My first mini...
Discussion
Sorry to intrude, but i have just read another PH forum a thread asking what your first car was. I have just had a flashback to one i completely forgot about as a 15 year old, and it just dawned on me that it was potentially the best car i will ever own, and i destroyed it!!! I think you guys will understand.... or weep.
Back in 1988 i was 15 years old, and doing grasstrack racing in mini's as part of a youth club scheme in sunny Croydon. We had 3 cars and 3 drivers, and mine was looking very dog eared after me being the 3rd driver it had had, and needed a new shell. One Saturday a guy in a big Hiab truck pulled in and said he had an old mini on the back, which had been found litterally in a barn and was to be disposed off. He wanted £50 for it (apparently the scrap value), or it was going to be crushed. I did not even see it at first, and explained i was still at school and had no money, and locals normally donated parts for us to use out of sheer kindness. He fell for it, and a tatty almond green mini was carefully craned off without causing any furthur damage. At first all i noticed was it had hardly any floors, or an engine, or a bonnet, or windows ect. ect. As he drove off i looked a bit deeper... It was a MK1. Almond green. Black roof. Faded stickers all over it. Heart racing, i thought i had just been given a Cooper S! Alas, with my limited knowledge of mini's i worked out that it had a magic wand gearchange, so could not possibly be a Cooper. I also worked out that it had a different top engine stabiliser, which i thought meant pre-1962. What was left of the floors showed signs of it having a roll cage in the past, and all the brake lines were run inside the car neatly and worked the drum brakes perfectly. The dashboard had been drilled in strange places on the passenger side, possibly indicating a rally trip being there in the past. It has remains of white door squares, and faded outlines of stickers over it, i made out Dunlop and Britax. There was a chassis plate but no numberplates on it, and a few holes drilled in the roof, as well as holes indicating possible harnesses having been fitted at some point in the rear bulkhead.
What did i do with it? Weld in new floors, a 1,000cc engine, cage, painted it blue and pink then raced it for a year resulting in it being rolled then crushed..... t
t!
I often wondered what past life that car may have had, a pre-cooper factory rallycar perhaps, or a rally development mule? Maybe driven by a Hopkirk, or John Cooper many years back as the viability of a Cooper model evaluated? Or just an ordinary Joes rallycar. Either way what a bloody waste that was, an early pre-62 Rally mini. tt. Quite sure i will never own onother....
Back in 1988 i was 15 years old, and doing grasstrack racing in mini's as part of a youth club scheme in sunny Croydon. We had 3 cars and 3 drivers, and mine was looking very dog eared after me being the 3rd driver it had had, and needed a new shell. One Saturday a guy in a big Hiab truck pulled in and said he had an old mini on the back, which had been found litterally in a barn and was to be disposed off. He wanted £50 for it (apparently the scrap value), or it was going to be crushed. I did not even see it at first, and explained i was still at school and had no money, and locals normally donated parts for us to use out of sheer kindness. He fell for it, and a tatty almond green mini was carefully craned off without causing any furthur damage. At first all i noticed was it had hardly any floors, or an engine, or a bonnet, or windows ect. ect. As he drove off i looked a bit deeper... It was a MK1. Almond green. Black roof. Faded stickers all over it. Heart racing, i thought i had just been given a Cooper S! Alas, with my limited knowledge of mini's i worked out that it had a magic wand gearchange, so could not possibly be a Cooper. I also worked out that it had a different top engine stabiliser, which i thought meant pre-1962. What was left of the floors showed signs of it having a roll cage in the past, and all the brake lines were run inside the car neatly and worked the drum brakes perfectly. The dashboard had been drilled in strange places on the passenger side, possibly indicating a rally trip being there in the past. It has remains of white door squares, and faded outlines of stickers over it, i made out Dunlop and Britax. There was a chassis plate but no numberplates on it, and a few holes drilled in the roof, as well as holes indicating possible harnesses having been fitted at some point in the rear bulkhead.
What did i do with it? Weld in new floors, a 1,000cc engine, cage, painted it blue and pink then raced it for a year resulting in it being rolled then crushed..... t
t!I often wondered what past life that car may have had, a pre-cooper factory rallycar perhaps, or a rally development mule? Maybe driven by a Hopkirk, or John Cooper many years back as the viability of a Cooper model evaluated? Or just an ordinary Joes rallycar. Either way what a bloody waste that was, an early pre-62 Rally mini. t
t. Quite sure i will never own onother....lee
dont feel so bad
in the last couple of years some grasstrackers round here did the same to a 997 cooper - the only differeance is that the car was very good. once they had used the car for a year it fell to bits, to they advertised the engine on ebay as a 998 (thinking that a 998 cooper motor was worth more than a 997), a mate of mine who is restoring a 997 saw the motor and bought it very cheap.
he did get some satisfaction from telling the guy what the car would have been worth........
dont feel so bad
in the last couple of years some grasstrackers round here did the same to a 997 cooper - the only differeance is that the car was very good. once they had used the car for a year it fell to bits, to they advertised the engine on ebay as a 998 (thinking that a 998 cooper motor was worth more than a 997), a mate of mine who is restoring a 997 saw the motor and bought it very cheap.
he did get some satisfaction from telling the guy what the car would have been worth........
My first car, back in 1961, was a Ford V8 Pilot, 3.6 litre flathead V8. Bloody awful too. Then I saw the light and, in early '63 bought my first Mini, a 1961 Austin 850 in Tartan Red. This was followed by a new 998 Cooper in 1964. Ah, the sixties - sex & drugs & rock 'n' roll.
My best buddy got a new 850 for his 21st birthday in 1961 and it turned out to be the first red Mini rally car with a white roof.
My best buddy got a new 850 for his 21st birthday in 1961 and it turned out to be the first red Mini rally car with a white roof.
guru_1071 said:
the 997 was the first a vey long stoke 850 based thing.
unloved for years they started to get good success in historic rallying and have now become valuable - plus they are the first coopers, so tick all the boxes.
Strange how times changeunloved for years they started to get good success in historic rallying and have now become valuable - plus they are the first coopers, so tick all the boxes.
I am old enough to remember the 997 and how all the press slated it as soon as something better (998/970/1071 and 1275) came out
Seem to remember it had smaller discs (7"?) rather than the 7.5 of the "S"
Everyone said dump the 997
Still when you see what is selling now for lots of ££££ when it was classed as rubbish then......
And I don't mean just mini's
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