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well ,,after not seeing the roads since i was a 6th form student in the early 80s,my first mini (in my family since 1965) has been recomissioned.
its cleaned up well..im kinda chuffed..
ill add more pics along the way.

according to gaydon it is a morris mini minor standard "upped" to deluxe spec,though some deluxe features wernt fitted,,the opening quarterlights,chrome number plate lamp,overiders were not on the car when it was sold as a ex-kennings fleet car in 1965,but fitted by my father and grandfather between 1965 and 1975

the chassis no has the normal morris engraving,with a massive hand stamped "D" between ma2s4 and the designated identity number

not sure whether to fit the sealed back windows,,maybe i should

what u guys think??

is it an oddball or did they do loads of "specked up" basic models for fleet or retail sales??














Circa 1970 interior shot

Very nice Brook, glad to see you're posting again.

Wow, that's very nice. Personally i'd leave it as is.

I agree- leave exactly as it is!! Very nice motor.

thank you all for the positive comments-

an engine rebuild is planned soon,,it rumbles the car when it is revved-i suspect it has worn main bearings
mind you,,the speedo is well into its second time around

the photos dont show the few slight paint imperfections or the slightly worn drivers seat,,nor the rust protective sprayed on the underside and engine bay,but its deffo full of patina,,and is a great step forward from when it failed its mot on corrosion back in 1984,
shame the four vent sills wernt available when the inner and outer sills were done many many years ago,,but its nice to see cars warts and all,,with period repairs carried out as and when needed..

ooozes pure character,eh??
good memories of family holidays as a baby and going to nursery school in this car.

this is also the car i was learning to spanner under at the tender age of 3,,helping do a driveshaft coupling.

Cracking car you have there.
It's even better having all that known family history.
You must be chuffed as hell getting it back on the road.

brook shaw wrote:

but its nice to see cars warts and all,,with period repairs carried out as and when needed..

Totally agree very nice car

so nice with the memories/stories, makes a car like this, so much more personal.


I left the hand made sills, on Woodis, when I restored her, they are made by a proffessional body repair shop (in 1.2 mm plate .
I have the original bill, from when they were fitted - all a part of the cars history.



Jens Christian

brook shaw wrote:is it an oddball or did they do loads of "specked up" basic models for fleet or retail sales??

i think it was possible to get minis built to your own spec, if you where a fleet buyer etc

my 1964 mini is a good example, its a ministry of supply disabled driver car, so came from the factory with the large fire extinguisher (bracket fitted through the factory stamped holes (that all minis have) before the car was painted), early seat cross member (to accept the larger, flatter special seats) etc etc.

that was also sold through kennings, so it may be that yours was a similar car - id guess if you where an accountant in the early 1960's you could nip a few shillings off the price of a mini by deleting stuff like opening windows and chrome shizz! then you would do - particually if you where ordering them in 100's it would make a differance to the bottom line!

apparantly there was a yard full of smoke grey minis for sale on the kennings of sheffield forcourt ,,all ex kennings fleet cars, and almost all consecutive reg numbers.
all were basic models with the cloth trim but this took my fathers eye cos it had a few deluxe extras such as dark grey and grey fleck interior and a few other "deluxe fitments"

bits were added and removed over the years which gave the car "character"



ive just executed a few "blow- ins" on the car ,which to me retains the cars character

just bare metalled the floor under the carpets at the same time as a repair has been done due to a captive nut pulling through the seat crossmember..

didnt fund any nasties,,just lots of red oxide primer from the factory under loads of underseal,,all done when the sills were done many many yrs ago.

now it looks much neater under the mats

engine next,,,,

oooer

the floors have now been bare metalled and refinished in smoke grey.

"THE COLLECTOR"
get that trim like this car out off yor playhouse roof rafters for me....PLEEEEASE!!- PRETTY PLEASE--BEG BEG

Very nice, and that has just made me decide the colour I am going to do my 63, I had been doing a lot of head scratching but yup, smoke grey it will be, I was going to keep it white but tbh am not a fan of plain old white.

D

Sweet little family member there Brook, am rather jealous. Looking forward to more photographs soon I hope.

here we go folks-
hoping to get my well earned v5c soon..

all sorted-now road legal after 28 yrs

brook shaw wrote:well ,,after not seeing the roads since i was a 6th form student in the early 80s,my first mini (in my family since 1965) has been recomissioned.
its cleaned up well..im kinda chuffed..
ill add more pics along the way.

according to gaydon it is a morris mini minor standard "upped" to deluxe spec,though some deluxe features wernt fitted,,the opening quarterlights,chrome number plate lamp,overiders were not on the car when it was sold as a ex-kennings fleet car in 1965,but fitted by my father and grandfather between 1965 and 1975

the chassis no has the normal morris engraving,with a massive hand stamped "D" between ma2s4 and the designated identity number

not sure whether to fit the sealed back windows,,maybe i should

what u guys think??

is it an oddball or did they do loads of "specked up" basic models for fleet or retail sales??














Circa 1970 interior shot

...cars a goodun but surely the pic of the inside of the car when only 5 years or so old looks really tatty ???....nice looker now though....

the car was on its"arse" by 1970 and by 1975 it had gone twice round the clock
the body resto was done by myself many,many years ago.before put into long term storage..and last year i did a few localised repairs.

the tatty interior pic was when the padded dashboard was been made/ devised (chucked away in 1984)and the interior was a tip..plus my grandad wasnt tidyest of people.. it was then a ten kwid car!!!

what we must remember is the car was a 100 thousand mile plus ex fleet car which was then 8 yrs old..
i think most looked like this circa 1970 im sure..

apart from the pampered pets which were garaged !!!

till 1984 this car sat outside most of its life,,and im now glad i didnt sell it ,although i had lots of offers over the last 20 yrs or so

i aim to renew the padded dashboard which i chucked in the bin in my student days as was totally "uncool" but now i think rather quaint

the later front panel fitted in 40 odd yrs ago stays,,along with the twisted inner wing valance and the badly fitting door that always plagued ny father...stuff like this can never be recreated or replaced..once its gone,,its gone..

Cars got tatty very quickly back then - the build quality of modern cars has spoiled us. I have an AA Drive magazine from 1971 with an article called 'the Austin Seven', about a 1962 Mini Woody Countryman (313WBH) that had seven or eight owners and had been resprayed twice, engine and gearbox rebuild etc etc all before it was 8 years old.
My first Mini was £20 in 1974 when I was just a nipper, purchased for my by my folks as a thing to sit in the garden and play Cops and Robbers with. It was a smoke grey Austin Super Deluxe, around a 1962/3 vintage and it was absolutely shagged out. It's one redeeming feature was a recently fitted Peco centre exit exhaust that was immediately liberated and fitted to Mum's 1275GT. Ha - I knew there was an ulterior motive.

really nice car , i am doing a smoke grey car at the moment and have grown to really like the colour, it sort of lends itself to an early model ??