Stick or Twist on a long Garaged Mini?

[MiniMan64]

I am at a crossroads and I would like some opinions from 'car people' (although I suspect asking for opinions in the Mini section may produce biased answers!)

I have a classic Mini at home, I rebuilt it nearly 20 years, went to all the shows etc it was even in MiniWorld once upon a time. About 12 years ago it striped a ball joint and went into my garage to be sorted. This unfortunately coincided with a job change and the arrival of small versions of me which severly limited car time fittering about with Mini's in garages. A well trodden path followed by many I'm sure.

Now the kids are older but the mentally busy job remains and I've been trying to think about getting it back to life over the last year or so. Unfortunately its got a seized clutch (possibly slave cylinder) which needs sorted and some inevitable rust has appeared underneath too and it requires professionals and money. There's a local chap who works on Mini's and classics but he has a near year long waiting list for work being done and there aren't many other local options that I'm aware of. So here's the question.

Is it actually worth sinking money into it to sort it out? I'm at the stage now where I don't really want to faff around with cars in garages, I want to drive them and enjoy them. Mini values seem to be all over the place at the moment and there are some very reasonably priced cars about that would probably cost in the region of what I'd need to spend on mine and plus the time involved.

Is it better to just move it on as a cheap project for someone to sort who has the time and inclination and buy another (working) one?

Keep this one and sort it and just suck up that the money needs spending?

Put mine into proper storage (parent's barn) to be sorted at a later date and spend the repair money on something else fun to drive (this is what I miss!)?

[annodomini2]

There's 2 primary issues:

1. Will it be financially beneficial to restore my existing car (using professionals) and be in credit, so to speak. No
2. Will it be financially beneficial to sell mine and buy a "working" one, depends but probably not.

Basically it's a "how long is a piece of string?" question with many variables.

At the end of the day it becomes an emotional rather than a financial decision.

Sometimes it's better the devil you know.

Restoring yours is more predictable, but not always the most cost effective. But it's subject to risk in buying something else.

Now the exception to this is timing, do you want something to drive now? Or are you prepared to wait?

The advantage of storing and buying another is having something now, the problem is this is how you end up with 20 minis.

[InitialDave]

Clutch issue and balljoint should be relatively straightforward, my concern would be the rust - how bad is it, and how did it get so bad if garaged?

I have multiple "I've only had it two decades, I'll do something about it eventually" cars, so I'm the wrong person to ask, really, but for me "do I keep it?" is simply an extension of "do I still like it/does it still interest me?", and reality gets bent to fit that.

[stevieturbo]

If you do not want to work at them, and don't really care much for that side of owning a car, then sell it.

Buy something you can enjoy driving.

I like working at cars, I do not get the time I used to anymore, and I think Mini's are great. I'd love to build a Mini van or estate.

However.....I know fine rightly I would not want to drive it. They're a novelty these days, I did drive one for years, but looking back....I can see they were never nice to drive really.

If I ever did build it would only be for racing or motorsport use really.....but I don't have the free time