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It wasn't many years ago that you'd see a mini or two parked outside a house, on a drive being slowly worked on, getting rustier by the day too. Son moves in with girlfriend, gets fed up with car and leaves it at dads house. A few years later, it's gone to scrap. There is an Anglia (remember them....?) outside a house by the old MG factory here. Had a good shell too and was being worked on but now it's just part of the undergrowth in an overgrown tip of a garden....., joined by an MGF that'll go the same way.

You've started me off now Mab.....

There was a Rover Cooper just at the end of my road up on stands in the driveway obviously getting worked on when we moved to our current house. Nothing ever seemed to happen to it, and I would say to Jennifer regularly "I must knock on the door and see if they want to sell" A few months ago it seemed to get a bit more stripped, so i thought 'Ah well, the guys cracking on with it', only for it to disapear a short while later, gone to scrap, apparently.

It didn't even look too bad.

Still there is a yard not much further away with a load of cars like the ones in the photos. Not one of them will ever go again, so why has he kept them all this time????

Al

If only I could turn memories in my minds eye into photos. In the late seventies/early eighties scrapyards were full of Minis as well as other interesting stuff. Probably my earliest memory will be when we took a 1962 850 to a scrapyard in late 1974, having been robbed of useful bits. Whilst Colin - the friend with the SWB Landrover and winch was unloading it - my Dad pointed out a Mini so early it didn't have a clutch stop nut on the flywheel housing. I would have been 7 at that point but still remember it. A couple of years before, another very early Mini (pale grey) was parked up in the playground of the Play School I attended as a kind of activity climbing frame on wheels. After a couple off weeks, some brat got their hand caught in the door, so the caretaker took the door off.

Then it rained........the door went back on but eventually the doors were roped shut so the little bastards that we were just jumped on it instead. It was removed not long after that.

I wonder if old Issigonis ever really appreciated how important the Mini was as a rite of passage for tearaways like me? It's a shame a few Mini heroes never went round to his place in Edgbaston and took him out on the piss.

You know - there are plenty of Mini books, but not one that is a collection of amusing personal anecdotes. It really is that kind of car.

Great idea for an interesting thread …….most of us know of a Mini rotting away in a local back garden or field...….lets share pics...….hopefully it won't get too controversial

Here's one local to me.....probably passed the point of no return.....taken about four years ago. I'll go and get another pic soon

Cool thread!

Sadly I didn't take a picture of this one and it's not quite a mini but......

About 2-3 years ago a guy came into my shop and asked if I wanted a 1275 Alegro on his property that he wanted shot of. Good doner engine me thinks so I hop in my ute and head over there for a look. House was out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and piles of crap. One pile of crap had a tarp over the top and was vaguely Alegro shaped. Pulled the covers off and was greeted by the sight of the most rusty car I have ever seen.....and I've seen Plenty.

Both doors had rotted off the car and were laying either side. The entire front, wings & bonnet were dust. The only thing holding the remains of the roof together was the vinyl roof. Even the engine was toast. All the steel and iron parts were blown up and flaking. The gearbox and drop gear case had a 1/4" thick layer of powdery oxidisation. A total bust!

One of several local Minis that are sadly slowly dissolving into rust.....a few more pics to follow.

An Aqua hydro 998 Clubman. Probably still some useful bits on that.






Honest.


1100/1300 in front?

Looking through the photos in the Flicker link and IU'm sure there is a photo of my GT.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89394157@ ... ked_minis/

And as i bought it after a clean