No comments, then again no negatives.
Assuming all is good......
So while the Audi was a fun daily other than wash it and admire its curves I really felt the need to tinker with something old.
Note the word ‘tinker’. I’m no spanner twirler and having helped my brother refurbish a couple of MG’s I knew that a full blown restoration was beyond me. So what was needed was a structurally sound car that could be improved on.
But what?
Thinking back to my first car, Ma’s hand me down Mini 1000, the memories of a misspent youth buzzing round the lanes of Norfolk, England prompted me to go on Ebay and see what might be about that could be a bit Cooperized 1960's style.
Why, you might be asking, in a land of V8 muscle, would you want a British rustbox mustering all of 38-90bhp?
I still have no idea but a couple of months later I tracked this 1969 Morris Mini Mark 2 down on Long Island, New York.
The non-original Primrose yellow paint was a bit Marmite but the Cooper-ish white roof toned it down a bit.
A genuine Sixties LHD North American model imported into Canada this Mark 2 lacked the more desirable Mark 1 grille and small rear lights but at least it had the exposed door hinges and … well finding a solid example of 20th Century British engineering in 21st Century America within a day’s drive of New Jersey was always going to be a tall order so a compromise had to be made.
The guy selling was actually the owner of an independent German car repair shop. Owed money by a bodyshop unable to pay a large bill he’d had the Mini restored by them in lieu of payment.
A test drive and thorough inspection on his lift found a structurally and mechanically sound car with paintwork that exceeded anything ever to roll off the British Leyland line.
A nice fat folder of receipts including a new alternator conversion kit plus new shock absorbers and the fact that the drum brakes sort of actually worked saw money change hands.
Lacking the brave pills required to drive it back across Manhattan the seller kindly trailered it out to Jersey for me a week later.
Newish rear subframe and solid if not concours standard battery box.
He’d got a bit carried away with the accessories so within hours of taking ownership I’d removed the self adhesive Union Jack flag from the roof and the 4 of the 6 battery killing chrome foglights and the chrome badge bar.
The engine bay was the only real negative, ditto the ageing wiring loom.
The A-series 998cc seemed a bit lacking but I simply put that down to the contrast with the Audi.