If it was me i'd install the motor and make it run and then sell it. There's a lot of things that can't be seen on a non-running car that your potential buyer will find to use just to lowball you for sure. You can also hire someone to sell it for you. Those people are well-trained sweet talkers that will get people into selling your car for you.

Take a video of the car's strong points and weakest points and take footage of the engine running on a bench, host it on youtube and  then ask for $10k 

If this car gets the ridiculous asking price of $23,000..... you could start yours at $25,000....lol
//www.minimania.com/cars4sale/14293/1978_Leyland_Mini_1000_Sedan_998cc


Where in CA are you?

cheeky pete. how are ya?/ how is the mustang business in the UK?? dido that.. $12k on ebay.com   is good.. later bc

I'd put it on eBay with a 12k starting bid and avoid the ball busting you will get trying to sell it here :-)

If the motor was built at mr.mini, Steve (he would normally build the engines) would stamp the block with the  the motor size. For example, if your 1275cc motor was bored out and rebuilt to a 1293cc. He would stamp it MM1293.

Well, I took a quick look at the engine today and it looks like I had a bit more initial engine than I had initially thought. The stamping (from when I got the car) has the block labeled as a 1293cc. Bonus! The head is marked as a 12G940.. so not too bad. It was definitely a bit of a worked up engine even before I got it, but unfortunately doesn't have the Longman head on it as once was thought. I'm certainly not too fussed about that as it's still a fast engine!

Still trying to figure what it was bored out to after I blew the cylinder. I could have sworn it was 1340 vs 1380, but I could be wrong. It's going to be a fair bit more work before I can say what it's at and I may not be able to do it this weekend.

Thanks guys! 

 

I will double check all of the numbers and such. It's been about 10 years since I even looked at the car, as it's been sitting in my folks garage since I had the engine pulled out and rebuilt by Paul in 2005 or so. I am back in town next week, so I will see if i can find time to pull the head and measure things up. Will certainly take photos. 

 

It's a British import car, which was brought in by Mr.Mini in 2002 or so, when they were in Stony Creek. I doubt that anything is original on it lol.

Uh huh, there were no 1275s in Canada that looked like that in 1980...in fact no new 1275s.

We did build a '76 with MG Metro 1275, S brakes...but it still looked like a '76 minus the crash bumpers.

A running car brings a lot more buyers to the table, you seem to be close.

Before guessing at values, there are a couple of follow-up questions.

Do you have proof it's a Longman head, i.e. the stamped serial numbers and paperwork ?

1340 is a bizarre size as 1330 and 1360 are the usual .060" and then 73mm bore sizes.  72.5mm is possible, but I think they're a relatively new size.

Are you totally sure it's a 1980...  There are plenty of clues to suggest it *may* be a bit younger.

So,I am thinking of selling my beloved mini. It may be a great investment for someone looking for a relatively straight forward, almost road-ready project!

 

It's a 1980 1275 RHD with a lot of bells and whistles, and includes a simply incredible uninstalled power unit featuring a 1340 bore-out based on a 1275 core which includes a Longman head!! This was built by Paul Plunkett (Mr.Mini) and will be fast at 110+/- hp.

 

To get this on the road, it would require a bit of body work and a clean-up and repaint of the engine bay. Body wise, it needs a new rear valance, which has been removed as well as bump strips added to the wheel wells to prevent damage to the tires on bottom out. The tires are also quite old and need to be replaced. The vehicle has been in storage for 10 years and the rest of the body is in pretty good shape! No rot / rust in the body panels or anything like that. Some minor rust on the subframes as per usual.

As you can see, the interior is about as good as they come and it has 13x7 minilite wheels sprung by a SPAX adjustable suspension. All of the good bits you need!

 

So the big question is... what would all this be worth these days?