[Closed] Classic Minis - Mini Sport...and how much!

See also Mk1 Escorts, air cooled 911s, basically anything with a bit of a following.

Back in 2003-2005, when I lived in Manchester, I had a 1981 Mini Mayfair that I drove as a 'rolling restoration'. I spent many a Saturday driving up to MiniSport in Padiham, drooling over all their accessories, and making my Christmas wishlist. It was indeed a great place.

Alas, I had to sell, but the guy I sold it on to did an excellent job of continuing - and improving - my work.

But I have to say that I spent nothing like the £1000s you speak of. Indeed, I bought mine off ebay from a London police officer who had inherited from his elderly neighbour who had passed away. That neighbour died having had the car since new, having kept it in her garage, and having done a whopping great total of less than 10k miles!

Call me lucky. 😀

I took my father to Mini Sport many years after my mini had gone*. But he still had his original Rover Mini Convertible. We had a good drool too.

I know they're expensive these days, but so what: nothing quite like them, not even Mrs North's CooperS outside....

*Went to university. Came back. Car sold. Thanks Mum..! (Not).

Still got mine tucked away in the garage... 8)

Don't under any circumstances visit my pal's website

http://www.theminiworks.org/ nor his workshop full of classic Mini rallying memorabilia.

Simon bought his first mini, a mk1 1275 Cooper from funds accrued as a school boy rescuing hoovers from the skip at the back of Comet. He mended them and sold them. He had a canny eye and an enthusiasm that has found himself an amazing collection of period rally cars including the last BMC works car.

He gave me the confidence to rebuild my pick up which had a Mini Sport 1400 engine, S discs,minifins, adjust-a-ride suspension, spax shocks and an RC40 box.

Nice site, mcmoonter!

This was my dream:

[img] [/img]

That is, to have kitted out my mini to carry one or more of my bikes, and to then travel somewhere on the continent to ride.

Minis are good for the imagination!

yes. I have a mate heavily into rallying, old car (not quite vintage rallying). Had a big old 911 not turbo, possibly RSR). eye watering cost. eventually he sold that and now rallies a Mk1 (I think Escort). equally, not cheap.

Straight cut gear whine alert.

Simon said on his last jaunt to Monte Carlo with split Webbers he blew £800 on fuel 8)

£450 my first cooper s.. road rallied it till it died /rotted/ squashed a ram.. cost me 107 quid third party insurance back in '79.. was red big wide arches.. then moved to a nice 1071 and ragged that for two or three years before getting a mk2 escort... mini sport was a regular visit as we lived nr skipton the exhausts were cheap and easy to fix the minilites plentiful and the most common thing i fitted to other folks minis were the hi lo kits to jack the front end up.

Quality thread ! Crazy prices above. Had a Mini as my first car in 1980 happy days. No pictures though as it was more Carlos Fandango than Works Cooper

Had an orange 1981 HL, great car was sad to see it go. Don't miss having to totally disassemble my bike to get it on the bike seat when i needed to transport it!

Plain old Mini 1000 here, gone but not forgotten. Does this mean my original 10" reverse rim Dunlop wheels and 70s minifins are worth money at last?

Mini 1000 (SNO577K) was my first car then got a Clubman 1275GT. One day I'll have another.

I use to restore and sell Minis and their variants to Japan in the eighties and early nineties. I shudder now at the thought of all those really rare cars that left these shores. Cars like bobtail Broadspeeds, Unimates, Ogles, Downton modified Coopers and very rare experimental cars from Longbridge. These were pre Internet days and I would receive a fax with requests for cars to find, generally Mk1 Morris Cooper S 1275 or the Austin version or standard Coopers with quenuine 60's conversions by Downton. I would trawl the country buying stuff, Exchange and Mart was a great source but there really wasn't a lot of competition for stuff in the early eighties so I had my pick.
I once found 3 new mk1 mini shells circa 1966/7 in a lock up, he also had 10 mk1 cooper s rear panels all wrapped in protective greased paper, this was 1986, I paid £1000 for the lot, this find was less than a mile from the Longbridge works. I used the back panels to convert good mk2 shells to mk1's , much more valuable.
I bought 2 mini pick ups which were experimental cars, both were mk3 fronts with wind up windows, they never made it into production, also I had a twin engined mini moke shell that had been saved from destruction on the orders of the management after John Cooper had been seriously injured testing one, a very very rare item.
As more and more people got involved buying and restoring especially after the minis 20th and 25th anniversaries, I diversified into Corgi and Dinky models and any mini related toys, I could sell mint and boxed toy cars for around £500 each but they had to be really mint.
I still have a good collection of toy cars and memorabilia which I've saved as a pension fo the future.
I sold my last Cooper S a 1071cc, 1963 1 owner from new with all original sales documents listing optional extras.
The back seats had never been sat on and it had done 17000 miles from new when I bought it in 1988, I paid £2000 for the car and sold it for £21000 in 1993, it gave me cash to rebuild a wreck of a house.
I dropped out of the mini scene then but recently tried to get an Innocenti Cooper 1300 restored, basically an Italian Cooper S, I was quoted £35000 to restore the car.

My Dad taught me to drive in one. D933 NWU, a Mini Advantage, cracking car for a young lad in the mid-90s. I went to uni and my sister had it until it rusted away. When I graduated I got a 1.3 Tahiti, L934 YCU, that was good but had had a tough life (previous boy racer!) I ended up selling that to a local company that did them up.
Went to a few Mini in the Park meets too which were good.
Great cars, rusty though!

If you think that place is expensive, you probably shouldn't look here.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/news/mini-remastered-sixties-icon-reimagined-david-brown-automotive/

I've got 2 Sat in my lock up. Must find time to fix them...

If he is interested give him my details I'll go n look at them with him. I'm quite familiar to say the least with fixing them

I learnt to drive in an 850 mini (348SPE) I think it was a 59/60. Brilliant car. We took it on family holidays to Spain via Andorra towing a 12ft Caravan with 5 of us inside. 😀

On a similar note this is the car history of an old acquaintance: http://www.cars.paul-lodey.com/ 😯

I had one about 14 years ago. It was a brilliant little car. Paid £1300 for it then when they were about as cheap as they were going to get. I think something in the same condition now would be about £5k.

Ended up taking it off the road with the intention of getting rid of all the rust but then found there was a LOT of rust and ended up selling it.

[img] [/img]

Wish I'd ignored this thread like I was trying to!
Now looking on Ebay and dismayed at what a car needing a total restoration is going for, had about seven minis including vans and a Mk1 shell over the years.................

My old man just "finished" (is it ever finished?) restoring a Mini - He bought it like this:

[img] [/img]

I was told at the time this "was a good one" because it had no rust. Factory new!

It now looks like this:

[img] [/img]

He's already won one or two awards at local mini/classic car rallys. He took me out in it last time I popped down which was great fun!

Last I spoke to him, he already has bought another, bigger, engine. To the 1275cc from the 848cc. Also has fitted the rest of the trim.

First car was a '998' Clubman bought after borrowing some money from my younger sis.

Was actually a 1293 running EN40B crank, twin 1.5" SU's, 37/29 valves, high CR, Kent MD 286 cam, straight cut gearbox, LSD, Maniflow LCB, hi-lo's, Spax, etc.

A bit of a sleeper.

Great fun!

Just realised I forgot to mention the guy who lives down the road from me. He has an Innocenti Cooper and a Mk2 Cooper S sat in his back yard under cover. I have never seen them move and he doesn't seem to be doing them up.

Bit of shame as he seems the to be the sort of person who will never sell them no matter what.

Autotesting in Ireland 1982. Photo credit: Chris Handy

[img] [/img]

The car: a 63 mini which at that time had a 998 and S brakes. And Spax dampers with extra bump stops. Plastic windows and gutted.

This one was quick enough for the 84 championship win and a win at he Mini 25th birthday.

[img] [/img]

1293 S with a soft cam giving 63 bhp at the wheels iirc. Metro rad, RC 40 exhaust.

1987. This one didn't see much use as I was in France pretty much permanently by then.

[img] [/img]

1380 1300GT block. It was still road legal (hence the aero-screen) and would pull 7000rpm in top (final drive of 3.65 iirc). It had the rotational dynamics of a spinning top. When I left it for the MOT I told the tester: "It's legal but dangerous, don't kill yoursef in it - I've dialed in enough rear brakes to pass the test, but if you drive it on the road dial them out".

I bought this for £50 and it covered many trouble-free kms. Perhaps the only one I'd enjoy driving again.

[img] [/img]

Pete - did you see Dan Harper when you were in min sport? Not seen him for years.

I had an 850 Mini that I upgraded with a 1098 engine with a 12G295 head and a 751 cam (i think it was). I bought the motor with the cam fitted, it wasn't very good, almost like a two stoke but when it came on the cam it flew. I eventually rebuilt it with new rings and a less aggressive cam. I upgraded the front brakes to disks off a 1275GT so i had twelve inch wheels on the front and ten inch on the back.

My first Mini was a 1000. My brother fitter a twin Weber carb and the petrol gauge moved as quickly as the speedo 🙂

MrSparkle - Member
Pete - did you see Dan Harper when you were in min sport? Not seen him for years.

Didn't get any names mate, but the bloke who showed us round was a tall, smiley, talkative grey haired fella.

Very helpful younger lad on the sales desk has jacked in Minis and bought a Toyota GT.
🙂

Thanks for all the responses, those videos are just ace.
Still prefer 2CVs myself, but if I won the lottery, then I'd be beating their door down.
😀

Mate and I bought one a few years ago, A-Series engine that I was told was running 120bhp and from the test drive I had no reason to doubt it. Sat in my mates dad's garage with him doing nothing about getting a few issues fixed despite me chasing every week.

After a few months I get a call that his dad wanted it out of the garage as we were doing nothing with it and I couldn't find a garage anywhere to park it up in. Ended up selling without me ever driving it. Still feels like the one that got away.

Another mate has two, one under-going a full restoration and the other driveable but needing a few things. The working one is so much fun!!

plyphon - Member
My old man just "finished" (is it ever finished?) restoring a Mini -

Lovely.

I hope your dad's named it 'Fwap'. 🙂

Like Edukator's last plate too.

I realise it is blasphemy to put a celica turbo 4x4 engine and running gear into a mini..... But I've been enjoying this YouTube channel

Its not finished yet at episode 15 but its a good mix of humour and engineering

I really want one and have done for years. They look brilliant and are a hoot to drive. However, I would struggle to buy one and not then want to do a comprehensive rebuild at no small cost. 😀

I killed my Mk 1 MX5 earlier in the year and was wondering what to replace it with. As luck would have it, a Brabus Smart Roadster came up which is an absolute riot. Genuinely drives like a go cart.......still want a mini though!

My first car was a maroon body old English White roof 1967 Wolseley Hornet Mk111. It was a basket case "barn find" from my auntie's mother in law which we restored whilst I took my driving lessons and put on the road shortly before my 18th birthday. Not a particularly manly car but great fun to own & drive.
I fitted 10" S reverse rims A008s and the big hydroelastic bump stops and ran a little less pressure than I strictly ought to have done. Other than that it was stock. You'd never describe it as fast in a straight line but I very rarely ever had to slow down.

I loved that car.

Built this about 20 yrs ago. Quite a high spec. 1380cc big valve head 45 DCOE piper cam, roller rockers, straight cut box etc. It's quick when it runs properly.

I've also got my eye open for a nice Mini. Had quite a few when I was younger but sold them all, (or retrospectively speaking - gave them away) 🙁

What is really mad, is that I can get a BMW Mini for probably half the price of a 'real' one...

Inbred456 is that the Fibreglass bodied Mini Minus? - always wanted one of those iirc they are a chopped (shortened) version of a mini shell and look very cool.

Saxon is that a 30?
My first car. Fabulous little thing. Loved it

[url= https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/david-brown/mini-remastered/first-drives/mini-remastered-2017-review ]Mini Remastered £99k[/url]

I remember seeing Radford Minis in a showroom in St Aldates , Oxford in themid 70's.
Just googled them and found this:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C724549 😯

Speeder yes it is. 4" inches height taken out of the body. Bonded in steel stiffeners. We built a purpose built cage that tied the subframes together. Subframes sit a bit lower. Using a Weber allowed us to keep the normal bonnet. That one is putting out about 100bhp+ at the wheels. It's very light which helps. As much work went into lightening everything as much as possible. I remember drilling the suspension cones to soften them, what a faff. Should of just used coilovers. They are very scarce these days. Most are used for track days with motorbike engines.

Ooh I have thoughts of a KAD 16V powered, Force Ti suspended, 10" wheeled Mini Minus in my head now - another one to add to the list of lottery win cars I had [url= http://www.miniminus.co.uk/history.htm ]THIS[/url] Brochure BITD -

[img] [/img]

Probably pickled up at the Mini 30 meet or similar, I couldn't afford it then and probably couldn't now. 😥

The Kad stuff was superbly engineered problem as always with the A series is the gearbox and diff weak link. It costs a fortune to make them handle the power the Kad stuff is capable of putting out. The Minus works well with the Hyabusa engine because it's light enough for the lower torque at lower revs to pull away without revving it's nuts off. Needs a reverse gear for road use though! Original mini stuff is going up in value all the time.

My first car in 1993.

[img] [/img]

Not in the same league as the crackers above but a great car.
Some mild tinkering with go faster stripes, bucket seats and an orange pool ball gear knob (nicked).

It went pretty good too with big bore exhaust, inlet manifold and filter upgrades. I remember looking longingly through the mags for upgrade parts, especially wheels but I never had the cash.
Rust! Me and my dad did a lot of welding to get it through its last MOT.

Bought and sold on for under £500.

When I see a classic mini going past I reminisce of past adventures. Camping, Skiing, Windsurfing gear on the roof! Even delivering fruit and veg as my summer job van had broken down.

This is a friend from school's car, his uncles from new. It lay for years as a shell before eventually being restored after his brother enthusiastically took it completely to bits.

[img] [/img]

I am not sure if it was excitement or fear hurtling though the Inverness countryside in that car. I remember BRAKE FADE and incredible ditch avoiding cornering. I dare say it will be worth a few pennies now as a Mark 1 1071cc Cooper.

How fast are we going?
Just past the fuel gauge!

A mate of mine was helping them out last year when they had the bad floods.

He was going round draining all the oil and stuff. Saw some pictures of it too.

It was goof that they managed to survive all that as I do love seeing classics like this come out on sunny days 🙂

There is another review if the crazy David Brown resto-mod classic mini over on Pistonheads now.

Certainly not the way I'd spend £100k and I love a mini (wife and sister both had them as first cars).

Inbred456 - Member
The Kad stuff was superbly engineered problem as always with the A series is the gearbox and diff weak link. It costs a fortune to make them handle the power the Kad stuff is capable of putting out. The Minus works well with the Hyabusa engine because it's light enough for the lower torque at lower revs to pull away without revving it's nuts off. Needs a reverse gear for road use though! Original mini stuff is going up in value all the time.

I always wanted to do a 999cc screamer based on a 970S block (or cut down 1275 block as the 1275 iirc is the same with an inch or so of extra casting or so on top) so the torque would be less of an issue - the KAD would be utilised for the smoothness and revability really. Shorter block would also help it fit under the bonnet but would probably require a custom subframe anyway as the minus is so much lower than standard. I like the idea of the hyabusa engine but they are a bit shouty and would always feel a bit wrong somehow.

Pipe dream anyway really though mini minus had gone on the eBay list for a while

If I could afford to fund the build, then one of [url= http://mailchi.mp/4ec70872c41d/vetechbusa-demo-car-first-drive-1277986?e= [UNIQID]THESE[/url] in a lightened mark one shell on tens........well, maybe if i sell a kidney or a child or two.....it may well be worth it for 360bhp at the wheels 😀

Somewhere I have a copy of MiniWorld magazine with that mad twin R1 engined one in. I think it was pushing out 320bhp. Can't seem to find mention of it on the Z Cars website though.

Dunno if mine qualified as "classic", it was a B-reg Ritz, but it gave sterling and mostly reliable service when I was about 20. Used to get a bike in the back somehow too.

Started like this...
[img] [/img]

Resprayed it like this...
[img] [/img]