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I hope Orangerover comes out on top!

He has thank god and will hopefully be along shortly to fill us in on all the horrific details but in the meantime here are a couple pics of the car taken last night at his place:

Bloody ell... Haha that's mental!

Some people, I don't know how these type of people sleep at night!

Nice pair of not told old air filters.. !! foxy52

He won't say it because he's too modest but had Pete not put certain people together and made certain introductions then Orangeover may never have seen himself reunited with his original car. I went and looked at the cars and Pete did all the detective work and needs a round of applause (he will probably bollock me for this )

OMG Well done Pete

Ian

Well the one on the left appears in many ways a 1071 S with genuine factory recliners and 120mph speedo. The things that seem odd are the regulator box is in the wrong place and the wrong servo.

Yes wrong servo, shocking isn't it that a 50 year old car that's seen some action in it's time has had it's servo and loom changed. And filters too, in fact we shouldn't have bothered.

I'll leave it to Mr Orangerover to tell the story if he should so wish, save to say it'll make a great movie . Jason Statham as Mick, Ray Winston as Orange rover and obviously Brad Pitt as me.

Pete wrote: obviously Brad Pitt as me

Thought that was implied

Pete wrote:Yes wrong servo, shocking isn't it that a 50 year old car that's seen some action in it's time has had it's servo and loom changed. And filters too, in fact we shouldn't have bothered.

I'll leave it to Mr Orangerover to tell the story if he should so wish, save to say it'll make a great movie . Jason Statham as Mick, Ray Winston as Orange rover and obviously Brad Pitt as me.

The point is, why change the loom and put the regulator box in the wrong place. In fact right in the place it was moved from to fit the servo. The servo looks salvaged from a Rover P6.

ivor badger wrote:
The things that seem odd are the regulator box is in the wrong place and the wrong servo

3rd line has the answer.

Orangerover wrote:
I still have history for KPO and remember going to buy it with my late Dad for £120-

I was 14 and tortured him far days to buy it.


It was certainly re shelled in my ownership

Sorry not been on before now but as you can imagine..............
The juicy details go like this-
I acquired 454 KPO around 1974 when I pestered my Dad to go 11 parmontley st in Scotswood Newcastle ( remember the riots) and part with £160 for a mustard coloured-1071s,spray on blue sperex windows.
Driving home I asked dad to put his foot down which he did - ha the seat bolts were missing and he ended up in the back seat .
The car went through a few changes while I waited to pass my test, painted black with a gold roof,wide arches etc - I felt privileged to own such a thing as my mates were handed keys for hillman hunters and 1.1 escorts .
In around 1977 the car caught fire the day the fire service decided to go on strike so the army turned up in the " green Goddess" and gave KPO a right old kicking- ignoring my shouts that I had managed to put out the fire with a bottle of dandelion and burdock.
Sickened,the car was put away while I rode my Suzuki T 250 .
Passion for all things mini never went away and I started a garage specialising in them in 1981.
KPO was resurrected ,as a rough tool that went and handled - until I stuffed it into a bus stop trying to impress a lady customer who asked me in for a drink when I went to collect a bill .
It still had about 2 miles left in it which got me back to her house but plod soon turned up.
Mam n Dad not happy when they had to bail me out of the police cells
Another shell was found and lots of wild times ,racing 3.0 Capri and XR3s - it was the car to beat as the 1071 was put aside and a 45 dcoe and1330 s put in.
1984 I sold KPO to a local man ( Dereck Joicey) who sold it a week later then had to buy it back when the buyer returned it saying his wife said it was too noisy .
He must have grown to love it like me and kept it until 1987 when he put it up for sale and an ex apprentice of mine went to buy it with fifteen hundred quid- he was at my house tonight and says he can still remember everything about it right down to the exhaust note and various accessories it had fitted.
He didn't buy it as Dereck wanted £2.500 and ended up selling it to a mr Dodkins.
Fast forward to 2007 when a voice in my head told me to find KPO .
DVLA enquiry told me that the car had not been taxed since 1987 when it left Newcastle so I assumed it must lying somewhere or scrapped etc.
We have all seen the u tube post of Tiff and John Rhodes , couldn't believe it and I tried by Letter,phone and e mail to make contact with mr Dodkins but nothing ,I just assumed he didn't want to part with it as my correspondence asked if he would contact me should he ever want to sell.
That brings me to this last week ( the bit you wanted, not the bit you got !)
First I knew was a mate ( the apprentice)txt me to say The original KPO was on e bay , i was in the land-rover and pulled over and got it up on the phone - what a rush......there it was crippled and haunted looking with its number plate lying next to it - I felt like Liam Neesom in " Taken" and nothing would stop me now.
A Msg to the seller was sent and agonisingly I got a reply at 5 am in the morning- didn't matter I hadn't slept with the image in my mind and the fact that the whole world seemed to be putting big bids in.
A check on here with lots of negatives then I phoned the seller who was without any clue as to what he had.
His story was that his next door neighbour builder mate had bought them from a woman ( ex mrs Dodkins)who asked them to be moved as he could not work with them there ( in fact he had not paid a penny)
The builder asked the seller to put them up for sale as they had cooper badges and might be worth something- first day went to 11 k - ! Was that a 12 year olds bid ?- no v5s remember .
I had to sort it so I sent him a deposit which I told him was legally binding and gave me breathing space but still with real concerns wether I would get the v5 on application.
Then from the Gods came a call from Pete who listened ,sent a mate to see them and got me the number of the REAL owner ,he then took it on to tell the seller not to do anything at all with the cars or he would find himself in a lot of bother .
The seller then sent out a multi e mail to all bidders urging them to come on a first come first served basis ( before my arrival of course ).
By this time I had spoken to the real owner ( mr Dodkins ) who new nothing whatsoever about the his cars on e bay, he agreed to sell me KPO - result - I was star jumping .
Midnight Sunday and the phone goes with a very pissed agitated builder on the phone still maintaining the cars were his and was going to get " his mate in the police force" to sort it .
I told him what Pete had told his mate ( the ebay seller) not to do anything at all with the cars, at which point he lost his drunk pickled head and started screaming at me.
More than a tad concerned that he may well torch the cars in his drunken stupa I opened the shed up fitted a tow bar to the van ready for the off to Stafford in the morning.
Heart beating out my chest as I pulled up , I was met by the owner ( mr Dodkins ) who had it under control .
While trying to get KPO on my trailer and JTA on mr Dodkins trailer ( a shovel would have been handy ) the self same pissed builder kept pestering me to say he was " out of pocket", to the tune of £400 what a liberty- unbelievable .........
Anyway happy days and I got most my deposit back from the e bay seller who to be fair I feel was used by the builder to some degree.
BUYER BEWARE !
HUGE thank-you to -
Pete for his vigilance .
Mick for going to see the cars.
This Forum - knowledge is power .

I will post with plans and progress soon.
Neilson miller .

Hi Nielson,


Thats SOME story can see why people compaered it, with Eastenders


Its great that you got your car back
but what about the "other" KPO ? (the one from the video) , and paperwork = V5 / logbook etc.


Wish you good luck.


Jens Christian

Wow!
Feel like watching a movie!

JC T ONE wrote:
but what about the "other" KPO ? (the one from the video)

OK guys, last time I'm explaining this . The other KPO is a red herring, it's a race car, the number was only stuck on the car for effect by the real KPO's (then) owner , temporarily for a Goodwood Revival quite some years ago when they ran 1071's. It's not the car and never was.

Phew.

That is one awsome story very well done to you

Pete wrote:

JC T ONE wrote:
but what about the "other" KPO ? (the one from the video)

OK guys, last time I'm explaining this . The other KPO is a red herring, it's a race car, the number was only stuck on the car for effect by the real KPO's (then) owner , temporarily for a Goodwood Revival quite some years ago when they ran 1071's. It's not the car and never was.

Phew.

I see, thanks for clearing that up

The way some people "do things" in UK, regarding registration / etc, gave me the impression, that the paperwork, had been used, to "create" another car.

Nice to hear all is "hunky dory"

Good story , some one call BBC, and make a reality show of it



J C

Happy ending, brilliant, loved it.

Pete

What a great end to a fantastic tale.

Great to hear you have the car back and good luck with the resto.

It's good to hear that you have gotten your old car back Nielson

I look forward to hearing about your exploits at the next MCR meet.

Stuart