My first Mini and my first car restoration…
I’ve been looking for a ‘project’ for a while and finally decided on restoring a Mini. A good friend of mine found this one advertised on the Intermong as follows: -
Here’s an opportunity for a classic car fans. I have reluctantly decided that I’m never going to finish my beloved Mini project, so it’s time for it to find a new home.
The car is in need of restoration work, but isn’t suffering from anything terminal and for a keen enthusiast (with more time than me!), it has the makings of a great little classic.
It’s a Cyprus car and is one of the early 1275GT’s, which was introduced as a replacement for the Mini Cooper. As such, it has the Cooper S braking system that is extremely rare and allows you to keep the tiny 10” wheels (thus retaining the handling) but with strong braking.
The worst thing about the car is that it needs welding in the driver’s footwell area and sills, and some around the back end. It’s not horrendous and wouldn’t be a massive project.
The engine and gearbox are sound. Last year the head was completely rebuilt with new valves, guides and seats (hardened for unleaded), and a reconned radiator was fitted with new hoses. A new coil, points etc were fitted.
I’ve got a lot of spares with the car, including a Stage 1 kit (Maniflow exhaust with LCB manifold, heated inlet manifold, K & N filter, etc), plus new brake discs, drums, studs, hoses, and a servo rebuild kit. The car currently has 10” Revolution alloys on it that need fixing up – I also have 4 original 10” rostyles, which again will need a good clean.
The exterior is passable from a distance but it will need a respray and the interior will need retrimming. The buyer also gets an old regular Mini that’s had its day but has a reasonable interior and might be a useful donor.
The car was last taxed up until the end of 2008 – and I was silly enough to think I’d get it back up and running, so never officially took it off the road. Therefore some back tax will need paying once it’s sorted. It won’t be horrendous though as it’s only a 1.3 engine.
I’ve been as honest as I can about the car. As a Mini nut, I would dearly love to have it back on the road myself but it’s ever going to happen, so someone else might as well have the chance to get a very rare car back where it should be. And it is very rare… have a look online at 1275GTs with 10-inch wheels and you’ll see what I mean. It took me ages to find it!
Given its ‘project’ status, I can’t hope to get back anywhere near what the GT has cost me. But anyone that knows Minis will know that this is an unusual find. So, being realistic, I’m looking for €700 for the car, the spares, and the other spare car. And no, I will not split! The cars will need to be trailered away. Located near Larnaca.
So, armed with €700 and a recovery vehicle we set out for Larnaca and loaded them up!
And set off down the road – about 1½ hours following the transporter and hoping n nothing fell off!
Luckily nothing did so after a quick wash my new baby looks like this: -
And all the spare bits that were promised look like this: -
I have a receipt for over £300 of parts from Somerford Mini and that doesn’t include the Maniflow Stage 1 kit – didn’t I do well…
So I’m hoping for plenty of help and advice… my immediate plans are to strip out the inside then remove front and rear subframes and see what I have…
by the way the ‘spare’ mini is a rust bucket on the outside but has a superb interior!
My overall aim varies from day-to-day (generally after looking at other cards on here!) so at the moment I'm not really sure except that it will be mechanically perfect and not overly far from normal power... for now...
