Leon in Jozi

[gpmini]

Hi All

What a fantastic site, I've learnt so much in my daily visits to the site. Thanks Mark!

I fear that I may have a rather serious affliction to Minis. The last year in particular has been somewhat acquisitive, alas.

My passion for Minis started as a student in Cape Town in the mid 80's when my wife and I bought our first car - a red 1973 GTS Mini (clubman with 10" wheels). Most of you will know that in standard form it was as quick as a 1275 S, and very tunable. My next car was a wet Mk1 with a Ron Mead built 1275 S motor. It flew! and I was smitten. I still have that very special engine.

Then by luck I found a dove grey 1071 S and a Giv Giovanni built Mk2 cooper S in 1999 (just as we were leaving SA to Paris for 4 years). Both cars went into storage and still await completion of their restorations 12 years on...

When my son graduated in 2008 we found another 1071 S and we restored that car over the next two years - his is the almond green car in the Maluti Meandar thread.

Then in quick succession came a 1967 Mk1 1275 S (matching numbers with original logbook, but in a sad state - it requires a full restoration), then a Mk2 S which came with a garage full of spares and a Mini Coupe (probably a local conversion). This Mk2 is partway through a bare metal restoration.

We went to look at lots of Minis before we found a restored 1967 Mk1 S (the darker green car in the thread) around Easter last year. Then I heard about a fully restored Ant for sale (thanks Ralph Clarke), and the family of Minis grew a little more just before Christmas. Why I started looking at Mokes I really don't know, but a basket case 1963 prototype (originally from hand-pressed panels at Blackheath) swb army Moke arrived this weekend. And a few more projects arrived somewhere in-between, a 1962 fixed rear window 850, and next week a 1963 850 arrives (stripped, but absolutely rust-free, thanks to the Jhb climate). As you can tell most of the cars need restoration and I really have to wean myself from the used car websites because I couldn't possibly complete them all. There may also be a Mk1 and MkII pair of (SA spec) Wolseleys that I missed mentioning Its an incurable disease I'm afraid.

Pics to follow.

Regards,

Leon in Johannesburg, South Africa

[gpmini]

Pics as promised

Our latest Mk1 Jan 1966 1275 Cooper S on the RHS - yep converted to look like a MkII when that was all the rage

[gpmini]

Can't seem to load more than one pic at time - here's one of the Ant arriving in Johannesburg by train from Ralph Clarke who restored it

[gpmini]

and the 1963 prototype swb Moke especially made for the SA army to test. Massive amounts of work required here.

[gpmini]

that front end

[gpmini]

1071 and 1275 Mk1's

[gpmini]

more resto projects. pics of the rest to follow

and I should probably part with this:

http://www.minimarcos.org.uk/altpics/coupe/index.html

[clm]

Can't seem to load more than one pic at time - here's one of the Ant arriving in Johannesburg by train from Ralph Clarke who restored it

Beautiful... I am so envious D:

Chris

[Tim]

An Ant and a swb military Moke...now that's just greedy. I'm so jealous.

Tim

[guru_1071]

that ants a great looking vehicle, really has a touch of the small suzuki jeep - just think if it had been as popular as those!

[gpmini]

Pics as promised

Our latest Mk1 Jan 1966 1275 Cooper S on the RHS - yep converted to look like a MkII when that was all the rage

FBH's motor just about done. Hopefully will be fitted this weekend.

[JC T ONE]

Thats some nice "stuff" you have there, and all those Cooper S,s

these are so rare uphere, as we have 180% tax on cars


Jens Christian

[gpmini]

Motor fitted and we did our first run today. The motor is just stunning!
- 1275 S block +40" new pistons. 3 synchro S gearbox fully rebuilt
- weber 45 DCOE on AG (A&G Conversions) inlet manifold
- stainless steel lcb + rc40
- Minispares lightweight flywheel
- 1.5 roller rockers
- ported 12G940, 290 cam

Not much below 2500, then positively screams. My first weber fed car, so just loving the induction roar Will enjoy the motor whilst collecting all the bits needed to restore shell to its original Mk1 state.

The run today was to a model steam train club, coinciding with our first MOCSA rocker cover car race. The pic is of a few of the racers entered.

[gpmini]

Found a pic of our dove grey 1071 which has been in storage since '99. The motor and gearbox has been built, so I probably need to get around to completing the restoration. Pity we're so far, would have loved to send the shell to Neville Trickett to be converted into a Minisprint, my dream car.

[gpmini]

With the weber fitted, the instruments are all moved in front of the driver (120 mph speedo, rev counter, water temp and oil pressure). I'd like to fit a wooden dash. No air-vents on the sides, cubby hole on the passenger side, 4 gauges directly in front of the driver, in Burr walnut.

Does anyone know who can custom makes these? The regular ones I've seen don't seem to match my needs.

[gpmini]

First dyno run last night. Achieved 58 bhp at 6200 rpm on the wheels at altitude in Jhb. I need to sort out a fuel supply concern then hopefully go back for another run next week as it was still climbing at that point. The drive home was an absolute blast though, as it picks up a little sooner now and is up 6bhp on the initial setup. Next up on the dyno was a bright yellow Lamborghini Countach LP5000 S. Imagine having to optimise 6 webers on a v12! - the single weber on the Mini was pretty interesting by itself.