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 "You'll never forget your first mini"

 Created by: 6464s
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 Posted: Aug 17, 2024 08:43AM
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ve9aa, what was the story of your first mini?

 Posted: Aug 16, 2024 01:58PM
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CA
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6464s

I'm thinking everyone forgot.

or...........95% of the regulars here have left this forum and/or moved on with their life.(or passed on)

 

Sad, but I believe it's mostly true.

  ~ 30 minutes in a Mini is more therapeutic than 3 sessions @ the shrink. ~

  Mike  Cool  NB, Canada   

 Posted: Aug 16, 2024 02:56AM
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I'm thinking everyone forgot.

 Posted: Aug 9, 2024 10:36PM
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GB

My Mum was taken to the maternity hospital in a very early M1 Elf by my Dad, and I returned home in it with my parents 6 days later.

Grew up with the car, which was eventually replaced with something a smidge bigger, but not after 'helping' Dad modify it.  Even at 18 months old I was getting hands on in the garage.

 

I still have the Mk3 Elf I bought in 1992 as my first car.

 Posted: Aug 9, 2024 02:42AM
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CA

I was in my 2nd year at college and taking the bus, actually at least 2 buses plus 1/2 mile walks at either end. Like 6464s, buses did not come to your house, and neither our house or the campus were on a route. This is in Canada where we get a thing called winter, with snow, ice and below freezing temperatures for months. All this "commuting", lasting well over an hour each way meant a part time job was out of the question. No student loan either. The one family car was a 64 Ford Fairlane (base model) that I could borrow on the rare occasion. Similar to 6464s' Falcon

 

I started scouting for a car and discovered a lowly green 850 Austin Countryman at the back of a used car lot. It did not have wood but it was a Deluxe model with the 3 - gauge binnacle and the full disk hub caps. Price $175 as-is. On a test drive I took it as far as my uncle's Esso station where all he could do was give me the "are you out of your mind" look. But I was already in love by then.

 

I skipped a week or two of college to get the Mini roadworthy, working outdoors under the car port. (I missed the engineering class where shear force and bending moment were defined, so that took a while to soak in!) 

 

The car lasted almost 3 years until rust really overcame it. Back then, you needed a roadworthiness inspection to licence it and then you were on your own. The clutch tended to grab, so it required z bit of extra throttle to get off the line, which usually produced a tire chirp. So friends gave it the name "The Chirp" It was treated to the 1100cc upgrade but by the end it braked on 3 wheels, the right front drum brake being completely saturated in fluid when one of its cylinders failed. The leak was solved by removing the link pipe and leaving one operational, though soaked. At rush hour on Wellington Street Ottawa (just west of parliament hill they had police at intersections to manage the outflow of civil servants. One afternoon, I was in the left lane doing about 50kph on a slight downhill, when the cop raised his "STOP" hand in front of me. I complied as best I could. With the right front brake out if commission,all the stopping power came from the left front, which of course caused the wheel to lock up and significant left slew... right toward the cop. I had a mis-matched Atlas tire on that wheel to maximize wearability. It also maximized screech. So here I was screeching at an angle straight toward the cop, stopping about 10 feet from him. I expected the worst, but ll he did was grin at me. 

 

 

The car is long gone, except I still have one of the hubcaps and the chrome Austin script from the back door. My second car was a 998 Saloon that curiously had a slipping clutch. I got it cheap too ($350)because the engine was out with a loose gear selector fork at the bottom of the transmission - the last piece to come out. (I had a clever plan for that too!)

.

"Hang on a minute lads....I've got a great idea."

 Posted: Aug 8, 2024 04:20PM
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I never really liked the mini as a teenager in the UK, too hard to work on and prone to rust, I drove Triumph Heralds for the great turning circle and ease of maintenance. However, my dad knew another dairy farmer in Linconshire who was selling a '67 Mini Moke for £45, I bought it and drove it back to Warwick (about 90 miles) on three cylinders. Put my sister's MG 1100 power unit in it and drove the heck out of it for seven or so years until I moved to Australia. I've loved minis ever since, presently have 3 Mokes and a Pickup (one of the Mokes is going to a contributor

on this forum).

"Nature Bats Last"
 Posted: Aug 8, 2024 03:31AM
 Edited:  Aug 8, 2024 03:41AM
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I believe this was a bumper sticker given out for the 30th Birthday of the mini. It would be great to hear stories of how we fell in love with our minis and inspired us to buy one. Some of us couldn't be satisfied with one and added many to our lives. It became a disease, buying everything and anything mini we set our eyes on. I will share my story.

 

 

I was in high school. Back then, you walked to the bus stop instead of the bus coming to your house. I still can see that little faded red 850 mini parked on the street at the opposite corner. It was love at first sight. I knew I had to have one. Back then everything was American and you were crazy to want anything that was not. My foster parents gave me the family Ford Falcon station wagon so I could commute to community college. I left the house when I was 17 years old, so I was on my own. I blew the motor on the Falcon and bought a Pontiac GTO/ Tempest with tri-power. I would watch the gas gauge needle go from the F side to the E side while driving. My part time supermarket job could not support my rent, car and school. Because of my financial situation, I was able to get a college loan. So what did I do, what any kid would do with a pile of cash. I walked into a British Leyland dealership and bought a brand new BRG Austin America. I drove the America until it would not drive any more. It was a great car but not a mini. To make a long story short. I finished college, got a job and started hunting for minis. I went thru a couple of them (learning about them, swapping engines, etc.) until I found an Almond Green Cooper S. Drove that for many years as my daily. Since then, I always had a mini or several of them. Today my only car is a SPI BRG Cooper.

 

 

I think it would be fun to hear your story.