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Some information about my Mini

It is a 1991 Rover Mini City, not that old in the scheme of things but a classic Mini is a classic Mini - 100% BMW free!!  I first saw the car when I was looking around another car for a friend in early 2005 and asked the owner if the Mini was for sale.  He told me that it was for the right price but that was as far as it went at the time.  I thought his asking price was too high.  In June or July 2006 I drove my son's Mini after doing some work on it and that brought back memories of just how much fun these little cars can be to drive.  I decided to see if this particular one was still available.  It was and the rest, as they say, is history.

When I purchased it in August 2006 it had been stood for approximately six years.  I arranged to have the car collected and delivered to my garage on a friend's breakdown truck.  My first target was to get it running then to get it through an MOT and put it on the road.

All I did to get it running was put a new battery in it, some petrol in the tank and a new set of spark plugs.  Hey presto!!  It's running - OK so the alternator had seized and the fan belt soon started to complain about that but the important thing was that the engine was running.  WD40 soon sorted the alternator!

Over the next few weeks two rear wheel cylinders, rear brake shoes, one front brake caliper, front brake pads, one replacement brake pipe, a bottom ball joint and wheel bearing on the nearside front, top ball joint on the offside front and a bit of TLC, especially on the electrics, saw it through an MOT and on the road again.

Here are some photos of the Mini as it was when I first bought it.  Under the bonnet was a particularly frightening sight!!

Mini as it was when I bought it.  Washed!!  Yuk!!!  Washed engine!!

It's amazing what a difference a bucket, sponge and hot soapy water can make!!  The engine just had a brush, some good old Gunk and a hose pipe.  All it needed to get it running was some petrol and a set of plugs!

There is still plenty of work to do but I didn't buy it to be a daily runabout!  After getting it running and on the road the next plan was to do some work on the engine so that I could start and have some real fun!!  See the following pages to see the work in progress..... well Rome wasn't built in a day, was it?