My old skool toys!

[Leaky]

Right well I thought it was about time I put a thread up showing off some of my toys.

First I'll start off with my first cars. My 1983 City e

Now I had always wanted a mini. I joined up to the mini forum when I was 15 and starting looking about. Now the rule of getting my mini was I did not want a red one. Every mini is red haha. I wanted a purple or silver one. Anyway come home one day to find out I had won something on ebay.

I put a silly low bid on a mini. Had 7 months MOT and just had a years tax put on it. This was back in 2009, The minis 50th Birthday so there were lots of people after minis to do all the big celebrations going on in the year. Even now it is pretty much impossible to find a tax and MOTed mini for under a grand. I had one it for just a smidge over £500.

Here it is the day I picked it up.

Yep is was red haha. I now named Jenny by my next door neighbour.

Anyway I used this for sometime being a student working at mcdonalds working 1 or 2 days a week for a bit under a fiver an hour I earned very little money and what I did earn got spent of booze and partying. How I miss college haha.

She did well though. I did the IMM minis 50th birthday party at Longbridgeas well as many other shows that year and taking me 20 miles there and back to college everyday though all weather.

Anyway after a while it really started to show her age and I had some panel replaced.

A front end and rear valence.

A couple of cheap rattle cans and an afternoon with a mate and we rattle canned it up.

I used it like that and a few months later I noticed 2 tyres were bald and 2 were getting closer. All the tyres were different anyway and I had wanted to get a full set. I was driving to kent for a show the weekend and I wanted it sorted for then. So boom I spent out on 4 tyres Thursday afternoon and left for kent Friday morning. I had a great weekend and came out Sunday night. Monday morning I filled up with a full tank of fuel and popped in to down coming round a roundabout and the diff went pop. With a full tank of fuel and 4 tyres that had done less then 200 miles. That was the last day this car saw the road.

It sat on my drive and I slowing stripped it out.

More welding! Floors, sills and door steps got replaced.

Some reskinned doors and the car sat in the corner of my garden for almost a year while I saved up for it to be painted. This car is my baby and it has to be perfect so a quick cheap job was not gonna happen.

Anyway it finally went off to the body shop.

had it all shot blasted.

Primered
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and a full coat of paint inside and out. Yes I kept it red haha.

My fav bit about the car is my custom made 1 off retro pin up girl headlining. This is very marmite. Some love it and hate it. I think it cool and sets the car off from others. I dont build cars to please others. I just do my own thing!

I never really went in to the engine spec at the start of this. But when I picked the car up it had a 998 and a 1275 head on it and a carb that was too big for it. I swapped this over so a slightly small one fitted a cam and performance exhaust. I made 69 bhp at the wheels. Not bad for a 998 anyway I know wanted more power so I have been building this.

Spec its a 1293 with stage 3 head 286 cam will run a set of bike carbs. 1.3 roller rockers and a performance manifold and exhaust. Hoping for around 100 at the wheels with this!

That really is where I am at. I have boxes of parts waiting to go on. She comes home from the body shop Wednesday and then the build starts. Shes gotta be ready of the minis 55th Birthday next year. Its in kent this year though so finger crossed it all goes well this time haha.

 

[commeracer]

Nice,we like Mini's [8D] but don't be surprised if it doesn't make 100 brake

"You,re only supposed to blow the bloody SLIDING doors off"

 

[Leaky]

Now the next one. While I took Jenny off the road I was looking for another retro car to use. I looked at a few mk1 golfs but in the end decided I wanted another mini. Due to the fact I had a garage full of parts and I know my way round them so if anything broke I could get it fixed cheaply and quickly. But it had to be a clubman!

I looked round and found something on ebay that seemed to good to be true. I went to have a look. Did some haggling. Took a loan off the old man and bought this!

It had not long been painted and was fitted with a 1275 mg metro engine. The guy was in the army and had been posted abroad and needed it gone fast before he moved. This should have sold for around the 3k mark with the fresh paint job and the spec of it but I picked it up for £1600. Its had a few issues. The rev counter, speedo and fuel gauge didn't work and the headlining was a mess. But I was very pleased with it.

Now when I was at college talking about Jenny my friend Hannah tuned and said. Who the fu*k is Jenny, This then led to this car getting the name Alice!

Anyway I was not meant to do much to this but things just got out of hand haha.

I put smaller brakes on so I could run 10 inch wheels and get he sat nice and low to the floor. I have no lost count with the amount of times I have changed the wheels on this haha. Fair to say I am a bit of a wheel whore. Anyway here is a few pics of her over the past few years.

Not in the right order just how I found the pics haha.

Anyway she had some low back bucket seats but I got fed up of having a numb ass all the time so sold this and got some original mini seats that had been retimed in black and cream. After fitting these it made me realise how tatty the rest of the interior was. Sooooo again things got out of hand and I redid the whole lot haha.


I fitted a cream headlining, recovered the dash rails in cream and found a company that would make the original design clubman door cards but with a cream stitch.

O and another small detail that I love is my dip stick.

I chuffing love top cat haha.

Thats were we are now. She is getting to the point where she needs some body work. I got fit up the back last year which didn't crunch. it has just pushed everything slightly out of line. She also needs a drives front wing. But she is currently doing 40-50 miles a day and never lets me down so I can live with her being rough round the edges!

 

[Panky]

Yes we likes Minis - that's a nice pair you have there[8D] Hopefully the pink wheel phase has now gone:I
I'm planning on getting mine back on the road next year hopefully - I do miss it.

Harvey & Bonnie

 

[Leaky]

The escort!

Well this is the newest member of the family! So new I have not even got round to naming her and really have done nothing to it. But heres some pics. I paid £150 for her so could not really turn it down.

Plan really is to drop a bigger engine in it get the body work sorted and rattle can any bits I ave repaired or replaced and use her daily while I sort the clubby. Then I think either this or the clubby will be up for sale.

 

[Leaky]

The old mans woody!

Right well I was not at home when my dad decided to bid on this. Guessing he must have been sniffing glue or something before hand. But this is my old mans mini. He has not mechanical knowledge other then when I am doing a job that take 2 people and he will help me out. But he some how managed to get him self quite the project.

This is Louisa. Named from the number plate. When I got Jenny and before I had a licence my dad used to take me to some mini shows in the mini. He always said how he wanted a woody. Its also the only mini my mum likes, Shes not a fan of cars. She hate the fact there is no longer a lawn out the front of out house now because of my hobby/addiction of buying crusty old cars which meant it got graved over and turned in to parking spaces haha.

Anyway despite the fact my dad does not know his way round a car he is an engineer. He built and worked on anything from motorways to swimming pools and not so long ago Borris Johnsons cycle ways in London. This mean the organisation skills in taking this car apart has been something else! I just take a mini to bits and though it all in a box and just go by the fact I have stripped and repaired enough of them in the past I can remember where everything goes. Anyway he has close up pics of everything he has taken off and put all the different bits in separate bags with labels. I wish I was patient to do all that haha.

Anyway we shall see how it goes.

 

[renaultvation]

Love what you have done with both your Minis, especially the headlining. Looks like the Escort has a promising future. As for a name, I notice it is already 'she' and an Escort, so perhaps something like Christine (Keeler) or Mandy (Rice-Davies).

By the way, I love the origin of Alice. I one came upon a narrowboat called S.O.Baldrick. Talking to its owner, he confirmed that most people didn't understand the S.O. bit. I know of another boat called 'The Dogs', which is moored at Bow Locks.

'I intend to live forever - so far, so good'

 

[Leaky]

Here a few other randoms toys.

My mk2 chopper.

Its completely original but was missing the handle bar grips and dust caps. I didn't want new ones as it would not match the rest. Anyway after searching the web I found some people that restored choppers and then had some old handle car grips and dust caps off ones the had resorted so they kindly sent them to me!

The chopper and the clubby also made it in to fast car mag after then did a shoot of the retro rides gathering.

I also have this scamp. Me and mate thought it would a be a great idea after a night in the pub.

We got it all running and its great fun for whizzing around fields. Dunno if we will ever get it on the road though. Does have a log book. I just think it will be a quick way to kill myself lol.

Then there is this beasty! The GFs tro!

Nice little car. Still a few bits sorting but for a 1.1 its surprisingly nippy. Just gotta keep and eye on the dreaded head gasket.

Then there is a few other minis I either bought and sold straight on for a cheeky bit of profit or used for parts.

This mayfair my mate found. Was gonna be for my GF but it the crash damage and the amount of rot it was not worth saving.

I had this mk1. Was rotten and I paid £400 for it with loads of panels. I kept the panels and sold it on for £450 haha.

This sidewalk turned up in the scrappy when the scrapage scheme was on. They would not sell it as a whole so I stripped it there and sold all the bits on for a nice profit.

I did a similar thing with a mini sprite but I don't seem to have taken a pic of that.

I also bought this one from a scrap yard. The brakes are missing as they ended up going on my red mini to replace the drums. The rest was broken up and sold.

A black mayfair I got off a girl I went to school with. I got it running a moved it straight on.

I also currently have a 1999 ford fiesta I got of a mate. Wont put any pics up though as its a boring head of crap. I need to sort out a running issue and get it shifted for commer funds!

Here is the commer I will one day own once I have nagged who owns it to sell it to me to £50 haha.

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Thats about it i think!

 

[Panky]

We call Martin the Commer Hoover - I think we've found the Mini equivalent

Harvey & Bonnie

 

[thowman]

Someone needs locking away.

 

[Leaky]

Right incase anyone is interested and I have not bored them to death with the minis Jenny my red one came home from the body shop.

Deadline is May next year. Doable although I still have lots to do and learn! I need to build up the engine and rebuild the gear box. Neither one which I have done before but I want to do it myself. Fingers crossed she is done!

 

[Panky]

How can you get bored of Mini's - have you seen the first 20 pages of Back of the Garage Nice Flame red I think[8D]

Harvey & Bonnie

 

[commeracer]

Very nice [^] if you want it to last then get plenty of underseal on it in the usual areas
Just take your time with the engine, and check and re-check everything.

"You,re only supposed to blow the bloody SLIDING doors off"

 

[Leaky]

Its Cinnabar red. Or orange as everyone in the mini club calls it as next to a red car and in direct sunlight it really does look orange ha. It is original colour and they only painted minis this colour for 2 or 3 years.


This pic shows her orangeness a little more.

 

[Leaky]

Well as I have lurking round here still trying to find myself a commer I thought I would update this!

Red minis looking like this at the moment.

Not looking much different but I have fitted all the fuel and brake lines to the bottom on the car and have been cleaning up all the old bits ready to go back on.

Here some of the bits I have done.

Also picked up another engine. I am gonna drop this in for the time being as its a complete running lump. Means I can build the other one up to the spec I really want.

Its just a standard 1275 MG metro lump.

and now my favourite bit of all. My ATS Classics I have had refurbed.

just cause i like wheels I bought another set from Holland. A rare set of 10x5 momos.

Not really done anything with any of the other cars. The clubby went thorough her MOT first time a few weeks back and i have finally fitted a back to the glove box to top stuff getting stuck behind my dash and thats about it.

Hopefully this will be the year I get a commer!

Thanks.

 

[Panky]

Always good to see Mini progress[8D]

Member of the Non-Facebook Club

 

[Leaky]

Might have a commer very soon as well. I got told by the owners of the rotten one in Basingstoke to go round and see them and we can talk a price. No idea if it is even worth saving but its its sensible money it might be worth it for some parts.

 

[Panky]

Good luck

Member of the Non-Facebook Club

 

[admin]

We'll have to have a small Hampshire meet

Member of the V8 Club

 

[Leaky]

Sounds like a good idea!