For those interested in old cars.

[Jol Wilkinson]

I don't know if the MOT covers unsafe load, bodywork unsafe for pedestrians, vehicle likely to cause mirth, etc.

[PhilJ W]

Bob, you can always borrow the Bedford Bambi if you wanted to visit more distant shows.

[Rugd1022]

A few from yesterday's Mini show at Stanford Hall...

 

 

Quite a rarity now this one, a '79 Mini Special, the lady owner told me that 5000 or so Specials were built, half in metallic rose and half in silver, all with vinyl roofs but as far as she knows hers is the only one fitted with a Webasto from new, or at least the only one surviving. She said that only around fifty are still on the road...

 

I've posted photos of this genuine Stewart & Ardern Minisprint before, it recently changed hands and is now up for sale again, the £100k asking price is bonkers but given it's rarity as a genuine RHD example I think someone will come along and bag it, it's thought that only around fifty were ever done before Stewart & Ardern gave up... certainly not everyone's cup of tea but a real period gem...

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2017 by Rugd1022

[Horsetan]

A few from yesterday's Mini show at Stanford Hall...

 

Ah, that explains the two very clean-looking Minis on the Northbound hard shoulder near Scratchwood London Gateway Services when I was on the way to the stables yesterday morning. One had broken down, and the other was lending assistance.

[russ p]

Not a bad survival rate for mini special's especially as 79 minis had a worse corrosion problem than others, something to do with shells having to pass outside due to the construction of the metro line.

Compared with metro turbo survival that's excellent, there is fewer than 10 mk1s roadworthy and often less than 30 mks 2s though there are more in motorsports

[PatB]

On the trike, most big cities have at least one "sympathetic" bike MOT station who'll not fail stuff on an "I don't like that" basis and who are prepared to employ a broad (but usually still perfectly legit) interpretation of the written rules. Most locals into modified bikes and specials will know who they are.

[DDolfelin]

who are prepared to employ a broad 

 

Can be an expensive business.

[Horsetan]

A closer look at la beauté sauvage:



Not too terrible in the engine bay, though the protective undertray plate below the radiator is going to need replacement in the years ahead. The inner wings are very solid. There is even an extra cable which, when connected, allows an emergency start if the ignition switch has malfunctioned.

 

The really good news is that the CX comes with Citroen imperial-sized alloys (6Jx14) in the correct style. Being a Series 2 non-turbo GTi, I was dreading the prospect of metric wheels (which came as standard on the GTi Turbo/Turbo 2 and DTR Turbo/Turbo 2) which come with a £250 per tyre cost attached. Tyres for 6x14s only cost about £60 each!

 

Underneath, the longerons are still intact, although the underseal has peeled off in places and surface corrosion is setting in where metal is exposed:

 

The n/s/r passenger door is also starting to rot along the bottom, but the other doors are all alright.

 

CX trivia: of all the RHD GTi non-turbos produced for the UK market, only eight are still on the road - this is one of them. I had wanted to go and examine two of these survivors previously but they were sold before I had a chance. A "timewarp" LHD Series 1 GTi (chrome bumpers) was recently sold for about £25,000, so anyone looking for an "investment" might want to keep one of these long term.

 

Obviously everyone with a hankering for CXs tends to go for the Series 2 Turbo/Turbo 2 cars, which are much more plentiful. These are already starting to attract 10 grand-plus asking prices. Fancy having a go on one? Same colour and same year as mine, but with a lot more rust!

 

The time to catch all this is now. I have heard good things about FE-123 Rust Remover, but does anyone here have any experience in using it?

Edited September 18, 2017 by Horsetan

[Horsetan]

This one's sold, but there are a few more in the collection that it came from, apparently....

[runs as required]

Gosh you are brave taking on that CX !

My wife scarcely remembers a journey in our DS Citroens (one Slough, the later French) that did not end in messy Hydraulics fettling.

My son similarly gave up on his SM when it settled down on its haunches somewhere near Lancaster going south on the M6 after he'd brought it up here to dazzle us Oiks.

Five years later I think he regrets having sold it off.within a couple of months of importing it.

dh

[keefr2]

A MOT garage, with  good business sense, could do well to offer a safety test service, using the MOT as a basis but excluding the irrelevant emission test criteria. 

 

I'd think any decent, 'proper' garage would do that anyway - I know our local MOT centre will - our Mini came with 9 months MOT, but knowing how bodged some of the rally 'preparation' was, & thinking he might have known the tester, I asked them to do a safety check over of it, which he did for a tenner! Surprisingly it was OK!

 

I'm guessing that if we ever do get it back on the road it likely won't be exempt anyway, as the rally prep. might be deemed as making it 'substantially modified'. 

 

Keith

[Horsetan]

Gosh you are brave taking on that CX !...

I always wanted one, so that makes me stupid rather than brave.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Ivan,

 

FE-123 is reputedy very good, as are the Bilt Hamber products.

 

I don't have any corrosion problems with our MGB (that I know of!), but have used FE-123 in a couple of places on the vertical upper seams inside the boot where there is very slight surface rust, as a preventative measure. Seems to work well.

[Horsetan]

Ivan,

 

FE-123 is reputedy very good, as are the Bilt Hamber products.

 

I don't have any corrosion problems with our MGB (that I know of!), but have used FE-123 in a couple of places on the vertical upper seams inside the boot where there is very slight surface rust, as a preventative measure. Seems to work well.

 

In that case, I think I'd better save up for the FE-123 rustproofing service - apparently costs about £450 to cover something the size of the CX. About £150 cheaper than what Chevronics (Hitchin) charges to do the same job.

[uax6]

What I do every year is this:

Clean down underneath the body, and patch repair the underseal with the waxoyal stuff. Then I spray all over with 3M cavity wax. This isn't a clean job, but the van has survived very well underneath from this simple treatment. Oh and I use it daily, come rain, sleet, sun, snow and salt. In 7 years there is no real discernible rust under there.  

 

Cost? Well the tubes cost about £35 each and I use about one and a half per moggy (I've got the saloon to do as well this year) plus some cash to 'my man' for the use of his ramp.

 

I've got to fill the inside gutters this year on the van, which helps them to last a bit longer too.

 

Andy G

[Rugd1022]

I dug this out the other day for someone on another forum, thought it worth a post here - back in 1993 Miniworld magazine did a short feature on the '64 Mk1 Austin Mini used by Anette Andre in 'Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), it was also driven by Tony Curtis (very briefly) in an episode of 'The Persuaders' and shows up in several underground car park scenes in the later colour episodes of 'The Saint'...

 

 

It was restored by the same chap who rescued the Radford Mini Cooper S 'AA1000' used by Gerald Harper in 'Adam Adamant Lives!' back in 1966, and is still around today.

 

 

 

[allan downes]

 

I took an Austin 1100 engine, stripped it out, shimmed where necessary and fitted it to a mini gearbox where the entire lump fitted perfectly into the mini engine bay.

 

Gosnay Engineering, Romford told me it couldn't be done so maybe I just either got lucky, or they hadn't tried it themselves.

 

Allan.

[Horsetan]

I took an Austin 1100 engine, stripped it out, shimmed where necessary and fitted it to a mini gearbox where the entire lump fitted perfectly into the mini engine bay.....

 

Were the engine mounting points different?

[keefr2]

I took an Austin 1100 engine, stripped it out, shimmed where necessary and fitted it to a mini gearbox where the entire lump fitted perfectly into the mini engine bay.

 

Gosnay Engineering, Romford told me it couldn't be done so maybe I just either got lucky, or they hadn't tried it themselves.

 

Allan.

 

I'd always thought the 1100 engine was just another A series...?? I don't understand the problem? 

 

Keith

[Sidecar Racer]

 If my memory is still working properly the swap was just that , you could use the 1100 g/box

and modify the floor to take the remote shift , only problem then was diff ratio's , the 1100

would give great acceleration but a slow top speed due to the 10'' wheels instead of 13'' .

[russ p]

If it was an early mini then holes would need to be cut for the remote change

1100/1300 are on 145/12s

[phil_sutters]

A bunch from a local event in 2015

[New Haven Neil]

Funny you should mention them - today on Ramsey prom....

 

[uax6]

It always amazes me how most specials seem to turn out so damn ugly. in the above selection (other than what must be a non-2cv in the middle) the only one that looks anywhere decent is the Morgan look-a-likey.

 

A friend has a Bentley MK6 Special, and his is amazing as it looks like a 20's racing blower Bentley, with a boat-tail back, on wires and nice and high. But when you look at Mk6 specials for sale they are mixture of odd and downright bizarre. Why? It can't be that hard to do it nicely... Costly yes, hard, no.

 

Andy G

[New Haven Neil]

The 2CV ones are Lomaxes (Lomaxii?) IIRC, pig ugly - the Guzzi engine one is probably a Triking - much better job.