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Good morning. I recently purchased a 1960 Morris mini. The gentlemen that I purchased the car from said the generator failed and in doing so resulted in the car sitting for over 11 years.
I removed the generator and voltage regulator for testing. They tested fine and had already been changed to negative ground.
Returning the removed parts and feeling semi confident I put a battery in the trunk and tested the power. All the lights came on and everything seemed fine. That's when everything went down hill.
I pushed the starter button! I got a loud clunk then nothing. So I pushed it again, then held for just a second. In doing so I violently received "Magic smoke" from under the dash. Melting several ground wires.
I am looking for assistance in how or why this happened and any other advise to try. Thank you for you time.

Most likely the engine to body earth is missing or badly corroded so there is no connection. Then all the starter current would be passing through the ground wires and usually the heater and choke cables as well. This would explain the loss of magic smoke and the starter being unable to turn the engine over.

I used to find a bad body earth melted the choke and throttle cables before the wirirng. First thing to do is check that the battery is good and the engine is not seized or the starter gear/ring gear locked, attach a jump lead from the engine to a good earth if you still just get just a clonk and no spin the starter is the problem. Another problem you may find with storage is a sticking clutch if so let the engine warm up, make sure the handbrake is working and on or the wheels chocked, put your foot on the clutch and bang it into reverse quickly, the shock is usually enough of get things moving.

Thank you for the advise. I will be getting back to the car tomorrow. I will replace the ground wire on the battery. I will also add a ground from the engine to the chasis just to ensure a good ground.

As far as the clutch you are right it is sticking. Thank you for the advise on how to shock it.

Also I know the motor is not seized. I pulled the plugs and was able to turn the motor over with just my hands grabbing the balancer pulley.