFS, come on! That's as rough as a bears arse. Cover sills and the rear valance to body joint looks like I welded it on 20 years ago in a salt mine. But unfortunately, It's half the cost of entry to ownership of a Mini that's not rubbish. You need £15,000 for a good* Mark 1/2 and even then there's some shit about.

Minis are crap, horrid needy old shitboxes where unless you buy something very good, the appeal wears off very quickly. There are much better cars to spend 7-8 grand on than rubbish like that. A Morris 1000 is just one.

If you must do the Mini thing, look for something like this that stands a chance of being a decent car. But if for £3000 and pay someone good the same again to fix it properly.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-Mini ... SwMIJgX5xI

Haha, I wasn't thinking of going for that exact car. At least not for that money. Yes they're shitboxes and pretty much everything is better on paper, but I've come to the realisation that's what I like most on classics...

Loads of vehicles are far better than a BGT - including most of what I also own, but that's still my favourite car I've owned.

[SiC]

I've never won the Imp v Mini argument with myself. Having owned both, they each did things that the other couldn't do as well. If I was buying now it would be an Imp hands down, mainly because I could continue to get in the bloody thing.

My mum always tells me that my aunt used to have an Imp. Needed a bag of sand in the front to stop the front end lifting and give decent traction.

Mini over the Imp for me. Mini better looking imo and of course parts supply is far superior.

[SiC]

Minis are also incredibly heavy on fuel when modified for power, a friend's van used to manage 19mpg, which he said was about normal given the modifications it had.
Like a go cart to drive though, I really would like to try one I didn't care about round a track to find the limits of the handling.

Modifying them holds little interest to me. Especially power improvements, all apart from the basic stuff, I see as pointless. Even after spending thousands, it'll still be a slow car. Especially compared to say something like my Clio 172 where the whole car cost half what a decent rebuilt and mildly tuned A-series lump costs now. Yet quicker in a straight line and I'd wager faster around corners too.