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The History Of "tango" My 78 Clubman Estate

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#1 chipster196

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Posted 19 May 2015 - 10:54 PM

This is a well known car with a story i've never got round to writing. So get comfy and i'll begin.....

 

Back in 2007 i was just 16, skipping school to work in a local garage. I used to ride my bike past a 78 clubman estate and always looked at it deciding one day i'll buy that. I'd always had a love for minis but loved the variants as they were different. One day on my way home from work there was a for sale sign on the house so i decided it was a now or never moment. A knock at the door revealed the owner was out but his wife was in. A brief chat with her revealed "Tim" had owned the mini 11 years and it had been off the road for 9 after the head cracked and the rust had set in. After looking the car over realizing it was worse up close than first thought i left my number expecting a school boy to be ignored. I received a phone call that evening regarding the car so the next day after work i went for another chat. Having had a second look it was definitely rotten and needing a fair amount of work but myself and dad was up for a challenge, until he dropped the bomb shell. "You can buy the car for £1000". Once we'd picked ourselves up we kindly refused and departed on our way. 2 weeks later whilst browsing ebay i spotted the very same car with a starting price of £100. Still with a passion for that car and with it being just 3 miles from home i decided it had to be mine. £260 later she was on the back of our lorry heading back up the hill to my house! 

 

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So there she was, finally in my possession and for nearly a quarter of the asking price. Next came the expensive bit, new steel. (being a school boy working a few hours here and there i didnt have a camera so didnt get many pics) Dad and a friend replaced the front floors, front wings, a panels, headlight surrounds, repaired the roof, bottoms of rear doors, part boot floor and a few other odds and ends. 

 

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Once all the new metal was in we came to the exciting bit, PAINT!!!. Now what colour to do it, i'm not an original sort of person so was never going to be the same colour. After looking through several colour charts i'd narrowed it down to 2. Well that was until a friend of dads popped in for a chat and to show off his new......... Focus ST in orange! That was it i was in love. So a phone call to morelli for some of that and some VW black magic for the roof and arches (cosmic group 2, new in the box £25, bargain!). 

 

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All shiny i was in love with her. Downside looking back is the fact i was more interested in bangers than my car atm, so i was aiming to get it done by my 17th birthday but as i was sidetracked i didnt get to this point until November 2008. 9 months after i turned 17. Anyway so we cracked on putting the car together piece by piece with a few custom touches like the Renault Alpine leather seats. No point telling you about each nut and bolt on that bit so have some more photos.

 

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Thats where most storys end. Unfortunately not my Tangos. Best grab yourself a cup of tea. Over the moon she was finally done 2 years after i brought her. Myself and dad had never undertaken such a project and were very pleased with the result. So off i went on my merry way in my new car. That was until one friday morning about a month later (the day michael jackson died) on my way to work i was forced off the road by a hot hatch driven by a "youth". I had to take drastic swerving action causing me to go over a bank causing alot of damage.

 

 

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I had snapped the rear radius arm, rear shock, brake pipe and the rear trumpet, plus bent the new subframe, petrol tank and buckled all 4 alloys plus punctured 2 newish yokohamas. To say we were not amused is a massive understatement but i cant repeat the conversation at the time. Typically the hot hatch had not stopped and being 18 with a modified car claiming on the insurance was not an option so i bankrupted myself and we managed to get the car repaired in time for work monday morning.

 

 



#2 chipster196

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Posted 19 May 2015 - 10:58 PM

So off i went again doing tonnes off shows in her and putting many miles on the clocks for a couple of years.

 

 

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After about 2 years i had another minor run in which luckily was just a bent bumper. But after 2 years of using her as a daily it was time to give her a make over in the engine department. Didnt want to go mad with it and as i was dating a girl in Norfolk wanted to keep it reliable but good for long miles. So in went a 266 cam and 3:1 diff, along with a head skim and new clutch she was ready to drop back in.

 

 

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Then it was time for a good polish, fit the new retro roof rack and back to daily use. 

 

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Around 6 months later i moved from Bucks to Norfolk using Tango as a van to get all my stuff up here. So she stayed in daily use until one foggy wednesday night on the way home the inevitable happened. The road ran out. 

 

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So yet again more repairs. Off with her front, luckily i had a friend with a mint front end i could buy. Dad went to work on her as i live 130 miles from the car. We also found some more rot after the accident had caused a seam to split and slowly rust through.

 

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Living so far away, having my own house and still racing meant i'd lost interest in her so after dad had finished all the welding shes gone into storage. Which is where she still is at the minute.

 

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Now there is a happy ending to this story. I've recently helped a friend rebuild his mini and been working on several others has given me my mojo back for minis so racing has gone out the window and over the next few months Tango will rise once more!! So i shall hopefully be updating this thread regularly. Hope i have not bored too many of you to sleep. And remember that girl i was dating in Norfolk? Well we now rent our own 2 bedroom house, are married and have a son! 

 

Cheers, Chip

 



#3 Ben_O

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 04:52 AM

What a great story.

 

It will be nice to see it all finished once again.

 

Good luck with the rebuild

 

Ben



#4 toyboy396

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 07:23 PM

Cool story Bro

 

Your dad sounds like a legend, doing all that for you while you enjoy yourself.

 

It'll be cool to see it back on the road   :thumbsup:



#5 Spud_133

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 07:46 PM

I bet that mini you rebuilt turns some heads and upsets the others, too! Definitely needs more tigers, though!

#6 chipster196

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 10:07 PM

needs more horses 



#7 JewSkii

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Posted 27 May 2015 - 02:53 AM

very nice car mate. i hope you get her back on the road soon i want to see how it will look :)



#8 spike 25

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 09:22 PM

What a great story! Please don't ask to drive mine as you sound just a little unlucky at times . He he he :-)

#9 Spud_133

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 03:39 PM

No, he just can't drive for ****!

Any updates?

#10 toyboy396

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 05:43 PM


Any updates?

 

Yep its still there..... I saw it today.

 

Lilly chased a kin great moggy out of it !!!!     :lol:







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