1979 Morris Mini Cooper. Safety Upgrades, Ss Exhaust, Needs Nothing. Wow! on 2040-cars
Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States
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57,420 miles. Factory left hand drive. VIN #XLU1569909
No rust anywhere. No nicks, dings or scratches on the paint. Sumitomo 175/50 R13 tires on Minilite wheels. Super tight 1275cc engine - oil stays honey-colored all the time. Transmission very smooth. Stainless steel LCB exhaust system - high performance, with super-nice tone. Hella driving lights. Strong battery, always float charged. New custom-made seat covers and carpet. Kenwood AM/FM/CD. Nardi gold-plated steering wheel. (couldn't resist.) Comes with original title. History: This car was sold to the German market, then imported to the US. It was dismantled and refurbished at Mini Obsession in PA. My wife and I bought it with a white roof and racing stripes. We wanted a convertible for three-season use, but the rare ones out there change the lines of the car radically, so we went with a stripped-down cabrio look. After removing the roof, we fabricated everything for a convertible top in the style of early MG Midgets. The quality of the paint is hard to capture in photos. It appears to iridesce as the angle of the light changes, from a warm leaf green in overhead sun to a cool metallic racing green in the shade. Many people have commented on it. If you like classic road rally trim, new white and black racing stripe decals come with the car. Safety upgrades: Classic Minis can fold up if they are hit, and we have a young daughter. We took the weight savings from removing the roof and welded a steel cage around the passenger compartment, including the doors. A box-beam frame is bolted under the floor and coupled to the engine mounts. This improves handling, front impact protection, and stiffens the body as it's loaded. The front pillars are reinforced with tubular steel inserts. The roll bar, which came from a Chevy Nova dragster, completes the cage. It bolts to and reinforces the seat belt towers and rear impact frame. If you prefer the lines of the body without a roll bar, a custom crossbar with shoulder belt anchors is ready to go. (See last picture.) Remove four bolts and swap in the low bar for the roll bar. Your side impact protection remains intact, the look of the car changes significantly, and it takes only minutes to do. What about rain? A set of lightweight tubular steel and aluminum components lock together to form a frame. The frame can support either a black bikini top (included) for strong sunlight, similar to those on Jeeps, or a super-heavy duty transparent vinyl rain top that will engage the crank-up windows. All the materials for the rain top come with the car, including snaps, vinyl etc., and it all fits into the boot. The frame connects to the roll bar (or the low crossbar,) and anchors into 1/2-13 threaded inserts at each end of the windshield. The inserts are normally plugged with chrome bumper bolts from a '55 Bel-Air (pictured). If you want to install either top, I can go over the design with you when you pick it up. One of the pics shows the low crossbar and the lightweight frame for the cover. All the frame parts attach to the car in a couple of minutes. To be very clear: The support structure is ready to go. The covers themselves need to be stretched over the frame, edges trimmed, and snaps installed. This can be done by hand, with scissors and a little hand sewing, or quickly if you have access to a sewing machine. And if you know someone who makes boat or pickup truck covers, it's a walk in the park. Removable stainless steel tracks for the window gaskets are already attached to the front pillars. We have never installed the sun or rain tops for two reasons: First, we love the smooth look of the car with no extra metal snap anchors, and second, the umbrella (pictured) works really well! If we're caught in the rain, it's a one-minute operation to clamp the umbrella to the roll bar. For a passing rain shower, place the umbrella high and have a snack. If it's a downpour or very windy, drop it lower. It keeps the interior bone dry, and yes, you can drive with it if you want to - slowly. We drove it once through the middle of a huge classic car show with the umbrella up - to spontaneous applause and laughter everywhere. This car is one of a kind, and needs nothing. It always starts and runs great. Take it anywhere, and you make friends immediately. Put up the umbrella and watch the smiles come out. All the hard work has been done. Have some fun! (You deserve it. :-) Winning bidder must make phone contact and send $500 non-refundable deposit by Paypal within 48 hours of auction close. Balance in cash or cashier's check within seven days of auction close, or the car will be relisted. Any check must clear before the car is released for transport. USA and Canada bidders only. I've sold three cars and a lot of high end electronics on eBay. Check my feedback. You won't be disappointed. Please email if you have questions. I don't mind phoning you to discuss technical details, if you're serious. I never accept lowball offers - please don't ask. The amount of time and money invested is a lot more than the asking price. Finally, (whew!) I reserve the right to cancel the sale to bidders with negative feedback or a history of eBay or Paypal disputes. This car is also listed in local classifieds, and "cruise season" in New England is starting. A purchase by a local buyer will end this eBay listing. If you want the car, please don't delay. Good luck bidding! Update: I found a fine crack in the paint near the left rear convertible top socket, behind the back seat. The entire rear deck is aluminum, and I bet that it expanded and contracted over the last couple of years, stressing the paint there. The crack mostly parallels the bottom of the filler used to radius the 90 degree corner. There are a couple of other cracks, smaller and harder to find, at other spots along the deck, on the same radius. Am I being fussy? Yes, but I like full disclosure, since I've also bought cars on eBay. Please check the pic to see if it's an issue for you. I positioned the flash to highlight the edge, with a penny to provide scale. My take? This is worth repairing if you plan to compete in shows, where the smallest defect counts against the score, but otherwise nobody will notice a thing unless you point it out. |
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Honda engines and giant killing in the classic Mini Cooper
Mon, 22 Jul 2013Electric Federal has taken a fresh look back at the enduring legacy of original Mini with a video interview with Heritage Garage's Graham Reid, one of the foremost experts on classic Minis. As Electric Federal points out, it's important to remember that the Mini did not start out as a performance car. It was built in response to the Suez Canal crisis of the mid-50s, which had a similar effect on British gas prices as OPEC did on American prices in the 1970s - rationing and rapid price jumps.
Through the years, Minis have grown from their budget roots to become seriously competent performance machines. As Reid says, a 150-horsepower Mini on the right track should have no problem outpacing a contemporary Porsche 911.
For some time now, classic Mini owners have been dropping Honda engines under the tiny hoods of their classics. With up to 250 horsepower pulling a car that tips the scales at barely 1,200 pounds, the upgraded Mini is "a real sleeper," Reid says. Interestingly, Reid doesn't mention another increasingly common swap in the Mini community - Suzuki Hayabusa-powered Coopers.
Mini has become the Rover that BMW always wanted
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Mini Rocketman back on the table, might go aluminum
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According to the company's head of design, Anders Warming, speaking to Auto Express, Mini likes the idea of having a smaller model in its lineup, but it has to figure out a way of actually making it work. Warming is clear that the next iteration of the Rocketman concept (or whatever it's called then) won't be seen until a design is ready.
There are still plenty of challenges keeping a production Rocketman off of the city streets of the world, and chief among them continues to be finding a platform. But Mini is at least considering it. "At the moment, we don't have the right tech solutions, but we are working on it. We don't yet have a final solution, you could say," said Warming to Auto Express. He also thinks the final version would drop the concept's carbon fiber in favor of more aluminum components.