Morning all,

Appreciate this is the wrong forum for this, but equally aware that a lot of people tend to run second 'classic' cars. Also appreciate that some on this forum are younger than me, so if it is news to you that there was a mini before the current BMW variant you should probably stop reading now.

Last night when we were watching Top Gear in an unguarded moment t'other half looked up from her laptop where she was looking/issuing profanities at insurance quotes for her Ibiza FR and saw the feature on the classic Mini rally car, the two somehow melded and it struck her that while she does like the galvanised, reliable, safe relatively Ibiza what she really wants is an old Mini Cooper. She has memories of her dad having one and remembers him taking it apart on the driveway regularly at weekends, you'd think that in itself would be some sort of signal.

So, in a bid to shift some of the cost of insurance to supplement the inevitable extortionate preventive maintenance bills she is now looking at getting a Mini before her insurance expires in a couple of months time. We have slightly different priorities, I'm looking for one as late as possible with safety features like brakes that work and as in really good nick with little rust/easily replaceable rust, she is looking for a one from the 1960's that is in British Racing Green. In reality we're probably going to meet in the middle, probably looking at spending 3-4k on one.

I will be doing more research nearer the time but does anyone here have one/have experience with these? Any tips on what to look for? My experience with the older type of cars is with Land Rover's so this is really the other end of that scale.

Cheers

Patrick

Patrick,

there will be one similarity with your old LR's.........RUST!!

Beware about Coopers, there are an awfull lots of Mini's purporting to be Coopers that aren't really. You need to check the VIN plates very carefully. Personally I would buy one of the Mini mags and see what there is there, then look on ebay, etc.

I would imagine you will be hard pushed to find a rust free example that has not been recently restored, my dad bought a MK2 Cooper about 25 years ago which looked in pretty good condition, but when we set about restoring it it turned out to be a very nicely bodged rust bucket!

The (harder to repair easily) places to watch out for are the heel boards (where the rear subframe bolts to the car, in front of the wheels) inner front wings and the roof gutters.

They also go at the sills, floor plans, front panel, wings, A panels, windscreen scuttles, hinge panels, rear 1/4 panels, boot floor, rear valance, rear subframe etc - pretty much everywhere.

These things rot for fun and finding a clean example is hard - but not impossible. It would also IMO be sacrilege to use a true Cooper S as an everyday car because the inevitable rot will soon rear it's ugly head.

(I have owned, rebuilt and rallied several of them)

As said rust will be your biggest enemy, that will be for any model mini.

If you either get a (975cc engine) Cooper or probably even more rare the (1275cc engine) Cooper S will give no doubt get a few heads turning.

Good luck with the searching.

Has she ever driven one? I thought the steering was incredibly heavy for the size of car it was. Might have just been that my mate's mini was knackered.

If she likes the style but doesn't want all the hardship she could get one of the later models that are just prior to the BMW takeover. They still have a lot of issues but might be easier to live with.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201125393272681

If you either get a (975cc engine) Cooper or probably even more rare the (1275cc engine) Cooper S will give no doubt get a few heads turning.

Don't you mean a 970, as I didn't think they made a 975.

Edited 27 June, 201114 yr by Jim H

Both of the Minis I owned succumbed to rust, so good luck finding a rust free one. The second one had rust around the rear sub frame as Gizmo68 pointed out and that was the end of that one.

And yes the steering is very heavy when going slowly and parking but I found it OK at speed, as did SWMBO. However it will probably come as a bit of a surpise to anyone use to modern cars with power steering.

But they are great fun to drive.

Don't forget that you can now buy a complete bodyshell from BMH which doesn't need an IVA if you only use one donor car and keep everything standard. With modern paint and stone protection it will last a lot longer than originally.

Has she ever driven one? I thought the steering was incredibly heavy for the size of car it was. Might have just been that my mate's mini was knackered.

If she likes the style but doesn't want all the hardship she could get one of the later models that are just prior to the BMW takeover. They still have a lot of issues but might be easier to live with.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201125393272681

thats a nice one in the link...

An airbag and an alarm on a mini just seems a bit wrong somehow.

Me and a mate are just in the middle of restoring a MK1 cooper as it happens. It's a '66 in Old english white with black roof, and loads of Speedwell bits. It's in pretty good nick, and hasn't run since the late 80's, but it still has a lot of rust and panels which have already been repaired at some point.

Planning on fitting a 1293 engine and whacking a turbo on it. At least that's the plan anyway.

Mate already has a mini clubman with loads of trick bits on it, and it handles like it's on rails. Your face hits the side windows when you go round corners. Great fun!