I posted this on another car forum I'm a member of, but it almost seems more fitting here I think considering some of the issues that people have had with relatively young motors.. including my own RRS.

Clare (my Fiancée) and myself used to have a mint 1990 Rover Mini.. 1293cc, high-lift cam kit, dual valve springs, roller-tip rockers, lovely car it was... until 5 years ago on the way home from the London to Brighton run, we had it written off in a near head on with a Mercedes cutting across in front of us. It's sat motionless ever since. Here's what it used to look like:

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• Rear tyre
  
• Front number plate (ignoring that it isn't attached, the lettering / backing had started to peel and break away)
  
• Unsecured CV gator

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A true classic

I am gutted looking at the damage but glad you were ok

I for one would like to see more pics posted of your restoration as it progresses if you have time  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Excellent write up! Nice to see some good news stories... 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

That was really interesting... I too would love to see more pictures as it progresses.

Not too sure if you haven't got your rose tinted glasses on though as my parents had a succession of minis throughout the 70's and I can remember numerous times when our day trips to Wales or holidays in the Lake District were interrupted by lengthy periods of standing by the roadside waiting for the AA van to arrive

To be fair I think four people plus luggage and toys crammed everywhere was just too much weight for them to cope with

Great little story, there is always a story to be told by anyone owning one of these little Minis. Pleased to hear there were no serious injuries in the crash. The Mini held up well considering. My business partner has about 8 Minis at work, all at various stages of renovation. Keep the updates coming.

nice e30

Great read,

This stopped me in my tracks and had to read, thanks for the coffee break classic !

....nice one Ian, its great to see an Icon being maintained,/ loved really ! My mate had an old mini on a farm and we drove that car round the farm until the subframe collapsed , then bought another we lived the fantasy thinking that we were Paddy Hopkirk ! ( long time ago ! )
You are right , they are not made like they used to be at all ....!

RRS looks great also , love these wheels ..!

TST TDV8 HSE....Gone but not forgotten ....class act
Cayenne S diesel.....850n/m....385bhp....the danglies ...
SL55 AMG

Thanks lads.. both myself and Clare love these things with a passion. Clare's first car was a Mini and I've had about 4 or 5 over the years in one stage or another... regretting very much the old K-plate I scrapped because the throttle pedal fell off the bulk head due to rust... I should have restored that.. but I was just a "kid" at the time.

I'm all for the classics.. as nice and refined as modern cars are, I'd be more than happy with something like the Mini or a Mk1 Escort for a daily.

There is much to do on this.. and unfortunately, I can't do the welding or painting myself (not proficient enough in welding this to the quality I want it to be).. but I plan to do all the preparation for it and the rebuilding part. My 8 year old step-son is enjoying learning and helping too.. I was about his age when I first started to swing a spanner with my Dad's Mk1 Escort and whilst not a trained mechanic, have picked enough up over 30 years to be able to do this project and help another young lad learn some of the ropes too

The E30 that shadrack noticed too was another passion of mine.. after going for years of disliking BMWs due to grief working on my friend's E36, I needed a car and found a £500 E30.. from then on, fell in love with them.. had 4 of them on the road (the silver was the last one I had) and bought and broke about half a dozen or so more. The silver one (325i Touring) in the pic above was another great "soldier" of a car.. I sold that to an American fella who wanted to export it as apparently they didn't get the Touring over there.. it had 6 miles short of 200,000 on the clock, original engine, minimal rust and still started on the button every time!

I set up a basic blog to document the project, but I'll post updates in this thread as time goes on too... nice to see others appreciating another great British classic

zaphod wrote:

That was really interesting... I too would love to see more pictures as it progresses.

Not too sure if you haven't got your rose tinted glasses on though as my parents had a succession of minis throughout the 70's and I can remember numerous times when our day trips to Wales or holidays in the Lake District were interrupted by lengthy periods of standing by the roadside waiting for the AA van to arrive

To be fair I think four people plus luggage and toys crammed everywhere was just too much weight for them to cope with

Ady 555 wrote:

Great little story, there is always a story to be told by anyone owning one of these little Minis. Pleased to hear there were no serious injuries in the crash. The Mini held up well considering. My business partner has about 8 Minis at work, all at various stages of renovation. Keep the updates coming.

It was a case of wet roads for me.. luckily I was only doing about 20-25 as I knew the bend I was approaching had a side road attached and that it could get slippery from HGVs.. but alas, it still locked up.. and they still kept coming. The bruising came mainly from the seatbelts doing their job.

8 Minis!? I'd love that! Not sure where I'd keep them all however, but if I push the bed over a bit.... maybe........

TST717 wrote:

Great read,

This stopped me in my tracks and had to read, thanks for the coffee break classic !

....nice one Ian, its great to see an Icon being maintained,/ loved really ! My mate had an old mini on a farm and we drove that car round the farm until the subframe collapsed , then bought another we lived the fantasy thinking that we were Paddy Hopkirk ! ( long time ago ! )
You are right , they are not made like they used to be at all ....!

RRS looks great also , love these wheels ..!

TST

Ahh the days of ragging cars around fields... great memories! I'd love to be half as good as Paddy Hopkirk



Cheers..

Ian

My first car that I bought in 1968 was a 1963 mini with the reg 888 BMW.

I am sure the car has gone to the great scrapyard n the sky, but I bet the reg is still around somewhere!!

The reg was probably worth more than the car when I sold it in 1971, but I was a young lad who did not know about these things then.  2023 P440e SE Dynamic on order -cancelled

2022 HSE Dynamic P400e

2017 Discovery 3.0 HSE Silicon Silver Nimbus interior and a few extra toys SOLD

2013 HSE Black, Orkney Grey, Ebony Seats and Ivory Interior SOLD

2006 HSE

Plus a few other cars inbetween!

Good on you for putting it back on the road. Looks a nice little Mini and worth preserving.

Would love to see the restoration coming along too  FF 4.4 V8 Soooo looking forward to this bad boy
Ex 2006 RRS SC - garbage
Ex 2016 135i M Sport - dream car
Ex 2003 RS6 Avant - piece of cr*p
Ex 2014 320d X Drive, M Sport Touring - ok I guess
Ex 2007 RRS TDV8 - bloody loved it
EX 2007 FL2 XS - not so bad

Not much of an update really, but it passed its MOT re-test today

Clare then took our youngest round the block to celebrate

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Hi all..

I spent the half the day Saturday washing, claying and machining the Mini in preparation for a run down to Brighton today, but alas, due to the hope of picking up some larger items for the project, we decided to leave it at home, go early go get a space as close to Madeira Drive as possible and take the RRS only (we'd planned on taking both originally).

By half 8, we'd bought out first set of items... sound deadening carpet underlay, full premium carpet set and a full set of mats.. back to the RRS we hauled.

Onto the next shopping spree.. we clocked some lovely classic sports Cobra seats and matching rear seat covers in black and blue (the Mini is going to be metallic blue once we're sorted).. hand over the cash for these and a set of subframes.. off for another haul back to the RRS (certainly burned off the calories of the breakfast! ).

Off we go again... this time, some chrome headlight bezels, complete chrome grille kit, some clear front indicator lenses and a set of grp 7 arches. Back we go again to the RRS.. up and down those damn stairs again!!

As we come down the stairs again this time, we clocked a K-plate Mini next to one of the stalls... £2,500... so we had a look around it, spoke to the owners.. took it for a test drive.. left a deposit and we'll be heading off to Kent next Saturday to pick it up!

Certainly turned out to be a more expensive day out that we'd planned... but although the new Mini will again need some patching up with a panel and some patch work, it's got 13" alloys (although will be replaced for another style probably), sports exhaust and a 1275cc engine (manual this time!) and carb'd rather than injection, meaning more fun to be had in the future (this one will probably end up going to 1380cc with twin Webber 40s).

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