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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Volvo leads and Mini fails in JD Power's Tech Experience Index
Wed, Aug 19 2020New cars are basically rolling computers. Everything from the engine to the infotainment runs on a series of ones and zeros, and a lot of that technology requires input from the driver. So it's no surprise that JD Power has a study designed specifically to discern which bits of tech drivers love and which bits they loathe. "New technology continues to be a primary factor in the vehicle purchase decision," says JD Power's Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & human machine interface research. "However, it’s critical for automakers to offer features that owners find intuitive and reliable. The user experience plays a major role in whether an owner will use the technology on a regular basis or abandon it and feel like they wasted their money." The J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study found that Volvo owners are happiest with the technology packed inside their vehicles, followed by BMW and Cadillac, all brands that JD Power classifies as premium. The highest-rated mainstream brand is Hyundai, followed by Subaru and Kia. As was the case with the organization's Initial Quality and APEAL studies, Tesla's numbers aren't officially included because they are the only automaker that has not granted JD Power approval to contact its owners in states that require it. Tesla's projected score of 593 would have put it in second place, right behind Volvo's score of 617. The lowest-ranked brand in the TXI Study is Mini, with Porsche right behind. Diving a little bit deeper, JD Power's findings suggest that the technologies new car buyers care most about are related to helping them see their surroundings better. Camera systems, including rear-view mirror cameras and ground-view cameras, scored highest in five of the six satisfaction attributes measured in the study. The technology that owners could really do without? Gesture controls. Owners who answered JD Power's survey say they don't use gesture controls much at all after initially trying them, and they don't really care if their next vehicle has them. We have to wonder if those responses might be what kept BMW out of the top spot. The TXI Study also found that owners are split on automated driving helpers, like lane-keeping assist and automatic emergency braking. JD Power suggests that owners may need more training on those systems before they learn to trust them. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.
Longer, wider, still a Mini | 2017 Mini Countryman First Drive
Fri, Mar 17 2017Think of the 2017 Mini Countryman as the brand's "ah, to hell with it" moment. At a whopping 8.1 inches longer and 5.4 inches wider than the vehicle it replaces, it is quite obviously the least-mini Mini ever. Yet, that size increase makes it more useful, comfortable riding, and better proportioned. If a compact crossover SUV is what's to be, then this is the size it should be. However, it's still quite mini for a compact SUV, coming in at 3 inches shorter than the Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class and 4 inches shorter than an Audi Q3. Neither of those are what anyone would describe as "large." And yet, the Countryman boasts a considerably more spacious and usable interior than either of them. Sit in the new Countryman's back seat and you'll be amazed at the space, with plenty of leg- and headroom for even tall people despite a standard panoramic sunroof. Crossovers of similar exterior dimensions, luxury or otherwise, just don't come close to providing as much passenger space. The cargo area isn't quite as impressive on paper, but its boxy shape and the sliding second-row seat make it far more versatile in practice. So, despite being the least-mini Mini ever, the new Countryman is still in keeping with the brand's ethos from the very beginning when Alec Issigonis created a car that was microscopic on the outside but disproportionately spacious inside. There's far more to this redesign than just dimensional changes – the 2017 Countryman grows up figuratively as well. The original model always felt like a Mini Cooper hardtop that ballooned in size and door count. Compared to SUVs of similar price, and more damningly of lesser price, it was crashy, loud, a bit cheap inside, and relatively uncouth. The base model was also embarrassingly slow. The new version feels more like a proper compact luxury SUV flavored with a robust Salt Bae of Mini spice. Actually, that's pretty much what it is. The Countryman now shares its front-wheel-drive platform with the new BMW X1, which itself benefits from various trickle-down elements from elsewhere in the BMW Group. For instance, processes developed for the 7 Series are in part responsible for the new, stiffer structure that contributes greatly to the 2017 Countryman's other great advancement: the exponentially better ride. The old one harshly crashed over bumps in a way that only Fred Flintstone wouldn't find tiresome.
Mini Clubman Concept throws open all six of its doors for Geneva
Tue, 25 Feb 2014Coming in just over 10 inches longer and 6.5 inches wider than the 2013 Mini Clubman, the new Mini Clubman Concept that you see above is set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Let's get the maximum mini jokes out of the way right off the bat... Done? Okay, moving along.
Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design, says that this Clubman Concept "shows how the Mini Clubman could be taken a step further: more interior space, a greater sense of high-end quality and yet still clever, bold and distinctive." And that extra interior space will be accessible through four real doors, eschewing the single-sided barn door approach of the current Clubman. Well, mostly - there's still the side-by-side barn door philosophy at the back instead of a more traditional upward-opening hatch. In fact, spy shots and early rumors pegged this more conventionally doored Mini as a new model selling under a new name, possibly Traveller. However, it appears that Mini will stick with the brand equity it has established with Clubman instead.
As you can see in the small image gallery above, the Clubman Concept is instantly recognizable as a Mini, though a somewhat more refined overall package than past efforts. The front headlamps still have a bit of a surprised look to them, but we think this concept's overall fascia, and its unique bright finishes, might be more successful than the latest Cooper's. At the rear, there are a set of rather large taillights dominating the view, and we note that the prevalence of air intakes and scoops at parent BMW have moved on down to the Mini line. We'll have to reserve final judgment until we see the Clubman Concept in person.