Tell Us Something Really Trivial About Your Life (Vol 31)
Discussion
glenrobbo said:
I have calculated that if I am careful, I have enough money to live until a week next Tuesday. 
Fast cars, boozing, dancing girls - what a way to go!You mentioned Equitable Life. My folks had few absolutes in their teachings for my brother and me. Their financial rule was, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
So it was a surprise to learn they had divided their money between Equitable Life and Northern Rock. Apart from from a very modest share portfolio, that was it. Their prospects went from very comfortable to okay.
I say Share Portfolio. It was more like the Parish Magazine on a slow news month.
Morning folks. Another week on night turns at work looms, nice and quiet hopefully!
I’m bidding on a Discovery Td5 at the moment on fleabay, I wanted a Series but they’ve gone up stupid amounts! I knew after the Defender stopped production prices for them would go up, but it seems that combined with the removal of MoT and VED requirements for anything over 40 years old has really pushed prices up. I regret selling my Series 3 a few years ago (running, MoT’d) for a grand - it’s now £4000 to find a reasonable running S3
Even Disco prices are on the rise, gone are the days of £500 Discos with a year’s test.
I’m bidding on a Discovery Td5 at the moment on fleabay, I wanted a Series but they’ve gone up stupid amounts! I knew after the Defender stopped production prices for them would go up, but it seems that combined with the removal of MoT and VED requirements for anything over 40 years old has really pushed prices up. I regret selling my Series 3 a few years ago (running, MoT’d) for a grand - it’s now £4000 to find a reasonable running S3
Even Disco prices are on the rise, gone are the days of £500 Discos with a year’s test.
DickyC said:
The MkI is worth big money. The MkII not as much.
I'm not helping am I?
Not really no! Right, some Mini Cooper trivia, gentlemen, you have been warned, eyes down for a full house and no nodding off at the back...I'm not helping am I?
Mk1s will always be worth more as much down to desirability and their more colourful period charm as much as rarity, but generally the 'less desirable' Mk2s and Mk3s were built in smaller numbers over a shorter time frame, any road up, here be the vital statistics purloined from John Parnell's 'Original Cooper & S' bible...
Mk1 997 Cooper = 24,860 built from 1961 to 1964
Mk1 998 Cooper = 39,364 built from 1963 to 1967
Mk1 970 Cooper S = 963 built from 1964 to 1965 (homologation special)
Mk1 1971 Cooper S = 4,031 built from 1963 to 1964
Mk1 1275 Cooper S = 14, 313 built from 1964 to 1967
(Total Mk1 production = 83,531)
Mk2 998 Cooper = 16,396 built from 1967 to 1969
Mk2 1275 Cooper S = 6,329 built from 1967 to 1970
(Total Mk2 production = 22,725)
Mk3 1275 Cooper S = 1570 built from 1970 to 1971
(Total Mk1, 2 and 3 production = 107,826, about half of which were exported)
Despite owning one of the 6,329 Mk2 S's for the last eight years I dearly wish I still had this little chap, my November '65 built / February '66 registered Mk1 1275 Morris Cooper S, unrestored with optional r/hand tank, factory fitted 'recliners' and almost a full history from new...
Who's that snoring at the back...?
Ooh, thats lovely. Always liked the early Mins.
An ex-girlfriend's Dad was a serial British Leyland licker, with a couple of mint-condition MG Maestros hidden away. He also had a number of Minis, including a 1071S and a 1275 that he used to race at Shelsley Walsh. In his barn he had things like boxes of EN40 crankshafts, piles of twin side draught webers, pallets of engine parts, plastic windows, roll cage bits and much more. He also had a Lancia Fulvia Zagato hidden away.
Wish I'd been able to buy one off him, but I was brassic at the time
An ex-girlfriend's Dad was a serial British Leyland licker, with a couple of mint-condition MG Maestros hidden away. He also had a number of Minis, including a 1071S and a 1275 that he used to race at Shelsley Walsh. In his barn he had things like boxes of EN40 crankshafts, piles of twin side draught webers, pallets of engine parts, plastic windows, roll cage bits and much more. He also had a Lancia Fulvia Zagato hidden away.
Wish I'd been able to buy one off him, but I was brassic at the time
My bro's was a MkII Cooper S. He had it for 35 years. Six years ago when he came to sell it, Bonhams had just had a fantastic result with an early Mini so I suggested he used them. They were all over it and estimated he'd get £16,000. They suggested a reserve of £12,000. On the day it didn't make £10,000 in the auction, but the high bidder approached Bonhams who asked Pete if he'd do a deal and he did. I've always thought it was just shy of £10,000 but I just looked it up and it went for £9,416 including the premium.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20926/lot/330/
If I had to do it again, I'd make it as standard as possible. Pete's had correct period features, like Special Tuning seats and Dunlop D1 wheels and that did nothing for its prospects. We heard two lads talking about it in the tea queue and they were saying it might be a Heritage shell, despite the auctioneer saying it was original. Never mind, you live and learn.
It went like stink.
After an accident in a Micra, Pete wouldn't drive it any more. His theory being that he came out of a 30mph accident in a modern car with a cut face and broken ribs and wouldn't have stood a chance in the Mini. But it's an ill wind and all that and I got to drive it to Hendon for the auction. He drove his wife's modern Cooper and the old car won the traffic light Grand Prix every time. The performance levelled off around 90. It was like hitting a wall. It would clock 110 but took forever to get there. I guess that was about 100.
He paid £500 for it in 1975.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20926/lot/330/
If I had to do it again, I'd make it as standard as possible. Pete's had correct period features, like Special Tuning seats and Dunlop D1 wheels and that did nothing for its prospects. We heard two lads talking about it in the tea queue and they were saying it might be a Heritage shell, despite the auctioneer saying it was original. Never mind, you live and learn.
It went like stink.
After an accident in a Micra, Pete wouldn't drive it any more. His theory being that he came out of a 30mph accident in a modern car with a cut face and broken ribs and wouldn't have stood a chance in the Mini. But it's an ill wind and all that and I got to drive it to Hendon for the auction. He drove his wife's modern Cooper and the old car won the traffic light Grand Prix every time. The performance levelled off around 90. It was like hitting a wall. It would clock 110 but took forever to get there. I guess that was about 100.
He paid £500 for it in 1975.
SWTH said:
Morning folks.
I’m bidding on a Discovery Td5 at the moment on fleabay...
Morning SWTH. I’m bidding on a Discovery Td5 at the moment on fleabay...
( It’s ten past two! ) It's amazing what you can discover in a Disco. Especially if you're into a bit of off-roading, Ground Force style. ( eh Bobbers?
)Hope you bag yourself a good example.
I had a six-week-old Disco when they first came out. ( By sheer coincidence, the odometer actually read 001234 miles! )
I sold said Disco three days before I had bought it, for a handsome profit.
It's a long complicated story but it worked out well for all parties. Trust played a big part.
DickyC said:
Nij - you mean 1071 Cooper S not 1971...
We know that, I was going to comment but thought "It's only a typo".A Mini 1800 would be a small land crab!
Have you all seen Project Binky on YouTube? 4WD 2.0 Turbo Mini? Awesome use of "CAD" * as well, just for Dicky.
* CAD = Cardboard Aided Design
DickyC said:
Nij - you mean 1071 Cooper S not 1971...
Yes, I er 'mispoke', sorry!I remember you told us about your brother's Mk2 S a while back, a very, very nice car. They have a different sort of charm to the Mk1s, I've always liked the badges but they're so easy to nick, mine are originals with the embossing from behind - some owners fit the later and cheaper printed repros and keep their originals tucked away (the pointless trivia just keeps on coming). I've had two Mk2 998 Coopers as well as the Mk1 S and the current Mk2 S, both great cars, sold the last one to a mate who bit the bullet and had it restored last year. It had lived in Cornwall for forty odd years before I bought it, it looked fine but as soon as I sold it to him he started prodding it with a screwdriver and the inevitable soon followed. He emailed me last week saying I should nip down and have a drive sometime, it feels totally different now apparently. He's desperate to keep it standard (it's still running on 3.5'' wide steel wheels and has the ginormous bus steering wheel) but I'm egging him on to fit some D1s or Cosmics and some decent period number plates etc. I'm supposed to be weening myself off old Minis in favour of something far more exotic but it's not working...
ION, I went for a haircut this morning.
It took me ages trying to decide which one.
Then I went to the library to garnish information about Burns Night for our forthcoming. .. err...
Burns Night.
Lots of advice on how to grow your own haggis, but unfortunately it's way too late to grow one for this year.
Never mind, I'll get hold of some tuber cuttings to plant ready for next year.
Och aye tha noo!
There is a haggis shortage in the UK this year, because although for many years they have been illegal in the USA, the import ban has now been rescinded, so that Trump can build his wall with them. Apparently they are completely impervious to spicy Mexican food.
Now where's my whisky sauce?
It took me ages trying to decide which one.
Then I went to the library to garnish information about Burns Night for our forthcoming. .. err...
Burns Night.
Lots of advice on how to grow your own haggis, but unfortunately it's way too late to grow one for this year.
Never mind, I'll get hold of some tuber cuttings to plant ready for next year.
Och aye tha noo!
There is a haggis shortage in the UK this year, because although for many years they have been illegal in the USA, the import ban has now been rescinded, so that Trump can build his wall with them. Apparently they are completely impervious to spicy Mexican food.
Now where's my whisky sauce?
DickyC said:
P5BNij said:
I remember you told us about your brother's Mk2 S a while back...
It's me age. You have to hear the same stories over and over.glenrobbo said:
DickyC said:
Nij - you mean 1071 Cooper S not 1971...
We know that, I was going to comment but thought "It's only a typo".A Mini 1800 would be a small land crab!
Have you all seen Project Binky on YouTube? 4WD 2.0 Turbo Mini? Awesome use of "CAD" * as well, just for Dicky.
* CAD = Cardboard Aided Design
Some of the longer design projects I worked on had their own sayings and catchphrases. On some, chaps had names which were really quite different to their real names. On one I was Binky Hetherington.
An engineer I worked for on that project I speak to about once every ten years. I could call him from an unfamiliar number and say, "Hello," and he would say, "Binky!"
glenrobbo said:
A Mini 1800 would be a small land crab!
A mechanic in the village where I grew up built a Maxi-engine Mini in his front garden. It was awesome. Awesome but odd. A Series engines were being bored out to 1380 and he went for the 1500cc engine. A lot of work for not much advantage. The front wheels were larger diameter than the back wheels and the gear change linkage gave him a lot of headaches. Still, it kept him out of the pub. Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff