Purchased in 2021 from previous owner just as the car had landed in this country from South Africa, all taxes paid, we then applied and paid for first UK registration fee and as the car was manufactured in 1977 DVLA gave it Historic Vehicle tax class and issued correct period Registration Number with the V5 registered in my sons name. The car was purchased by my son via a well known respected classic car auction web site and because of overseas work commitments did not have a chance to go and inspect the car before payment had to be made so arranged for the car to be collected and dropped off to me to start the work that we had planned to carry out before having a nostalgic (for me) bit of fun use. Unfortunately the car was some way from matching the description given in the original listing but our plans where to do a rolling restoration to re create a Mini i built and used for going to work week days and club motorsport, road rallies/sprints/hill climbs at weekends in the late 1960's, bloody hell time flies!! On having a good look over the car it became obvious that a number of issues where safety related so the idea of a rolling driving restoration got put aside and a fairly major strip down and rebuild was started and progressed as and when time and money allowed. The car was sitting on 13 inch wheels and tyres covering massive unknown origin brake discs and calipers which were mounted onto dodgy modified swivel hubs when we got it, but it had always been our intention to put the car back onto 10 inch wheels anyway but it also reinforced our determination that whatever we took off the car it should be replaced with the best parts we could source, even if it meant spending a bit extra and adding to the time needed to get the car finished. The time penalty has brought us to this point unfortunately for us. Because of sons demands of young growing family, recent family home relocation and an increasingly longer overseas work commitments and my now pressing need to get on with major home improvement project we are just not going to get any use of the car for at least the next couple of years so have reached the tough decision to offer it for sale as you see it with work done listed below.
Under the Bonnet.
Is the correct SA spec 1275 solid block engine which i have pulled the head off and basically have stripped and done a de coke on, cleaned the piston tops and block face, the bores are good and clean with no excess piston ring wear, i have smoothed out the chambers and inlet/exh ports (not polished) refaced valves and seats and re ground valves in with everything cleaned and reassembled using copper headgasket and done a compression test, all cylinders equal at 160psi each. The 1 1/2 inch SU carb has been stripped cleaned an reassembled with new seals, main jet and needle and mounted onto a new Mini-Spares stage one ali manifold with new gaskets, new cone air filter and uprated manifold gasket, with new choke and throttle cables. New Mini Sport LCB Exhaust manifold into new Mini Sport "Rally" single centre mounted single rear silencer box, all with new clips, clamps and mounts. New UK made Ali Fletcher "Type" radiator from Minis-R-US with new Hoses, thermostat and clips. The standard type top engine steady has new Poly Bushes and a new adjustable bulkhead mounted engine steady with Poly Bushes has been added on the nearside. The Lucas distributor has been stripped, cleaned and reassembled with new Points, Condenser, Rotor Arm, Cap and Leads with a new Gold Lucas Sports Coil fitted. A new Facet solid state fuel pump fitted with in line filter and fed through New Braided Hose and clips through the engine bay. New crankcase breather filter fitted with New Oil and Filter. When warm the engine runs at spot on oil pressure and water temp. Clutch is good, clutch master and slave cylinders have been stripped cleaned and new seals fitted and a stainless braided flexi hose fitted. The gearbox is the standard unit as far as i can tell and selects gears correctly with no untoward noises. I have fitted a new Adjustable Bottom Gearbox steady bar with new Poly Bushes, new Selector Rod seals and "Quick Release" connector, new Selector Housing Poly Bush mountings and a Mini Sport Quick Shift Kit. I've also got a New Mini Spares Bias Barrell Slickshift, that i have plain forgotten to fit so it will go with the car.
Suspension and Steering
Pretty much everything is new. As mentioned earlier the original swivel hubs had been badly modified to enable fitment of extra large diameter brake discs and calipers so i got a pair of used ones that i have cleaned , crack tested and painted and reassembled with New inner and outer Wheel Bearings, New Top and Bottom Joints, New outer CV joints with New Outer and Inner Boots. New Mini Sport 7.5 Cooper S Disc Brake Kit with new Drive Flanges, Calipers and Mintex Pads with New Braided Aeroquip flexi hoses. New Poly Bushed Heavy Duty Adjustable Bottom Arms, New Poly Bushed Adjustable Tie Rods. New Hi Lows front and rear. New GAZ 12 point Adjustable Shocks front and rear. New Track Rod ends with new rack boots fitted. Rear standard sub frame is all good, standard rear Drum Brakes all cleaned and new seals and dust covers with New Aeroquip flexi hoses. New fluid through the system. All sat on a set of Nearly New (less than 100 miles) 6x10 Minilites with 165/70/10 Yoko AO32R Tyres.
Inside.
New floor soundproof and carpet underlay fitted. New Mini Sport Carpet set. New BB classic Bucket seats on New BB frames and runners. New pair of Reel Belts (i've got the original static black lap and diag belts which can go with the car if wanted). New Mini Sport "Works Dash" with all Smiths instruments including New Stepper Rev Counter, NOS Ammeter, "Wet" oil pressure gauge with new feed pipe and seals and New brass Block Connector. All the dash switches are new. New proper competition spec fabricated steering column lowering bracket fitted, New column Bushes fitted. New Astrali Alcantara Steering Wheel. A fully re furbed Heater unit with New hoses and New Control Valve have been fitted. The rear seat is as it came to us and is not perfect but serviceable. The Roll Cage is NOT motorsport compliant.
Odds and Ends.
The fuel Tank has been removed and flushed out, painted and refitted with Stainless Braided Hose outlet to Solid bundy pipe under the car up to front bulkhead and then onto engine bay Braided Hose. New "Aston" Style flip top filler over standard lockable cap. Just about every nut, bolt, washer and split pin are new. New 1/4 light seals fitted, New bootlid seal fitted, All new seam edge trims fitted. The spare wheel is a standard 4 1/2 x 10 minilite with a good 145x10 tyre. The battery is recent and good. A new set of (4) locking wheel nuts fitted and the key is stored with the Jack/handle and wheelbrace. The Downton Style mirrors are new and mounted on made up Ali brackets made to mount onto the standard door mirror position.
I have a New Service/Spares kit to store in the boot to go with the car, Plugs, Points, Condenser, Oil filter, useful bits etc.
The head will need Re Torqued down and the tappets re set in 500 miles or so.
I have set the shocks on medium settings while everything settles in, I've only been able to set tracking, camber and castor angles by old fashioned belt and braces method ( string, tape measure, spirit level and bathroom scales) so would recommend a full pro geometry check before doing too many miles.
I have got a pair of 1 1/4 SU carbs that need a good clean and overhaul and the correct Inlet Manifold that i got for the car, i just haven't had the time to get them ready and fitted, but they are included in the sale.
Unfortunately The Not So Good.
The original listing for the car mentioned that it had "fairly recently" been "updated" by a mini specialist in S.A. amongst this update was the brake mods i have mentioned, new carpets, that they seem to have forgotten to fit! But also that the car had had a Total Respray which i think is probably correct as there is no doubt that the paint work is very well finished and looks "like new" in pics and up until you get very close up to the car. It seems the pre paint preparation was not up to a very good standard resulting in the entire car has faint micro blistered top coat that can only really be seen close up and only in certain light conditions, from our point of view, as we only intended the car to be for use not for show we felt the best option would be to leave well alone, but for anybody that might be interested in the car you should be aware of the condition.
We have got no real history of the car before it got to the UK.
If you have read this far and are interested and have any questions please message and i will respond as quickly as possible.
If you are interested enough to bid on the car i hope you don't mind the following comments. This is a very reluctant sale but we have made the decision to sell and sell by auction. We will not finish the auction early, we have set a reserve figure that we will not move from, PLEASE don't message asking what that figure is, I WILL NOT RESPOND. IF the listing is showing reserve not met that is the answer, when and if any bids are made that break through the reserve the car will be sold to the highest bidder at the end of auction and not before, and i'm sure you won't mind me saying that obviously the car will not leave here until full payment has been completed, and again i'm sure you won't mind me saying that if you bid you are bidding to buy not to come and haggle.
Many thanks for looking.
Sorry, forgot to mention that the car is both Tax and MOT no charge historic car category.
Sorry Again. I have just noticed that some of the pics are showing the correct day and month but year as 2023. All the pics are of the car as it stands and where taken as per day and month but 2024. (i'll now go and try to work out how to correct the time/date on my camera!!)