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My Poor Mini - £1000S To Get Back On The Road


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#1 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 08:50 AM

1996 jap import cooper. Cost £3000 when we bought it a few years back.

 

Problem is a few years of not using and its not in the best condition. Garage (mini specialist) have sent me a long list of things that need to be done - exhaust, all brakes, tons of welding, body panels, mount points, bushes etc. Basically a complete overhaul.

 

Hes talking £1000s. Convince me its worth doing..... I guess at the moment its not worth a great deal in current state but it'd probably cost more to get going than it'd be worth.

 

Any idea how much someone would be willing to pay for mini like this. No mot, ropey bodywork etc.

Might just be worth new one for £2K.



#2 DeadSquare

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:24 AM

Have you,  A)  Got the enthusiasm to go through with a rebuild ?

                  B)  Got the money for a new bodyshell, (plus paint, exhaust and sundry spares) which would give you an almost brand new Mini that would last your lifetime.



#3 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:24 AM

Garage are telling me £2000-£2500 to get it through an MOT WITHOUT respray. A lot of £.

 

Garage have offered me £200 for the car - seems low. Hmmm. If hes willing to spend £200 on it and then do the work himself must be worth a few quid more when its done. To be fair the garage guy is good as gold so fair play to him.


Edited by paulfoel, 09 April 2019 - 09:56 AM.


#4 DeadSquare

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:31 AM

It is wort a lot more than £200-00, sold as bits on ebay.



#5 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:53 AM

Have you,  A)  Got the enthusiasm to go through with a rebuild ?

                  B)  Got the money for a new bodyshell, (plus paint, exhaust and sundry spares) which would give you an almost brand new Mini that would last your lifetime.

 

Well I dont need the car to use. Its been idle for years anyway so no huge rush getting it going.

 

Money is the issue. As I said, £2500 just to get it going. Then more to get the bodywork sorted. Its a lot.

 

Other option is to sell for what I can and buy another. Seen some half decent on ebay for £2000 or so.



#6 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:55 AM

It is wort a lot more than £200-00, sold as bits on ebay.

 

Thing is I'm not that mechanically minded and I'm guessing a lot of hassle to do this.

Out of interest - what sort of parts would sell well?

 

I see people do sell on ebay and people buy for spares/repair. But obviously in these cases, they are then either reselling parts separately as you suggest and making a lot more or fixing and selling for a lot more.



#7 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 09:56 AM

Have you,  A)  Got the enthusiasm to go through with a rebuild ?

                  B)  Got the money for a new bodyshell, (plus paint, exhaust and sundry spares) which would give you an almost brand new Mini that would last your lifetime.

 

How much would an entire new bodyshell cost out of interest?



#8 DeadSquare

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 10:02 AM

Yes, it is a hassle and takes time, and if you are not clued up you are not going to be sure what exactly you are selling.   Also, there are always going to be some bits left, even years later.



#9 DeadSquare

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 10:06 AM

 

Have you,  A)  Got the enthusiasm to go through with a rebuild ?

                  B)  Got the money for a new bodyshell, (plus paint, exhaust and sundry spares) which would give you an almost brand new Mini that would last your lifetime.

 

How much would an entire new bodyshell cost out of interest?

 

 

Up to £10,000-00



#10 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 10:23 AM

 

 

Have you,  A)  Got the enthusiasm to go through with a rebuild ?

                  B)  Got the money for a new bodyshell, (plus paint, exhaust and sundry spares) which would give you an almost brand new Mini that would last your lifetime.

 

How much would an entire new bodyshell cost out of interest?

 

 

Up to £10,000-00

 

 

Ah. Bit out of budget then....



#11 Icey

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 10:49 AM

Garage are telling me £2000-£2500 to get it through an MOT WITHOUT respray. A lot of £.

 

Garage have offered me £200 for the car - seems low. Hmmm. If hes willing to spend £200 on it and then do the work himself must be worth a few quid more when its done. To be fair the garage guy is good as gold so fair play to him.

 

This is a low-ball offer. You could break the car and sell the parts for 4-5 times that - do not take this offer. Hell, I'll give you £300 for it if you get that desperate.

 

Is this actually a place that knows Minis or just someone that thinks they do? There's very few people I'd trust to give an honest evaluation of the state of a classic car. If it needs a lot of welding to the point it's almost a bare shell, £2000 is too low. There's something off about all of these figures.

 

If it's really that bad, you have three choices - 1) Pay this person the money to get it MOTable, 2) Pay one of the better known restorers a bit more money and get it done properly, 3) DIY (still will be a couple of £k but you save a lot of labour costs).



#12 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 10:55 AM

 

Garage are telling me £2000-£2500 to get it through an MOT WITHOUT respray. A lot of £.

 

Garage have offered me £200 for the car - seems low. Hmmm. If hes willing to spend £200 on it and then do the work himself must be worth a few quid more when its done. To be fair the garage guy is good as gold so fair play to him.

 

This is a low-ball offer. You could break the car and sell the parts for 4-5 times that - do not take this offer. Hell, I'll give you £300 for it if you get that desperate.

 

Is this actually a place that knows Minis or just someone that thinks they do? There's very few people I'd trust to give an honest evaluation of the state of a classic car. If it needs a lot of welding to the point it's almost a bare shell, £2000 is too low. There's something off about all of these figures.

 

If it's really that bad, you have three choices - 1) Pay this person the money to get it MOTable, 2) Pay one of the better known restorers a bit more money and get it done properly, 3) DIY (still will be a couple of £k but you save a lot of labour costs).

 

 

Cheers Icey. Nah not going to sell for few hundred quid.

 

This is a well respected classic car specialist. Guy is a decent fella. 

 

Sorry £2000 is too low for a lot of welding?

 

Dunno. Paying someone £4-£5K to end up with a car thats probably worth about £3K. Hmmm doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

 

DIY not an option. I'm pretty useless with cars.



#13 InnoCooperExport

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 11:15 AM

You mention it's a Jap import, does that mean you have air-conditioning and whatnot as well?
If it were mine I would get the body done for that price, replace all the bushes etc and exhaust myself (get a Haynes book andn if you can find one for a fair price a workshop manual) and save up in the meantime to get the paintwork done. Get yourself a tmf+ membership and use the discount on minispares for all the bits. Most parts can be replaced with little more than a jack, axle stands, a decent socket set, and a torque wrench.

#14 Icey

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 11:15 AM

Cheers Icey. Nah not going to sell for few hundred quid.
 
This is a well respected classic car specialist. Guy is a decent fella. 
 
Sorry £2000 is too low for a lot of welding?
 
Dunno. Paying someone £4-£5K to end up with a car thats probably worth about £3K. Hmmm doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
 
DIY not an option. I'm pretty useless with cars.


You have to think in man-hours rather than task based pricing. If you work out how many hours it will take to strip, fit and finish a whole load of panels and parts, and do it properly with quality replacements (i.e. not snot-welding patches over rust, decent aftermarket parts) £2000 doesn't go very far. People's time is expensive, to parrot an old adage - Skilled labour isn't cheap, cheap labour isn't skilled.

 

I also think you're underestimating the value of your car. The JDM Minis have a bit of a premium. In good condition, £3k is at the low-end of possible valuations.

 

And, to be honest, you don't own a classic Mini and expect a return on your investment if you're actually using it. Ours is probably only worth a few £k but I have receipts that total over £10k (albeit over quite a few years). If I stopped working on it when it exceeded it's market value it would have been in the scrapyard years ago.



#15 paulfoel

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Posted 09 April 2019 - 11:50 AM

You mention it's a Jap import, does that mean you have air-conditioning and whatnot as well?
If it were mine I would get the body done for that price, replace all the bushes etc and exhaust myself (get a Haynes book andn if you can find one for a fair price a workshop manual) and save up in the meantime to get the paintwork done. Get yourself a tmf+ membership and use the discount on minispares for all the bits. Most parts can be replaced with little more than a jack, axle stands, a decent socket set, and a torque wrench.

 

Yes it has AC.

 

Im not great at DIY car stuff though - and limited with time - family and all that. To measure my level of expertise the biggest car jobs I've ever attempted on a mini.

 

1. Driveshaft gaiter. Took me hours but to be fair it did work. Managed to drop the brake caliper on my face when underneath the car though.

 

2. Starter motor. But than that is easy isnt it.

 

3. Brake pads. Managed but took me hours.

 

4. Brake shoes. Didnt work out too well, they fell out when I was driving.






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