150 replies to this topic

[sazal]

just read the advantage article and i can only find one mistake and that's in the distinguishing features box. it says that it should have a radio-cassette fitted as standard when it is in-fact just a radio. (as seen it the picture). the radio cassettes came in a few years later.

i see what you mean about them not really liking the car, it just gets put down as not very special. but then one of the photo captions claims that it was quite distinctive

I'm starting to get the impression that one guy writes the text, one guy takes the pics and another guy puts it all together, but none of them ever really look at each others work

you can only really put this down to opinions, but then its facts we want not opinions. yes it should have tinted glass and the one in the pics certainly does. to be honest you probably wont notice the tint unless you hold some plain glass next to it.


but to be fair, on a factual basis its very close

I didnt even notice it said it had a cassette player, but your right, it doesnt!! And, is it based on the Mini E, I always thought it was the Mayfair, cause its got the three clocks?

[THE ANORAK]

on the point of the tinted windows, try winding down the drivers window half way and then holding a piece of plain white paper against it so half the paper is behind the glass and the other half is in the "open" section.

you should be able to see the tint against the paper

[Natalie]

I agree with you Anorak

[sazal]

I shall try it! It does look a bit tinted in this pic...

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[Dan]

but I swear mine isnt. and Im sure its the original glass, cause its got her reg on it.

Yes but that doesn't mean Rover put it there. The tint is a very pale green if it's there, it can be hard to see without comparing it to an untinted car.

I completely agree with what Anorak has said here. Frankly those two or three people who have made derogatory replies here should remember where they are. This is a forum about Minis not some social network type website. There will funnily enough be quite detailed discussions about Minis here. Go and look up the word forum. Maybe we can get Jammy to lock your profiles to only be able to access the general chat sections so that you don't have to be bothered by the Mini based sections of the site, especially those that tell you at the start that they will contain a detailed discussion and ask you to stop reading if you aren't interested. If anyone is publishing something as a fact, they need to research that it is actually factual and that includes people who are fond of using the word 'fact' as a form of punctuation in their replies within this forum. I couldn't see anywhere in Anorak's original post where he was being insulting to Mini Mag staffers or freelancers, simply pointing out that they were wrong is not an insult. At least not to an adult it isn't. We all get things wrong, nobody is perfect. I know I get stuff wrong quite often, people correct what I've written and I don't get offended because (and here's the subtle bit) I WAS WRONG. I'm not saying I don't check the facts when I get corrected or I don't get embarrased to have been so sure about something that was wrong but that's not the same as being offended and if I'm wrong then I'm wrong. Can't do anything about it other than learn from it. We don't go around flaming each other on this forum, OK everybody? Anyone who starts that will be sanctioned. Please read the forum rules for clarification.

People publishing the wrong information leads to people thinking things like this:

i thought it was only the mini 40 that had them as standard..??? might be wrong....
i know they were an option on all the newer ones

and then quoting it on a forum for other people to read and get wrong. Central locking and electric windows were not a factory option or standard fit on any production line classic Mini ever made. Charlie_the_miniboy thinks he 'knows' this, but he is wrong and presumably he read it or heard it from someone else who was equally sure they knew the facts (sorry for using you as an example but this was just the wrong thread to put that reply in mate). Those of us who were there at the time and got the oppertunity to fill in an order form for a late Mini know there was no such option available but someone has published that there was and now people think it is true. A couple of years back there was a young lad on here who was equally sure he had seen power steering being fitted on a tour of Longbridge he had been on when he was a youngster, so he started telling people it was an option on late Minis. It wasn't, it WAS available through Motability but that was for registered disabled drivers only and it was not a factory option. He said the same about air conditioning which was only available on Minis in Japan. He was unaware that being the only Mini factory in the world meant that Longbridge built cars to many different specs for different territories and different organisations and that not everything they built was available to the UK market. Still he was adamant that this was all true.

I think it is important to get these things right, otherwise what's the point? You could just make up anything you like and publish it.

Oh there's a though...

Anorak, why didn't that article mention the rare four door version of the Mainstream do you think? The one with the 5 speed box, twin tanks, twin-cam engine, central locking, electric windows, double sunroof, twin CD autochangers, power steering, HUD, power mirrors and air conditioning? I think there were only sixty built and they had a full alcantara interior, lambswool carpets made by Aston Martin and came in six specially blended metallic pearlescent colours that no other car has ever been painted. With Recaro seats. And they had no reflection if you looked at them through a mirror so they got crashed into a lot. I know they existed, I've seen two and my mate had one.

( lets see how long it is before that becomes another 'internet fact')

Edited by Dan, 14 January 2008 - 04:29 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

well said Dan

going back to the advantage for a moment...

well all references i can find say that its based on the Mini city E.

most special editions of the time were based on the city E but then given most of the refinements of the Mayfair (opening rear side windows, 3 clock dash, twin door mirrors etc.). its probably only the quality of the minor trim parts like the carpet and the hand brake grip that remain city spec.

different specials would get different levels of Mayfair kit and the advantage seems to of had most of them. the piccadilly for example didn't do so well .

you cant really argue with that

Edited by THE ANORAK, 14 January 2008 - 04:38 PM.

[Dan]

I didnt even notice it said it had a cassette player, but your right, it doesnt!! And, is it based on the Mini E, I always thought it was the Mayfair, cause its got the three clocks?

The clocks are just a bolt on though and all the cars from 1976 I believe were wired for the tacho anyway whether it was fitted or not. The giveaway on what model an '80s / '90s Mini special edition is based on is the rear quarter lights. Since these were part of the basic body assembly and fitted quite early on the line it was not the sort of thing they wanted to be changing for a special, it would also be surprisingly costly to make such a change and the opening windows represent quite a lot of cost in the car build. Ultimately the spec of any special edition and the base car is down to accountancy. If the base car costs X then the special must cost X+Y. Cars based on the City had fixed rear quarters, those based on the Mayfair had openers.

[THE ANORAK]

I didnt even notice it said it had a cassette player, but your right, it doesnt!! And, is it based on the Mini E, I always thought it was the Mayfair, cause its got the three clocks?

The clocks are just a bolt on though and all the cars from 1976 I believe were wired for the tacho anyway whether it was fitted or not. The giveaway on what model an '80s / '90s Mini special edition is based on is the rear quarter lights. Since these were part of the basic body assembly and fitted quite early on the line it was not the sort of thing they wanted to be changing for a special, it would also be surprisingly costly to make such a change and the opening windows represent quite a lot of cost in the car build. Ultimately the spec of any special edition and the base car is down to accountancy. If the base car costs X then the special must cost X+Y. Cars based on the City had fixed rear quarters, those based on the Mayfair had openers.

oops

not according to my info they dont.

the Chelsea, the piccadilly, the park lane, the advantage and the jet black/ red hot to name just a few, were all based on the city apparently. all had opening rear windows

[Dan]

You mean I was wrong! How dare you!



Maybe they all just say based on the City because that was the base Mini at the time. Then again the 30 was based on the Mayfair Wasn't it? And that didn't share any trim with anything contemporary, even the carpets were unique I believe. It's all just marketing really I suppose..

[sazal]

Mini Mag says Mini City E too, dunno why I thought it was based on a mayfair, must have read it somewhere...which goes back to the point that Dan was making!!

I think to most people, it doesnt really matter what their minis had or were like originally because hardly anyone keeps them original. I really want to put mine back to factory spec one day, so it helps if the facts that are written everywhere are right!

But isnt the Mayfair based on the City E? It is the same, just with extras?!!

[Mini Man Dan]

Are all the special edition mini's worth more in standard form? What were all the special editions?

I hvae a HL (is that a special? >_<Sorry not very clued up on all the models) still got most of the origonal parts that I have taken off like the grill and teh interior, should I keep them or will it not make any difference in its value if I decided to take it back to origonal?

I think you are right in what you are saying as it is articals like this that alot of people look at for reference and unless you have a vast knowledge like yours you won't notice these differences

[Mini_Magic]

I'm so glad I don't have a special edition, I don't think I could take the stress!

[THE ANORAK]

its hard to say if a standard car is worth more than a modified car, special edition or not, it all depends on whats been done to it and what the person buying it actually wants, there is also no point in having a standard car if its a complete wreck.

the limited/special editions are usually worth a little more than the non specials but it all depends on which special edition it is, some were better than others and therefore are more desirable. as time goes by and the 80's/90's mini become genuine classic cars in the true sense of the word, then yes a standard limited edition will probably be worth a little bit more than a standard city or Mayfair in the same condition.

the mini HL was the forerunner of the Mayfair.

is the Mayfair based on the city, well in many ways it is, the city was the base model and the Mayfair was the high spec model. both were based on the same body shell (there is no difference in the rear quarter light construction, I've put opening windows in a city before) its just that the Mayfair had a higher spec and usually got all the trim improvements before the city.

most people dont realise that it is important to know the correct spec of the minis were made in the factory, as time passes we need to keep informing the people who were not around to remember the cars when they were new. we need to preserve the history.

a list of special edition will follow

[Natalie]

a list of special edition will follow

You should do a thread with all the info about them on too

[Dan]

(there is no difference in the rear quarter light construction, I've put opening windows in a city before)

All I was referring to above was the need to pay someone on the production line to mark and drill the holes, fit the assembly, drill more holes, fit the catch and adjust the window coupled with paying someone to build the frame and wrap it around the glass (which is a pig of a job if you've ever tried it, there must have been a special press involved at the factory) represents quite an investment compared to pushing a fixed glass and seal into place. There is no difference in the shell as Anorak says. Sorry if that was misleading.