I've been out of the Mini scene for nearly 10 years - my last Mini being a 1275GT - but my recent acquisition of my Grans old Metro has spurred me to seek out a Mini again.
I've just been looking at a local 1999 MPi with 47.5k on the clock, cream half-leather interior, standard spec as far as I can tell. The problem is that there are some fairly nasty looking rust patches and a couple of holes on both sills and a hole in the off-side floor quite close to the inner sill. There are also signs of rust on the door-end of the a-panels plus a small patch on the off-side rear wheel arch (inside the boot). I had a poke at the wheel-arch rust and it didn't give way or anything so I think that's just superficial - for the moment.
Does anyone know if these late Minis were prone to more rust than usual or is this just an unfortunate example? If there's rust on the outer a-panels is it likely that something more serious might be hidden behind? What kind of price should I be looking at paying for it (if I'm brave enough to deal with the corrosion)?
Many thanks.
Chris