What have I done?? 1969 Morris Mini joins the fleet
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2022
- Ive bought some good cars over the years, and some bad ones, but this might be my biggest project yet. Yes a new car has joined the fleet and it's a real classic, a 1969 Morris Mini. With rust.
Proudly sponsored by Diamondbrite - Clean, Protect and care for your car - diamondbrite.co.uk and get 10% off your order with code FD10
Big thanks to Specialist Kent Vehicle Transport for moving the Mini - find Niel at specialist-kent-ve.wixsite.co... or / specialistkentvehiclet... or 07526 590108
Check out my Amazon store for all the Draper tools used on the channel www.amazon.co.uk/shop/furious...
Theres a Merch store!! Head over to www.furiousdriving.co.uk to find the T shirts, hats, mugs, key rings, badges and more soon on there!
All the other Furious Driving, Rover, Alfa stickers, mugs, T shirts HERE - rdbl.co/3AhvDLL on Redbubble
Hit the Channel Member JOIN button and become a Furious Driver or help support the channel on Patreon here: / furiousdriving
Post me stuff for Junk in the Trunk post bag section!
Furious Driving
PO Box 477
AYLESFORD
ME6 9LE
Check out my new Photography channel 'Click Bait' - bit.ly/2Xek1Y1 - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
This deserves to be kept original. Plenty of manuals out there if you want one.
Nice one. Mk 2 (larger rear window, different size grille and exterior hinges) in Sandy Beige. I had one like that, though mine was manual. Autos had the larger HS4 single carb. Get the shell stripped and sorted, then decide which way you want to go.
Yeeeessss!!!! Finally one of the 3 musketeers (you, Steph and Ian) have a Mini!! As someone who has just bought a little classic mini myself, I'm super excited! That one you have is definitely a MKII not a MKIII, due to it being a 1969 car, it also has external hinges, and slidey windows. Cannot wait to see this project started. Mine is a bit of a project too haha
Good on you Matt for taking it on, I must be honest, this new venture has rekindled my interest in the channel - a true classic restoration project - it will be interesting, having restored one a long while ago, to see how the price of replacement parts have shot up since I trawled for spares (before the interweb) .
Yes I'm a lover of restorations have you seen the channel Rusty Love ? Kate the Capri is the current thing and Cortina City has another Mark 3 nearing completion..this time a "quickie" restoration but still serious waxoyling included plus replacement of rusty panels mostly repairs to existing bodywork his other four Cortinas are full on restorations this last one he's doing is not meant to be concourse condition just a very well done resto marginally on the quick
It is a mk2 as a lot have said, I expect it will need complete floors, so a direct line to M-Machine for panels may be required!. The doors maybe from a mk1 as I think the mk2 doors have a boss on the door that aligns with handle to stop it possibly catching pedestrians which was a later addition to improve safety. Looks like it also has a mk3 boot lid.
Great project 👍 I think the colour is BG15 sandy beige. Keep it automatic, it's part of the cars character
The best way to describe a rusting monocoque is "a can of worms". A classic mini is a joy, though, when working well. I look forward to many enjoyable welding episodes, Matt!
The previous owner of my Peugeot Expert used those exact words when I told him I was going to take it off the road to fix it up properly rather than just patching up the rust. He was exactly right.
I am going to enjoy watching this come back to life. Build the Mini you want, rather than worry about originality as you could always swap it back later, just maintain the original colours and keep the engine and gearbox to one side. I would go with dry suspension, 1275, manual and front discs.
You are a brave man Matt. It is worth saving with all that history. You can’t buy that. This is going to take years but good content on the way and everyone loves a MIni.
Matt, this is a huge project, but if you persevere you will learn so much an will have saved a real gem.
Half finished projects frighten most people off, but with cars like the Mini which have a big following and good parts availability, they can be put back together again.
You've opened a can of worms there and no mistake! I wish you the best of luck Matt.
Well, well!
What does Mrs F think? Have you even told her..?!? 😂
I look forward to watching your progress on this lovely little piece of British motoring history!
To my mind, you should keep her as original as possible - so don’t swap the auto box out for a manual. I’m sure her former owner will be looking on with interest if he knows about your channel.
I can only wish you the best of British, Matt!
A nice Mini which actually looks quite sound to me. My own 1967 Mk1 was not this good when I found it. Your's is a Mk2 (external door hinges, sliding glass but rectangular rear lights) and will be an absolute gem once you've finished it. I swapped my hydro-elastic for dry suspension (but I am not too worried with originality). The auto box is a rarity. I look forward to seeing how you get on - good luck.
Matt...you're nuts!!😂🤣 Much respect for tackling that. It's going to be a big, long, painful and expensive job restoring that! Will make great content though. Looking forward to this. Best of luck.
Such a cool car to be added to the fleet! I love all Minis but the 60s Minis are my favourite! I definitely agree with your decision to keep it original. It will be a big project but it will be worth it when its finished! Good luck👍😎
As soon as I saw your 'new' car, I knew it was Sandy Beige. I had a Sandy Beige with a White roof - a 1968 Mini Cooper which I bought as a 3 year old specimen. It was undoubtedly the most troublesome car I have ever owned in 60 years of car ownership. Also, for information, BMC kept Austin and Morris marques distinct and separate until about 1972 - Austin was seen as slightly superior to Morris, which is why Austin became the technology led cars whilst Morris remained the old fashioned rear wheel drive models. I wish you luck with your new Mini - you will need it.
What an interesting and unusual car this is. British cars of that vintage were never that common here, but i did know two people with Austin America automatics and one with an 1800 automatic. They all loved them and accumulated impressive numbers of miles. That us an absolute corker of a car. Great that it is a one family car. My 1990 Volvo 240DL estate is a one family car, with every piece if paper back to the invoice when the car was ordered by my mother. The paperwork overflows a 2 inch binder, which may sound a lot, but the car has over 390,000 miles on the clock. The old boy will be restored when i retire and he no longer needs to see snow and salt.
Mk2 because of the sliding windows and external door hinges. Worth more than a Mk3 in spite of being beige!! I love Minis!
This is a cracking little gem for your channel Matt. Look forward to future vids on the rebuild . Mk2 in my opinion subtle changes from the mk1 . When I was younger It would have been swapped to dry suspension and manual box but these days I would say keep it original .
My mini 1973 mini which I bought in 1984 just after passing my test was sadly a rot box, a chap in a Rover reversed out of his drive straight in from me, it was curtains for the wee thing but I was shocked that whole floor crumpled on impact at 30 mph. Good luck with this one Matt, maybe sell one to fund this project?
Oh Man I hope that you succeed in this Magical Endeavour.
I was recently going to suggest that there is nothing Japanese on the Fleet at present, but this Morris Mini Automatic has completely blindsided me. Like that genius Christmas Advert with the two little Austin Minis showing their feelings, there is simply no other car that you cannot help falling in Love with.
I had a 1966 mini - previous owner sprayed it white - stuck a 1275cc engine in it - black vinyl roof and the interior of an Elf or Hornet ( nice carpet and leather seats - plus some white Weller wheels on it. Not all the work was done that well I will accept but it was such fun to drive - You didn't steer you just thought about going around a corner and it did it. The engine was not a good un and the wide wheels chafed the arches........... but I was 21 and felt I was in the Italian Job every time I drove it
Well, about time! You have to own a proper Mini if you want to call yourself a true car nut. So many of us have been where you are now, more holes than you thought and boxes of bits. This should be very interesting. I think you should stick with the auto box, it's what the car was born with and is a big part of it's story. They are very underayed anywsy.
With the sliding windows I would say that it is a MK2 as it has sliding windows and exterior hindges. My MK2 in on an H plate also, good luck looks like quite a project but will be worth the effort when finished. look forward to seeing your progress
I had had Many BMC and BL cars - including a '74 Morris 1300GT - but had never owned a Mini until 2019. I bought it to do up for my youngest to learn to drive in as she is mad on them. Unfortunately, my health took a nose-dive and I had to sell that one because it was too big a project for me to take on with my new condition. However, I had taken it around the block a couple of times and it put a smile on my face like no other car ever had before.....so I bought another one in better condition, but nowhere near perfect.
Even though getting in and out of it can be a challenge for me and some of the work it required / still requires has meant I have to step outside my comfort zone (both physically and knowledge-wise), I find I WANT to do it because the little car is such fun to drive. Sure, she's no race horse - but I don't want one. She makes enough power to so everything asked of her and sounds / feels like she's doing 100mph even though the needle hovers around 50-60 on the open road. Funny how much you get the sensation of going so fast when you can actually be holding up traffic! No wonder I hear members of the Mini club say the phrase "Driving a Mini is the most fun you can have and still remain under the speed limit"!!
My daughter still loves the Mini, but prefers to drive the car I taught her in - a 2004 Mazda 3. I won't sell the Mini though - I have too much fun driving it. I have a few plans, but nothing over the top. It DOES need cup holders, charging points for GPS / camera / phones etc and I would like to build a centre console that doesn't restrict where I can put my clutch foot along with adding some sound deadening that removes a lot of the drumming.
Your new beasty is definitely a MkII being that it is a 69, has it's hinges on the outside of the doors and - most tellingly - the hydrolastic suspension. The latter was only ever available in the MkII. MkIII (70 - 76) went back to cones and had internal door hinges and a centre-mounted ignition switch, but still had a pressure-sensed brake light switch (at the lower firewall area of the driver's side), MkIV (76-82) took the ignition switch to the steering cowl, had the wiper switch on the LH side of said cowl and was the first round-nose to have the rocker switches under the speedo. New Zealand didn't sell new Minis after that. We started getting the 1990-2000 versions as used imports in the early 2000s, but there are very few (if any) Minis on the NZ fleet registered between 1983 and 1988 and would only have come in with immigrants to the country at that time, so the MKV and early MkVI are virtually unseen down here.
A mate of mine was given a 64 MkI by his brother in 1984....on the condition we could get it running in 3 days and up to the farmhouse for towing back to the city where we lived. The first time I clapped eyes on it I could not help myself but laugh uproariously, as it had been parked under some pine trees for well over 5 years and was up to near the top of the wheel arches in bits of tree and a very thick layer of pine needles,,,,,which was also on the roof and bonnet. The first half day was spent digging it out! I recounted the story of its resurrection in writing a few years back and I still laugh when I read it. That car as we unearthed it and pushed it into the shed to work on, makes yours look showroom fresh and in Concours condition. Getting it going wasn't a huge task, but there were certainly some trials and one or two steep learning curves! We had it ready for towing in time and he (along with myself and one or two other mates on occasions) eventually got that wee beast looking fantastic, but to begin with we just focussed on making it roadworthy so he could drive it to work to earn the money to restore it!
The colour of my mate's Mini was pretty much the same as your little MkII and I had flashbacks galore when watching your video, Matt. She looks a good straight unmolested little car and those are usually the most straightforward restorations and the best to have. All the best with it, mate! I look forward to seeing it happen.
Getting a feeling that a bigger barn may be required. Matt's enthusiasm and try anything approach is a great advert for his channel.
Well I wasn’t expecting that!! What a fantastic surprise! I think this deserves a full strip down, dip and strip and back to basics to do the job right! I’m really looking forward to this one! Great content Matt!!
"little bit of work"
might be an understatement. getting that sort of hint 😁😁
More relevant, I hope you enjoy the project. I learned to drive in my mother's 1962 Mini. In those days, you had to show that you could give hand signals during the driving test. Getting your arm out of the rear of the sliding windows was a near-shoulder-dislocating experience.
You're taking on quite a few projects ... Would be nice if you restore this and also bring your P6-Rover(s) in optimum condition, that would make a nice pair of early Leyland-cars 😀. Eustace Watkins was once a coachbuilder too, they made bodies for Wolseley hornet specials in the 1930s.
Wonderful story and history and great that it’s landed in your ownership,look forward to seeing the progress
My first mini was a 1968 F reg austin mini mk 2. Best mini I reckon, basically an improved mk 1. I'm pretty certain your mini is a mk 2 too. A mk 3 was the leyland mini & had internal door hinges. Edit as seen others have already pointed this out. If this was mine I'd get a brand new mini classic shell & strip out the parts in to the new shell.
This is fantastic news. Welcome to the classic Mini family. I still maintain that it's owning a Mini, not an Alfa, that makes you a real petrolhead and what a great find. Yes, it needs a lot of work but the parts are there and there's a great community to help. A certain lady by the name of Field springs to mind! Brilliant back story too. I'm really looking forward to this restoration
I did mention to Mrs F this was coming at the NEC, Im sure she has useful contacts
Very cool to get a car so original and with so much history. Its not too bad really from what I can see, these cars are so easy to get parts for and so endlessly documented, should be a really cool project to see coming together.
Bloody hell he's bought a decent car. Can't believe it.
Needs full sills this
Nah Matt said it will wire brush............................omg nooooooooooo
@@timbutton4990 No he still hasn't grasped the concept of rust. You don't just wire brush it and it goes away 😂
I was going to say that I'm surprised that Mrs furious hasn't literally became Mrs furious with this purchase but it was worth it for that history alone!
Everyone loves and probably wanted a mini as do I, really looking forward to following this project.
Love it! We have many classics in my family, my dad mainly with his wedding buisness. However, me and my brother have classic minis (so do my cousins) that we only take out the garage for summer use. I have a rebuilt 1998 Rover Mini Cooper MPI. Been in MiniWorld mag and drove on Brands Hatch circuit with it. Need to use it more tbf, mind!
It's a Mk2, the Mk3 was the first to get inside door hinges and wind up windows. Yours should have hydrolastic suspension too.
What a great story.A car thats worth more than the sum of its parts.I hope it works out well for you and can be brought back to its former glory.
I'm sure others will comment, automatic front subframe is different from manual, all possible of course. For me, with all the history and receipts I would have to keep it original to honour that. Would be odd to have original receipt stating auto, then have a manual box in it. Really looking forward to this series, Minis are the best car in my view
You can put a manual in an auto frame (slightly wider) but not the other way round.
What the?? .... Where did that come from?!!! You are absolutely bonkers, love it! Beautiful little car, well worth the effort of restoring it... Someone's going to be busy this winter with welding between that and the W123!! I like your plan... Buy smaller cars because you can fit more in the barn!
My Mum had an automatic mini. When the gearbox died my brother replaced it with a manual from the scrappie but there was an issue with the dipstick which didn't fit any more. The auto box had plenty of "quirks and features", well, quirks anyway and was very innovative engineering when new. Learning about it should give old Furious D some video content at least.
Great news Matt! I am an avid fan of the original Mini. My parents owned three in total, and I have owned one. My car was a 1975 Clubman automatic and the gearbox was truly excellent and over the 10 plus years that I owned it the engine never missed a beat and the gearbox was faultless. Rust of course was the problem necessitating a new rear subframe.
Do keep it as an automatic, they are very rare beasts and this one needs saving.
Have you considered a crowd funded project car? I'd happily chip in some cash to see this progress more quickly so that the original owner could see his Mini back on the road ...
Matt my second car was a 1979 Russet Brown Mini 1000 Auto that I bought in the mid 90's for 50 quid and did my first big car project converting it over to manual using a manual engine/box I bought for 35 pounds from a scrapyard. It was a relatively easy swap out, just needed the clutch pedal and cylinder etc installing. I loved driving that car afterwards. Go manual you will never regret it. Great project, I would consider leaving it with the patina look, maybe get the floor blasted and make it 100% solid and painted underneath but patina look up top. Cheers Steve
I was born October 1969, it's my dream to get a Mini from the same year; I had a 1980 model but wrote it off, loved that car!
I'm doing roughly the same thing over here in the States with a 1959 Morris Minor four door. However mine wasn't in an accident. But it' was owned by the same family since new, Great Grandad apparently ordered it in London back around 1957 or 58. When he brought it over to the states in 1959 that's when it was titled. I would also suggest that you keep it an automatic as that automatic was very innovative , and if you want to do spirited driving just shift it manually!
What a great purchase and project Matt! Very nice addition to the fleet. Love the colour combination and the history behind the car. You can make another channel: Furious Welding 😉
Ooh having a mini I cringed when I saw this and thought what a fantastically optimistic (nieve) approach. It is so crusty and hope you love weldind and find some good metal to weld to. As other said it is a Morris Mini MK2. Essentially an updated MK 1 with different grill bigger back window squared rear lights and the 1000 cc engine option. The MK 2 was introduced in October 1967 as a Morris and Austin as a super deluxe with remote cooper type gearshift an optional automatic gearbox. (The autobox cars have a different front sub frame) In June/July 1968 the cable type internal door release was replaced by a handle. In August 1968 the all syncromesh gearbox was fitted. April/May 1969 the heated rear window option was introduced and then in October 1969 it was replaced by the Mini 1000 in the MK3 body (wind upnwindows concealed door hinges).
As an avid viewer of Bangers and Cash I always wonder what sort of person buys these types of projects - you know , 50 per cent steel 50 per cent iron oxide. Well now i know 😂.To paraphrase a certain Mr. Galloway from a few years back , “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability and your many future nights with your welding gear. I want you to know that I am with you, until victory, until the car is in stunning concours condition". Seriously I genuinely wish you lots of luck.
What a great project for the winter months, l can't wait to see her back on the roads, that Mini is as old as me by the way (I'm also a 69 vintage and in not much better shape)
wow I never guessed this! looks like a great project... keep it as an auto they are rare and there are plenty of manuals about! I will question your sanity in this buy as you have many projects at the moment hitting a slowly moving brick wall!
Good luck with the rebuild!! Its a MK2 as the MK3s were the first to have internal hinges!!! I have had both,a MK2 1000 Super as a first car and a MK3 as my daily runaround and still have it!!!!
Blimey, good luck Matt! Looking forward to your journey of discovery with this classic.
Beautiful car, looking forward to seeing it brought back to life, definitely not a short term project. 👍
Blimey Matt... You really do love rust..!! 🤷🏼♂️😉
Welcome to Mini ownership Matt-it had to come !.It is a latish Mk11 still with Hydrolastic suspension before being discontinued on the Mk 111 and in Sand beige .Certainly rare as an automatic and with fantastic historic provenance .I'm recommisioning a ' 61 Austin 7 unused since 1974, I can tell you it will give you obsession as well as frustration but it is well worth the effort and important that it is done , history makes a huge difference especially one family ownership. Everything is available at moderate cost. By the way , Eustace Watkins were always associated with Wolseley especially and coachbuilt bodies for Wolseley 6-cylinder Daytona Specials in the mid 30s.
My mum used to drive a 1969 Morris Mini automatic. Great memories and such fun to drive in but the seatbelts didn't work in our car and it did break down an alarming number of times considering it was only about 7 or 8 years old at the time.
Good luck, you'll need it! I have had many Minis over the years and rust is the biggest enemy. BTW this is a Mk2 👍
Indeed, one of the last I'd guess, also on hydrolastic. Mk3 was the start of the wind up windows, but otherwise the same.
The doors could well be off a mk1 as there's no bosses to stop the handles hooking pedestrians, like you suggested. The Mk2 badge looks like it's on a Mk3 boot lid too.
Stripping it down will save you effort in the long run, expect you'll end up fitting a complete floor, or at least a pair of half floors. It's basically routine maintenance for a Mini 😜
Would've been handy to try the auto box out first.
Blimey you're a brave man, but I really look forward to seeing that little car being brought back to life again!
Another shed doth appear, at least this is a third of the size of the Merc!!! You'll smash it buddy, looking forward to seeing your uploads
Wowsers, that's one of those 'where do I start?' kind of projects. I like classic Minis. Best of luck.
It's a very late mark 2 Matt; Mark 3s had amongst other things, winding windows, a fixed rear number plate and weren't badged Austin or Morris, the marque became simply Mini. Your boot lid should have a MkII badge on it. Good luck with getting it back no the road, Mk2s are quite rare and well worth saving.
Don't think that boot handle existed until a couple of years later, even on Mk3s.
Sweet project
The minis where so easy to work on but rusted quite badly but most of the panels where quite cheap .
The autos needed frequent oil changes as it used the same oil as the engine if i remember rightly .
Its going to be a great project but probably a weldathon .
Love that classic interior it brings back memories of my mates old auto mini with that mountney steering wheel and old skool shelf speakers 🤘im going to be followin this resto .
Don't panic, Mr. Mannering. A quick wash and maybe a lick of paint here and there, I'm sure nobody's likely to notice. Well, not much.......well, y'know.......
Looking forward to watching it's return to life.
Always sort of fancied a Riley Elf or a Wolseley Hornet myself. These days, I'd have to rob a bank or something to afford one, but we can dream, I suppose.
don't ditch the auto... I did this on a '67 (850cc) many moons ago as well as changing the suspension from hydro elastic to solid rubber ball and kind of regretted losing the auto which was actually 4 speed so you could in facct drive it like a manual. I still have the car and one day might even get it back on the road... good luck to you geezer (don't forget the inner wing/front bulk head panels where the mud and then rust accumulate but youoften dont see until the out panels rusy out)
What a lovely old thing, with a wonderful story behind it too. Makes the modern interpretation look massive parked side by side. Can't wait to see this one get going. Great project car.
Good luck with the restoration. Your car is a MK2. I’ve just finished restoring my 1960 Austin mini that had been sitting for 48 years. It took me 804 hours over 9 months.
What a great project to have. And what a brilliant find with such provenance!
A fantastic project this! This car has a wonderful story and if I had the time, space and money for a proper Mini and especially a rare automatic I’d keep it original but it’s not my car. Look forward to this on the channel 🙂
It's a big project but at least there are lots of parts and support around the mini community.
The giveaway that it's not a MK3 (other than the badging) is the doors with the exterior hinges and sliding windows which I seem to recall were one if the most noticeable changes as these were gone on the MK3.
I desperately wanted a mini as my first car and almost bought a mini racing green. The owner wouldn't MOT the car but was willing to knock £300 off the price which set alarm bells ringing and I walked away.
Your extremely brave to take this on Matt, am sure it’ll look fantastic when your finished and of course it’ll be worth a small fortune, love your insensitive to say the least, failure isn’t an option!
Back then, even though Austin, Morris, Worsley, Riley, etc were all under BMH / Leyland, dealerships were still very tribal and towns would often have several BL dealers focusing on their historic brands. Morris deals might sell other brands from the Nuffield group but never the arch rival of Austin
Good luck Matt, looking forward to seeing it finished 😊👍
I applaud you for rescuing this little car. I would be a great shame to see it broken up so if you decide to move it on, make sure it goes to someone who will do the job. GOOD LUCK WITH IT
Engine out then roll it on its side to fix the sills and floor more easily perhaps? Very interestng project, good luck Matt! Please keep the automatic :)
Classic cars need classic restoration, so how about stripping the body completely, get it dipped and when you get it back tip it onto its side onto a couple of old tyres and secure it with a length of 4x2 and then sort out the floor, as you say every part is available (at a price) so good luck with this one Matt, although with the Merc needing so much welding I think you are just a bit mad, in the nicest possible way.
Give the rusty old wrecks that Pete C takes on this should be a piece of cake!
Great project Matt look forward to viewing the progress. Unusual colour. That will be great to drive irrespective of which gearbox you go for.
Are you in an undisclosed competition for the most bonkers restoration project? It's certainly got history, but honestly.... You already have that (admittedly tidy) P6 V8 in interminable restoration (one day it may turn a wheel, one day...) and a sheddy W123 that I thought must be the peak of madness, but then you got this. Good luck!
As you said, with good parts availability you could build a new one from scratch and that might be easier. Straight from the horse's mouth!
That was unexpected. I've got exactly the same parcel shelf speakers in the Princess, they're a great bit of design. When you get to suspension pumping up time I'd be happy to loan you my Churchill pump to save you having to buy one (or a modern equivalent).
Utterly crazy! Looking forward to seeing work on this project! Brave man.
Look great once done. As you said, I also say acid bath it once stripped. Can you get the doors and wings done too or too aggressive?
My other nan had a very bad accident in one on the Motorway decades ago. Sat In traffic behind a HGV and another HGV ploughed into the back shunting her forward into the other HGV. Paralysed but still lived a good age. Promised her to never get a Mini.
My dad had a modified mini cooper with larger engine, bucket seats. Large bore exhaust and black metallic paint. My Nan, my Dad's Mom used to drive it from the Midlands to Wales, looking at buying, doing up and selling old cottages. Parked up in a village in Wales and a group of local lads piled round asking if it was hers and is it for sale! My Nan said you only had to touch the accelerator and you were off. My Nan went to pick her Son from the nightclub and my Nan waiting at the lights and was applying makeup and lights changed to green and went but land rover hadn't! One broken front end. My Dad apparently looked shocked, when collected him!
James.
I purchased another project car over the weekend, a 1996 Volvo 850 TDi of all things. Already it's proving easier to get parts for compared to my 1994 960. Look forward to seeing more on this. Good luck! Definitely prefer the old MINI compared to the R53, but nice to see them both together.
Surprising the 850 is easy to get parts for, Id have expected the 900 to be the better supported
@@furiousdriving I know, I'd have thought the same. Possibly because there are more people breaking parts from the 850 at the moment whereas the 900-series is seen to be more of a classic 'typical Volvo'. Time will tell if the 850 is supported.
I've had 2 minis and a mini van they all suffered the same fate , Rust eat them , although I did own one for 4 years , engine wise it went very well but the sub frame went and in the day it wasn't worth paying out to get it done , sliding windows are a pain , also the position of the distributor get wet and it packs up , until you dry them out , you can get a rubber protective cover to help prevent that happening, but I think it would be worth putting an electronic ignition on it , wish you luck on that one 😀 👍
Mini, looks micro next to the BMW maxi.
Charming old girl, lots of hard work but tonnes of potential. I think if the auto box works it could be left, but if it's major work that's needed it ought to be swapped for a manual, so you can have the full ear-to-ear grin experience at the end of a long resto.
Best of luck, may she serve your family as long and well as the first one.
Lovely car. Good luck. You'll need it. The good news is you can get all the parts, quite cheaply, from Moss or Minispares. You could convert it from hydrolastic to the rubber springs. Let me know if you want to borrow my homemade 18G574B!
Thats a mk2 mini Matt as the mk3 lost the exterior hinges and sliding windows
Also swapping a auto to a manual is a easy job but requires throwing your current engine away as you can't swap boxes you need the whole lot, cheap enough you can pick up nice 998 mini or metro lumps for about £300 still, if you want a £1275 its easily £1000 - £1500 now
Also TBH automatic minis however how original usually knocks alot of the value off them, they aren't popular, most now have been converted to a manual
The hydralastic rear suspension is really expensive to sort out, you can only get exchanged rebuilt units.....so maybe better swapping the rear subframe for standard rubber suspension
also for colours i'd suggest Surf Blue ;)
hope that helps!
Regarding hydrolastic being expensive, I wouldn't really agree as a full set of exchanged and tested units can be fitted for approx £650. On a Mini of this potential value when restored that isn't really very much. The labour involved in replacing front suspension cones doesn't come that cheap and new cones are £50 each. Conversion to rubber suspension overall would probably be no cheaper than repairing the hydrolastic setup.
@@mtamin1 Top arms, radius arms (or having stub axles fitted) shockers & shocker mountings....
Matt what a project and a mk2 mini as well! Always been a big mini fan as my uncle worked on the mini track at longbridge for 28 years from 1959 and he owned them as well!
That one should look lovely when done and I hope you keep it as original as you can but i understand if you choose a manual gearbox
What a back story as well can’t be many one family owned cars that age now
The query about the dealer you had was they sold only morris group products because under BMC the dealer network was split Austin and morris as it was before the merger it was many years later under BL it became more unified in our town we had a morris dealer the one side and Austin the other and one which sold both!
Looking forward to seeing this one come off I think the colour is sandy beige!
Great project which should keep you busy and provide plenty of videos for your great channel !
It's amazing just how much the newer generation mini's of the 21st century have grown in size compared to the 1969 MKI/MKII model.
Wow, didn't expect this!, but I can see why!, lovely little car with great history, has to be saved to original as so rare, we had a 1972 K plate Mini Clubman auto in white many years ago, Good Luck Mat👍
Wow! Given how you brought back Quentin and with all the work on the Benz you have to do, this is another big one that'll be intriguing to see how it turns out in the end.
You are a brave man. Very daunting project to take on. Good luck!
I have a full rebuilt manual gearbox from a August 1985 Mini in the back of my shed, if you want it (for a fair price). August means 10" wheels, October means 12" wheels. It has an odd final drive: I think, at this time, they were switching around different ideas before going for the bigger wheels.
Excellent matt you've gone from welding a repair panel on a mercedes to whats going to be a major restoration. I'm a looking forward to seeing the progress 👌
Surprised is an understatement! What a project to take on - I hope its as solid as you think!
* does an automatic mini still share the oil as the manual does? Never though about that til now.
*you could call it Project Barney.
Wonderful stuff! REALLY looking forward to seeing this project underway 😀
Nice solid history it has. Looks like lots of cutting and welding ahead at floor level and wheel wells. It would be interesting to see how it looks under the carpet. Definitely full project.
I have a mini almost identical and it is no ordinary Automatic, its an AP minimatic which is a manual with auto functions which was ground braking at the time and I am sure although you will swap it for a manual you will one day regret doing it :)
Subbed to see what you decide with interest!
It's more like rust with a 1969 Morris Mini - that said, they are great cars and huge fun around town with their go-kart handling. I had a Mini City back in the early 80's (only an 850cc engine) - cheap as chips in terms of spares and easy to work on.