Mini (1980 or earlier)

Hi All,

I'm in the market for a Mini, 1980 or earlier.

I'm on a very tight budget so I'm expecting to buy something which needs work and may not be currently roadworthy.

Ideally a reasonably solid car with a running engine (engine size not important).

If you know of anything suitable please post it here.

I'm saying 1980 or earlier so that if I make the car roadworthy for eventual use at multi venue tests, I could get classic tax & insurance (I can't afford to pay full tax & insurance on another car! Smile

).

If anyone can suggest other suitable cars I should look at which will be 30 years old next year then I'd appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

J.

Hi J

Have you thought about a Midget? They are cheap at the moment, mostly over 30 yrs old and are as tune-able as a Mini. I've bought a couple of them in the UK over the last few years. They are amazing fun to drive. If you pick up a 1500 version it will take Morris Marina 1300 running gear. The 1300 Marina had a 1275 engine with a midified head. An early Metro might do too. Also Austin A35 or Morris Minor will take MG Midget running gear - ie will take a MED engine.

Hope this helps

Rory

Rory the A-series in-line and tranverse engines are different, so a metro wouldnt fit a midget. The marina would thought as far as i know.

J, i have a 92 cooper if that would be any use to you?

Hi Damien, just as a matter of interest what is the difference between a Cooper and a Cooper S

What spec is the '92 cooper Damien?

Trish, all the old coopers were under 1 litre where as the 's' came in 970 1071 and 1275, had twin tanks etc. The mk1 1275 one is the one people want for retros etc. The late coopers that are post 90 like I have dont compare at all really. They were all 1275 and came in carb, single point injected, and multi point injected. The MPIs are a bit of a pain because they are distributerless so cannot be converted to carb without using expensive electronic ignitions like megajolt.

Philip, its a fairly standard spi.

Marina 1275 running gear will go into a midget fairly easily, the 1500 midget has the advantage of having slightly raised suspension so might be better for multivenues. Metros, with their hydrolastic suspension should be pretty good for multivenues, especially with a decent engine. A clean MG Metro would also be a good investment.

Damien, are u selling your Cooper? Whats it like?

Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming Smile

@Rory: I hadn't though of a Midget but it does tick some boxes in terms of age and price plus it being rear wheel drive would be fun. Very Happy

Are Midgets a good car for autotesting though? I guess I've been aiming for a Mini as they seem best suited for the job (looking at the Hewison Trophy results, 9 of the top 10 cars are Minis). As I mentioned before cost is a factor for me (Honestly I'm not a miser Smile

but I already run 2 road cars so another road car needs to be a classic i.e. 1litre tax €172 Vs €48 classic).

@Damien: Thanks for the offer. If I was only doing autotests I would be interested but because I want to leave myself the option of putting the car on the road I'm going to try to get something which qualifies as a classic for the moment. If that plan changes I'll get back onto you Wink

The 1500 midget has the cross member in a different place to the 1275 and I thought that stopped fitting a 1275 engine

The Marina engine fits a 1275 midget and is what you use to bore out to 1450 as the block is thicker walled.

Fot a ford 105E back axle and Toyota or seirra gearbox and the midget is bomb proof

@J
Midgets are fantastic fun. A lot of people used to use them when Autotests were called Test Trials. They were fairly spectacular. I've run a couple of Midgets as classic road cars and loved every minute in them. Have you looked at classic insurance? Through the Irish Vintage Society classic insurance is very reasonable. Starts at €130 for 3rd party. I've got 4 classics on the one policy, all with agreed values for €380. A relatively decent Midget should be yours from ebay etc for less than £2,000, from the UK. Don't even think of buying one here, way overpriced and usually ropey as hell. They don't seem to have a problem spending £5k on a car over there and then selling it for £1500. Can only be good!
If you're looking for something a bit different I have a very nice 1973 Mercedes 450SLC for sale. Its a beast of a car, you could use it for drifting too!

Good luck with your search.

Rory

Why not take the easy option and get a starlet, you can get classic insurance but not tax. None of the headaches of minis and you dont have to drive it as sympatically on multivenues.

You may be right and I am making things difficult for myself, I guess I'm trying to make sure I only have to buy my car once and that's why I'm trying to get the most universal car I can.

	Damien wrote:
	Why not take the easy option and get a starlet...You dont have to drive it as sympatically on multivenues.

Depends on how much TLC you put into it Damien...

I must say I'd love to have a rwd for the multivenues.. Trish has a Midget lying idle in the corner of her garage... Hmmm.

J have a look on carandclassic.co.uk some cheap enough Midgets on there, if i had somewhere to work on a car I'd have a serious think about buying one.

@Trish, get that Midget on the road and use it on the Retros and let Piers out in the Starlet Very Happy

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