26 replies to this topic

[a_woolhouse]

Hi all been on here a while so thought it was time to start a project thread and introduce you all to ''Purdey the Park Lane'' (haven't decided whether it's male or female yet ;)

not much to start off with really

been looking for a mini for a while when a limited edition park lane appeared on gumtree, had a nosey round it my dad test drove it and we made an offer and bought it home, to be fair was quite impressed with how well it trundled home :)

Spent the next day polishing and washing it before i went off to work and as you usually do as a mini owner.....................took millions off pictures of it lol :













Purdey stood like that for a while until I had some funds. we'd just missed a mini show can't remember which one it was when so we waited for Minifest at Uttoxeter where it sat on the mini's only car park just behind the main show:




Bought it a new set of chrome wing mirrors, as the originals weren't attached properly and were about to fall off and a new set of plastic arches as the originals are cracked and not really attached very well, the plan with them is to sand them down (which I've already done) and then paint them black to match the car until i have some more cash , but heres a photo of the shiny new wing mirrors:


that's how it stands for now, the plans for it are:
-Bonnet
-2 spot lamps
-Grille
- wings
-Scuttle Panel
-Around the windscreens started to go so that needs sorting
-New rear lights as i've cracked the lenses screwing them in
-Replace windscreen
-A Panel
-Alloys
-Maybe new window tint
-Group 2 arches
-Move the exhaust to the middle
-Repspray & Decals
-Beige & Black Interior with park lane embroidered
-New front bumper (dented it by reversing into it with the pug )
-Maybe a different gear knob
-and finally maybe a new dash board

Will keep you updated with what happens with it

and that's how it stands for now

Edited by a_woolhouse, 18 September 2012 - 06:26 PM.

[rally515]

Hi, nice mini you have there sir or miss which ever you may be Reagarding the minis sexuality i think he should
be a male with the spotlights & arches on.

Great mini very smart paintjob on it or that could just be the fresh polishing its had :)
Also as a daily drive how do you find maintaining or keeping on top of the road muck? as when i finish rebuilding my mini
i plan to paint him satin black.

Regards
Clifford

[a_woolhouse]

Iya, i'm a miss ;) and thanks I think it should be male too ourely because its having parts removed and different ones fitted ;)

the plan is to put group 2 arches and 2 spot lights on the front :) the pug next to it is my daily drive but use the mini most weekends, the photos make it look better than it is as it needs a respray and fair bit of work but it's a rolling project :)

as for road much best way to keep it dirt free is to polish it purely because blacks such a bad colour for showing dirt lol.

good luck with the rebuild :)

[rally515]

Hi miss mini lady ;) that sounds like spiffingly good plans for him are you taking the sticker off or not?

Yes thought that would be the case but i guess thats why they call it a labour of love ha ha.
<a href="http://www.flickr.co...N08/7096940183/" title="mini checkmate by rally515, on Flickr"><img

Not sure if this link will work but the above should be a picture of my mums mini with 2 spots on

Regards
Clifford

[a_woolhouse]

I'm liking the mini and think i'm leavin the decals on purely because you don't see many park lanes and to try and keep at least some of it standard, i'm loving the bulls head in the grill though, something different you don't see everyday.

might end up removing the stickers off the back window just to give it a cleaner look :)

what've you got planned for yours?

[rally515]

Yea i thought leaving them on was better for the fact of the raratiy aswell but didnt want to sway your judgment to much :)
The grille i made myself for the M.O.T. its made out of a steel main grill which is supposed to look like the mini van grille
with a unpainted bare metal bulls head shape spotwelded to it & then laquared for protection.
I put the bull on because my mother is a taurus ( not literally shedoesnt have horns and four legs ).

As with regards to my mini its in the garage naked on its side at the moment but i plan to do the following:

Jps lotus style graphics in satin black & gold
Removable flip front
Diamond stitched brown vinyl interior (made by myself)
Slight brown tint in windows
wheels are un decided yet as i only have three ten inch weller wheels which are seven inches wide & a pepper pot.
engine will be a 850 pickup motor which i bought for £31 all in .
Also does your mini stay parked at the front like that or can you tuck it away somewere
it looks such a nickable area very open ect....

Regards
Clifford

[a_woolhouse]

aha would be hilarious if she actually was ;) looks ace because its different, sounds good will look forward to seeing the progress and finished article :)

as for the mini on the front its usually tucked behind my pug or my brothers mk2 golf (would put it in a garage but prefer to keep it where i can keep an eye on it), it's a fairly quiet area (live where all the oaps do, not that theres anything wrong with that but i don't expect them to go nicking things anytime soon ;) plus it's got a steering lock on it at the mo and it's having an engine imobiliser fitted soon so if anyone does break into it then it'll be near impossible to start without a key/number, can never be too careful when it's comes to minis especially with so many being nicked

[rally515]

ahh right good glad theres some protection for him then

oaps can be very canny aswell you know .Haha
Yes there is a lot getting nicked due to the almost untrackable parts to sell & the value
of the car as a classic car is greater than your average car as rarity & therefore just keeps kreeping up in value.

long live the mini

[a_woolhouse]

haha i doubt it first responders are out every night up here, would be hilarious to see them try and break into a mini though right infront of my living room window!

its crazy how much a minis worth now, saw a totally standard park lane on ebay not long ago think it'd only done 5miles in its whole life and they wanted 15,000 for it, think they're dreaming but oh well lol

indeedy

[rally515]

Im having weird images of elderly people outside your house now putting sticker on the mini
saying meals on wheels.

[a_woolhouse]

hahaha!!! thats absolutely hilarious! :) cooking eggs on my engine radio turned up full blast lol the possibilities are endless

[jb93]

This looks really tidy

I think you were parked about 5 cars down from mine at Minifest, I couldn't be bothered to go on the club stand so had to make do with walking a bit further

Edited by jb93, 27 September 2012 - 02:04 PM.

[a_woolhouse]

haha yeah i was! nipped across to say iya but not a lot of people were on the stand, sposed be going the monthly meet in it tomorrow you, then you can have a proper nosey at it ;) it's not as tidy as it looks in the photos but i've seen worse

Being a muppet i somehow managed to reverse the pug into the front bumper so now have 3 dents in it not good!!

Edited by a_woolhouse, 29 September 2012 - 09:45 PM.

[a_woolhouse]

Slow going process not updated this for a while not really done anything to it yet but come summer I can't wait to start.........so its mot time (ran out on the 2nd jan) spent the last 2 weekends with my dad sorting the ball joints out automatic fail or so i've been told :)

here's a photo of how it looks at the mo



Drivers sides all done, new brake pipes as the others were perished CV Boot as that was beginning to crack and 2 brand new ball joint kits :)

just waiting for my dad to have a play with the brake pipe on the passenger side (I'm new to the ''restoring scene'') it's all good fun learning though.

Brake calipers have been sprayed in blue to make them stand out and look a bit better, then it's off for its mot sometime this week hopefully to see whether it passes or not, i'm expecting the rear subframe to let it down and come back with a fail on the mot but it is what it is when it comes back

Obviously it'll need replacing at some point this year but if we can get it through its test then thats the major job in summer.
Other than that havent really done anything to it, but instead of sportspack arches and deep dish alloys I'm a bit low on cash as things happened that I didnt expect to soo gonna refurb my current alloys as they are a bit of a mess! and spray the new set of standard plastic arches I've got waiting to go on when percy's had a new front end and a respray.

Ohh and heres a couple of pics with a set of park lane centre caps, bought them just to divert the attention away from the shocking state of the wheels





For now though here's a couple of last minute pics I managed to get at the end of last year:

[rally515]

That last photo is beautiful, love it