All:
I'm looking for thoughts/advice on an Austin Mini. Not the current BMW one, but the original one. My wife has an '04 Mini Cooper S, which she loves, but the other day she asked me about the original ones, and said she'd like one, due to the facts that 1) it would free up $10k, 2) she only uses her current car to commute to work (3 miles) plus (3) the old ones are really cool. So I did some research, including a search here, and have the following questions;
1. Is there a particular year/model to avoid?
2. Is there a year/model that is particularly desirable?
3. How old do they have to be to register in the US?
4. I have seen several that state 'Cannot be registered in the state of California'. Is that due to emissions, and could the car therefore be registered here in Oregon (we have no emissions regs)?
5. I see a lot of right hand drive cars. My thought is 'LHD only'. Anyone tried to drive a right hooker over here?
6. I have found one locally (
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/car/764377783.html ) But it sounds overpriced by about $4k to me. Thoughts?
7. Dumb question. Can A/C be retrofitted, and if so how much $$?
8. Can Canadian cars be imported and registered without too much hassle?
-I had hoped she'd go for either a Z3 M Coupe or maybe a Volvo C30, but I think a mini would be cool.
Current:
Proposed:
Any thoughts/advice much appreciated!
Cheers,
Paul.