I acquired this car a couple of years ago from a friend. A 1971 Mini 1000 assembled at Associated Motor Industries of Malaysia (A wholly owned subsidiary of Wearnes Brothers Ltd.). He had it restored years ago but the bootfloor was completely rusty. It came with a 998cc automatic. It was a lot of fun driving it to class on weekends. The roads were clear in the morning and I could hit 140 km/h. I decided that this was the most FUN car I had ever owned and was determined to get it restored. In 2012 I had the floorboards, bootfloor welded. The trunk lid and doors were really bad so reasonably good Rover units were fitted.
Later, a Rover hood was fitted as well. The Rover doors had impact bars. Extra weight but much safer. My colleague got t-boned in his Honda Jazz by a motorcycle and the B-pillar moved in. I decided the safety was worth the additional weight. On the 9th June 2012 I was desperately getting so-called 'repairs' (a body & paint shop recommended by my brother that did shoddy work on a friend's Aston-Martin DB6!).
After 2 weeks worth of corrective work - closure gap adjustment, window, gutter, new side sills (British Motor Heritage), new cross-member (Mini Spares UK), scuttle, etc. After all that, it was ready for paint!
I found this in a shop and thought it would be nice to keep.
Wood & Pickett adjustable heavy duty tie bars. Also new old stock, from the same shop.
British steel which hasn't seen the light of day since it was assembled at Associated Motor Industries (AMI) in Shah Alam back in 1971. AMI was formed by Borneo Motors, Wearne Brothers and British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1966 to assemble BMC vehicles. By 1967 Borneo Motors dropped BMC brands Austin, MG, Morris, Riley and Wolseley for Toyota. Federated Motors, part of the Wearnes Group, quickly took up those agencies. Source: Malayan Motoring History by Eli Solomon, 2006. If you like classics and classic racing cars, check out his page for REWIND magazine - https://www.facebook...200182506688594. Picture, body and paint work by Unique Car Spray Centre.
Couldn't resist adding this pic as production methods at AMI Shah Alam in Malaysia would have been similar. Associated Motor Industries Ltd. (AMI) plant at the Jurong Industrial Estate, Singapore was to cost $6 million and span 17 ½-acres. The plant was to produce 11 car models and around 3,000 cars a year. At its peak AMI employed 500 people but closed down in 1975. This photo shows a locally-assemble Mini on the production line. The AMI plant also assembled Renault, Chevrolet, Vauxhall and a range of Austin-Morris cars. This is Austin Mini Countryman no.7 in production at the AMI plant in Jurong, circa 1967/68. Seven members of the Singapore Motor Vehicles Assemblers Association had applied for licences to assemble cars in Singapore when the deadline closed on 30th August 1966. The Singapore government announced the results of applications to assemble cars and commercial vehicles in Singapore on Tuesday 10th January 1967. Source: https://www.facebook...200182506688594
Weird right? GN37 Almond Green on HB Body HYD resin anti-chip coating. In hindsight I should have splurged on BMH floor panels. Unfortunately shipping would have been extremely costly as import duty is 30% on top of CIF, and then there's 10% sales tax on the sum total.
BMW MINI 850 Pepper White is a VERY GOOD replacement for WT3 Old English White, IMHO. It's BMW's version and I like it a lot!
HB Body 900 Cavity Wax. It's Greek! God bless Issigonis.
Edited by scudracer, 03 January 2015 - 03:59 AM.