Mrs's Rich's Mini

[rich 36]

Wife has decided, she wants to re-create her childhood and buy an old Mini, up to £1000+ to spend, what might we expect to get, over to you lot
Cheers

[plotloss]

A massive choice!

Get a copy of Mini World and a copy of Mini Magazine and check the classifieds.

There is an enormous choice of cars in various states of tune and structural integrity.

£1000 should get you a decent late MkIV I reckon.

Alternatively contact your local mini club (listed in the mags) and they may be able to put you onto a decent car for sale.

[rich 36]

local mini garage, have 2 on offer from their customers, both are around a grand, but both only have 12 weeks MOT, now i think that spending a grand entitles me to 12 months ticket, but neither sellers seem keen on having em' tested,(alarm bells)

[plotloss]

Ask them if they would get it tested at another garage just to get a list of defects...

[rich 36]

Worryingly, the garage, sem to be saying, thet you would'ent get a better motor for the money,
(82' with some later running gear upgrades bigger wheels, disks on front etc but reluctant to MOT WTF
If i was selling a car privately, i would MOT it for a year, a garands a grand right!

[rich 36]

Worryingly, the garage, sem to be saying, thet you would'ent get a better motor for the money,
(82' with some later running gear upgrades bigger wheels, disks on front etc but reluctant to MOT WTF
If i was selling a car privately, i would MOT it for a year, a grands a grand right!

[plotloss]

Bigger wheels and disks neither here nor there, you could probably get an 82 car and do both jobs in a day with limited experience for under £200.

Also big wheels and disks dont make a car legal...

Alarm bells definately and not a very skilled salesman it seems!

[Fatboy]

rich 36 said:

Worryingly, the garage, sem to be saying, thet you would'ent get a better motor for the money, (82' with some later running gear upgrades bigger wheels, disks on front etc but reluctant to MOT WTF If i was selling a car privately, i would MOT it for a year, a grands a grand right!

Avoid them IMHO, sound a bit dodgy. You'll get a nice little mini for a grand, with the best part of 12 months MOT - like plotloss said, have a look in the mini mags, and contact a few clubs.

[plotloss]

Yeah tis true, in fact you might find an old couple/person that have had one for years that they are getting shot of with low mileage.

Then what you do to it is down to you...

Although I warn you now its a very very very very deep hole you can dig for yourself by starting to modify Minis, theres just so much damned choice!

[rich 36]

right guys, think i have the nub of the matter now, this garage apparently converted this car from an auto, a couple of years back, and carried out quite a bit of re-furb at the same time, it has a patch of rust beneath n/s headlamp, and thats it.
they fitted the disks/wheels at that time, the mileage is a genuine 56K from 1982, when it was originally sold to, the now elderly couple who are the sellers.Garage confirm they WILL MOT first and resolve a slight blow from exhaust at front of car?
all for £875 how does that sound to you guys?

[plotloss]

Assuming the subframes are in order then I reckon thats decent money for a decent car (now it has an MOT)

[rich 36]

Sub-frames, are about as much as i know about the Mini, they howevever were part of the RE-furb, the only thing i omitted to mention, is that its painted PURPLE (with a silver roof) should i have disclosed this earlier?

[Fatboy]

Echo what plotloss said, as long as it gets an MOT and there's no other obvious rust, should be fine.

But it's SO easy to get carried away with minis - mine was only supposed to be a cheap 'resto for laughs' job

Can't beat them for smiles per pound though IMHO.

edited to add Purple with a silver roof sounds a good laugh - not a problem at all - adds character Oh, and check mine out - not exactly a subtle car


>> Edited by Fatboy on Thursday 10th July 15:26

[plotloss]

If its Armaranth then I think thats a nice colour combo.

Be warned though as soon as I can take my Mini off the road its going to be sprayed Chrome so I am perhaps not the best person to talk about garish colours!

[rich 36]

Grant mate, i see what you mean

[Cooperman]

When checking for rust check two vital areas.
1. Make sure it does NOT have oversills welded on and that the inner sills are rust free.
2. Check at the rear of the odds and end bins at each side of the rear seat squab. You can lift out the liners. There must be no rust in that area as, if there is, it will mean that the front of the rear sub-frame attachments are rusted and it's not an easy job to repair (sub-frame out, new sections with trapped nuts which must align very accurately).
Apart from that, good luck.

[rich 36]

Thanks for that CM, it MOT'd today with split gaiter on fronts (obviously) slight blow on exhaust OK and some kind of brake imbalance on fronts too? we collect it after the paint job mid-week cheers lads