I own a 1973 Mini 1000, and have done for well over 40 years, nearer 50 now. It had its first mods within weeks of my ownership, and that never really stopped. Inevitably it got used for motorsport, and that included modified engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes, bulkhead, interior, roll cage etc. I did all the work myself so I knew my car very well back in the day, working on it most weekday evenings ready for the following weekend, and it was my pride and joy.
And then one day I succumbed to the temptations of competition in a high powered 4x4, and my Mini got parked up under a tree with a tarpaulin thrown over it. Bushes and trees grew up around it and it was all but forgotten. The tarpaulin disintegrated, nature took its course, and it slowly started to dissolve. Life got in the way, my son started racing and needed my support, the 4x4 got sold and my poor Mini was left to dissolve, and of course the longer it got left the worse it became.
Cutting a long story short I have recently dug my Mini out of hibernation and it's fair to say that the shell is in the sort of state that you'd expect of a car with 1970s rustproofing(!) that's sat under a tree unprotected for decades. In other words it needs a lot of work, to the point that it's obviously not economically viable. That won't stop me though, because this next part of the journey is not about money it's about nostalgia and rekindling some old memories. It'll very much be a labour of love.
The intention is not for my Mini to become a polished show pony, but a rough and ready little pit pony that is happy to acquire and wear scuffs, scrapes and dents with pride. And that I can have fun driving hard, accepting that accidents do happen. I've not yet decided whether I'll keep the mods in period by restoring exactly what I've got, or maybe take it to the next level as I was always innovating back in the 1980s. I'll almost certainly wind up competing in classic rallies and/or hillclimbs, but any future mods will be what takes my engineering fancy and not built to class rules.
I'm in no rush though, and I want the pleasure of doing it all myself as before. Nobody except me has laid a spanner or other tool on that car since the 1970s, and that's not about to change now.
I'm well out of touch with the sort of stuff that used to be in my head though, like interchangeability of parts (especially subframes) between the various different years/marks, so please expect lots of questions as I go along.
