"But the baby-blue Maverick with big wheels and tires and rear spoiler really stood out in a sea of Subarus and Priusses (Preii?)."

Wow...you just described a car I've seen driving around PA.  Very clean, still ugly... but nicely done

 

Would love an old bus like that.

Even now that Pacers, Gremlins, Pintos, Vegas, and the like have become "more endearing" it's too late!  Yesterday driving home in my Mazda Rotary Pick-up, I saw quite a stunning Ford Maverick!  20 years ago I would have been astounded that anyone would bother!  I wouldn't even have noticed 50 of them lined up in a junkyard!!  But the baby-blue Maverick with big wheels and tires and rear spoiler really stood out in a sea of Subarus and Priusses (Preii?).

I imagine that if Minis where actually held in more esteem in the UK during their era the survival rate would be even higher!  My experience being half Welsh is that Minis were by and large viewed as disposable, and owners were generally resistant to any major repairs, or even basic maintenance!  I've told the story of the Mark 3 Mini 1000 that I bought in Wales in 1986.... I disassembled it and stored the bodyshell INDOORS (almost unheard of until recently).  By 1998, we realized that we weren't going to build it, so I thought I'd have it shipped over here.  But as luck would have it, I found a LHD 66 Cooper S to build right here in our small California town.  By 2002 I decided we had to get it out of the garage in Wales so we tried to sell it.  Now you'd think that a nice bodyshell stored indoors or nearly 20 years would have some takers, but NO!  Not even for free AND I'd deliver it in the North Wales area.  I went to Mini specialists and offered to give it to them. I went to a welding school thinking they could PRACTICE WELDING on it.... But no takers at all.  I took it to metal recycling yard and dumped it with the dead washing machines and refrigerators!  Good thing they made 5.5 Million of them!!!

That's an early, barn door, semiphore, patina LOGO bus - Helicoptering it out was a bit extreme but seeing the price's of those, I might have done the same thing. I've been looking for a bus for awhile, they go for way more than Mini's and even longnose Porsche's. Someone just pulled one of of a fjord - a 23 window holy grail valued bus. There's a whole world of these hidden classic cars I've heard about, buried ones, Ferrari's in lakes - don't know where tho.....  As the year's go buy, cars we used to cut up are now restorable, parts that were too far gone are now covetted, I just need more storage.

"If 1.6M were sold in the UK and 55K survive that's a 5.6% survival rate which sounds low to me."

Actually, a 5.6% survival rate is really, really high, compared to most cars.

From time to time, Automotive News will publish lists of recent cars and their survival rates (cars that were very popular, but have gone out of production within, say, the last 10 years), and the rates are usually much lower than that. Sometimes the lowness of the survival rate is shocking, on some cars (usually things like, the GM X Car, or various iterations of the Taurus, or things like that).

The really, really high % of 5.6 is down to how awesomely endearing minis are (and how awesomely not so, those other cars were).

Norm

Well, I have 5, but the only 2 that run are race cars. #secretshame

 

Are Minis getting that old to start a Registry??? Or a Database?  I hope not -- or mabye so - Decreasing numbers will increase value...

 Classic Minis United --- 1100 Members - Worldwide ( majority considered North America),   How many of those members have more than 1 Mini -- ive got 3.

Working cars do have accidents- and can be taken off road or still crushed- I would say the atrition rate has to be higher than the new born rate.

Locally - It seems once you have the mini bug- you gain more than one! - 3-4 members - have +2 Cars - 1-2   others have +3 cars-- majority are road worthy - others are in need of rebuild but could be road warriors again with effort.

It Would be real neat to complile the data somehow-- Even watching Craigslist locally and regionally - cars pop up that you wouldnt imagine - or on ebay- all owners of working cars- and of course no everyone lives on this forum. so there are MANY un accounted for...

 

Does Mini Mania website compile data for Unique users?   IP Address use?  partner that up with other suppliers an  could determine user base of who needs parts..

Oh, look at Jemal acting all coy.....
If anyone would have some sort of idea of how many Minis are in the US it would be MiniMania....

 

See, I think Sean's point and Jemal's may balance the numbers with what Dan says about attrition.

Look at the number of cars that are brought back from death.  Hell, they're fishing VW busses out of bogs in Finland and helicoptering them out.   There's an AMC Pacer on BringaTrailer.  Could you make a case to say there will be more Pacers on the road as time goes by and collectors take over?

On the TMF forum they debate whether the number of dead cars out there counts as truly dead or not.  I think more cars *of this age* are being brought back than are being left to die.  And even if they're left to die today, the guy's grandson will go after it in a few years.

 

I have never bought a running Mini, all have been projects of some sort and I have returned them to the road. So I like to think I have helped push the numbers up....

The figures are out of date - they are from 2009, and a LOT of cas have been scrapped or exported in that time.

Upkeep costs are variable and not an accurate way of measuring things.
I spend more on my Minis than I do on my civilian vehicle, but those costs vary according to which car it is.  Tubbs theroetically costs more to maintain than Betty as she is a Clubman Estate, but Betty has just had a full rebuild and respray.

Q2: The number of classics can only decrease. (They don't make them anymore!). The number on the road would likely decrease also. The ones like mine that are made to be driven will eventually suffer some sort of 'terminal' breakdown that the owner cannot afford or justify to fix. The lucky cars will become "barn find" materal. The market for parts will also get tighter, making it harder and more expensive to keep them running. The population of people "crazy enough" to be Mini owners will also likely decline. There's also the atrition of damaged cars, cars that become unfinished projects and get parted out and cars that rust away. Heart-breaking, but them's the facts.

Q3 and Q3: Pretty difficult to assess. Too may variables.

When you compare the total output and survivor rate of classic Minis to most north american cars, 5% would probably come out as pretty high. How many Chrysler K cars were built and survive roadworthy? How about Ford Pintos? AMC Gremlins or their later sisters the Spirits?

Personally, I was surprised to read the stat that there are 55 THOUSAND! Minis exisitng in the UK. Astoundeed that those ae the roadworhty ones , with another 34 thousand languishing.

What !

No colored PIE chart !?! Good data . No idea as to how many minis are left on the road. (I know a guy that has a barn full of minis, some running, some waiting to be restored)

If no mods are done, not counting insurance or gasoline , oil changes , tune ups, and maybe a new battery, coolant flush (all items done by owner, not farmed out) cost could be in the $100-300 range. Tires don't wear as much as a daily driver, even if it was a daily driver cost is low.

I don't think you can get much cheaper to maintain than a mini.

Your mileage may vary .

Hmmmm, sounds like market research to me.... What could you be up to I wonder.....!

I think the key phrase is "on the road", and it makes sense that there are many more "in the garage" that get pulled out, sometimes as owners are shocked to find out what's happened to the value of that funky old thing they buried in the garage 10 years ago!  I had a shop call this morning cleaning out fuel lines, tanks, carbs, unsticking brake calipers, and so on for a Mark 1 that had been parked 10 years or more. At first they advised their customer to "just sell that thing", but after realizing it's value, did not even blink at $300 brake calipers!

I do believe that there aren't that many "active" Minis in the UK even, very few are actually used for basic transportation as intended. The people that still have them are the few that realized hanging onto such an icon of what it is to be British would be worthwhile!  Those are the folks that show up in droves to mini events and enjoy the company of like-minded people!

Does anybody have a ballpark guess:

1. How many classics are on the road today of 5.5M made?  

2. Will the number of classics decrease over time, or increase as new people come in with new projects?

3. What does the average classic cost its owner annually in upkeep?

4. What does a classic cost all owners including the cost of restoration?  For example Owner A spent $20K on restoration, then sold it to Owner B who just did maintenance.  So $10K apiece.    The goal of this question is if you have a car sitting there, how much is spent on it by all its owners.

There's a wide error range but the current UK registration data is very low:

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/rover_mini

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/austin_mini

 

Then on TMF is this:

As promised the latest DVLA figures for the Mini have just been published in the July 2009 issue of Practical Classics Magazine:-

5,505,874 Total produced
1,581,887 UK sales (28.7%)
3,923,987 Rest of world (71.3%)

Latest UK Statistics:
55,318 Minis left on UK roads today
34,095 SORNed

5.66% of the 1,581,887 are now left in the UK, so around 94.34% have been scrapped/written off or exported to date.

Survivor Breakdown:
Austin Mini: 38.3%
Morris Mini: 6.2%
Rover Mini: 53.8%
Riley Elf: 0.9%
Wolseley Hornet: 0.8% 

So how many are left worldwide then. If 1.6M were sold in the UK and 55K survive that's a 5.6% survival rate which sounds low to me. 5.6% of 5.5M is 308,000 of total production. But then you don't know if the 5.6% survival rate applies outside the UK.