After taking a pal to Blyton he decided he wanted a mk1. We heard about a car that had been vandalised in a garage about 40 years ago and left there ever since. A few frustrating weeks later trying to view the car we finally dragged it out yesterday.
It was covered in birds**t, which hasn't helped it. As you can see it's pretty ripe
My mate nearly left it until I twisted his arm, and found a 120 speedo in a box! If he wouldn't have had it I would.
Apparently it was originally white but went back to the factory to be painted fiesta yellow. It probably needs a shell or a very brave and talented body man.
Last edited by steve1071 on Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
It has a solid back 1300 engine, twin su's, karobes covers front and back with head rests (the seats underneath are superb), 100 speedo, D1's, lucas rear spot, 1 cibie oscar and a few more bits.
Bloke that owned is is a bodyman and has 2 pre production Stags, a real fanatic. He was that upset when it was vandalised he nailed the doors shut and left it. My pal is a car trader and it took some convincing to even see the car, he must have thought he was going to break it or flip it. I had to go and bore him for an hour with mini tales before he was convinced we were serious.
It's a cracking find with a great story, despite it's sorry condition. Even has the Nuffield badge on the slam panel.
mk1 wrote:Looks like no more than a couple of weekends welding. Should make an interesting project.
It may save, but will need a roof. The A posts are completely shot, i'm surprised the roof didn't peel off on the way back! The floor's not too bad and the boot is completely gone.
Now THATS my type of Mini Steve! Absolutely love it because even though its in the condition it is now, you can see that its straight and honest and it will make a fantastic car one day!
Hi all, new guy from Canada. What can I say, I'm speechless. Would one even consider restoring a car in that condition? I'm hoping everyone is being positive for the sake of the usable parts there. Please set me straight, are early cars that hard to find over there? I don't want to offend anyone, it's just that my heart sank when I saw that poor soul. What would the plan be? Find another body and transfer the pedigree? Surely you wouldn't start replacing metal? If the rule of thumb is you only see 10% of the rust...hmmm.
Kinda where I'm coming from is I hear of high prices for Mk1 cars and parts over on that side of the pond. I have a few Mini's myself but know of a stash of about 10 early cars here in need of restoration in far better shape than that one. Trouble is the bloke will only sell all or nothing. My wife would have a serious conniption if were to do that deal. Anyway, it would be nice to see those cars sprung loose and if there was some value there I might have to think on it a little more.
Good luck with the project, I'll be watching this one.
The truth is, there are very, very few people who would ever consider restoring a shell that was as far gone as that one. BUT, and it's a big but, there are some strange & very talented folks who like a challenge.
If you have a leaf through the Our Cars & Projects section you will see some brilliant restoration work on cars that are in some cases almost as bad as that one.
Personally I doubt that particular example is really worth saving & a better option would be to save the bits that are worth saving, but it's very much a case of each to their own. I would LOVE to follow that particular restoration thread on here.
As far as value in relation to condition is concerned, just look through ebay that will give you some idea as to what nice cars as well as restoration projects are going for at the moment.
Hi Tim, Ron. It really is a close one if it's going to be saved to be honest. I'm going up later today to have another look over. If he can find a decent shell I think that's the route he'll go down. He's not as much of a purist as us! It's the birds**t that's done the roof! That and the water leaking into the garage look to have mixed and rotted it away. If the roof was ok it would be pretty much your standard mini resto, albeit plenty of work.
The bloke he bought it off is a body man and has a real old school guy working for him who was head hunted to go and restore a collectors fleet of cars over a long period. They are so busy they won't take it on, but that may change.
One way or another it will be saved, hopefully in its original shell.
I am coming round to the idea it can be done. The near side A post and down is shot and will take a lot of work. I'm not a bodyman but if we can find a decent ish roof it's probably the way to go. The boot floor is also surprisingly good, though the hinge panel is gone. We don't have keys so couldn't get into the boot and I'm amazed it didn't get left on the A1 bringing it back.
Now I just have to persuade my pal it can (and should) be done!
Gray wrote:Full roof and a,b & c pillars for £20 in Pembrokeshire on classic minis and parts for sale on facebook, posted by Chris Davis 10.06.14 at 10.07pm
