Motoring Discussion > Austin - Would you pay £31000 for this shed?
Thread Author: VxFan	Replies: 31

New Thu 25 Jul 13 21:15   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - VxFan

It needs new brakes, it has paint defects and no MOT or tax. Approx £2,000 to get it back on the road. It doesn't even start. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376657/Austin-Mini-Cooper-S-sells-31-000-20-year-stuck-garage.html Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 21:24   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - RattleandSmoke

If I was rich and wanted an original Mini then yes. These cars are now very rare and most the Coopers on the road from that era have been modified. A new engine won't be hard to find and it doesn't look that rusty. Seen far far far worse minis. Personally though, for that money I would rather take a top end 3 series. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 21:29   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Alastairw

>>Seen far far far worse minis. Personally though, for that money I would rather take a top end 3 series For that money your notional 3 series won't be very top end tbh. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 21:30   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - PeterS

>> Seen far far far worse minis. Personally though, for that money I would rather take >> a top end 3 series. >> Unfortunately, if buying new, £31k will only get you an entry level 3 series ;-). I agree though, if I had a spare £40k (you just know it'll cost more than £2k to fix) and wanted an original Mini then I'd probably have bought it too. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:06   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Dog

Ghastly blimmin thing (I wont call it a motor) it belongs to a different century - the 19th century! Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:12   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Zero

From what I can see, its 100% original, complete, and the shell appears to be sound. Thats what your 31k buys. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:22   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Armel Coussine

Yes, that's a very nice tidy 1275 Mini Cooper. I've said a lot more about Minis but have dementedly posted it in the Spanish train crash thread. If any mod felt kind they would move it for me because I can't. Sorry. sorted Last edited by: R.P. on Thu 25 Jul 13 at 22:38 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:19   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Armel Coussine

The Mini was a useful nippy little tool in its day. But it was also a trashy little thing, with some major flaws, and didn't stand up to hard or prolonged use. Actually to get one that's strong, practical and relatively untroublesome you have to modify it in numerous ways. And even then it's still only a Mini. The sweetest Cooper wasn't the 1275 cc one but the rare 1071 cc. The only Mini variant with a relatively short-stroke engine. There are literally hundreds of far better and more amusing cars you could get for that sort of eye-watering money though. Last edited by: R.P. on Thu 25 Jul 13 at 22:39 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 23:56   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Ted

At that sort of money, I wish I still had my '65 970S....even rarer than the 1071. Just a Mini to me then...went on our unnimoon in it in '69.....very fast ! (as was the car ). We had facelift 1275S cars on the road patrol in the early 70s for a while. Stonkingly quick pursuit cars, but not comfy for big bobbies ! Ted Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Fri 26 Jul 13 19:18   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Roger.

Actually, IMO, the 970S was better than the 1071S. The REAL best was the over-bored 1275S! I had a 1071S which I converted to a 970 by fitting new con-rods & pistons. This WAS short strkle and I could rev it close to 9000 rpm. The whizzy bits were all balanced, of course and it had a 649 cam and the head was gas-flowed This, together with a 45 Weber, an oil cooler, wide wheels and a set of race tyres was how I went club saloon car racing! (Driving it to the meetings and every day motoring) Not quick enough to compete with the big boys, but good fun round Brands, Mallory, Cadwell & Snetterton. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 19:56   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Armel Coussine

>> Actually, IMO, the 970S was better than the 1071S. Since you agree with Ted, Roger, and have raced a Mini, I must yield to superior knowledge... but you would have needed a shorter-throw crankshaft as well as the other bits, no doubt steel and nitrided as well as balanced... Those very high output 1275s were a bit brutal, could tear the rubber universals in the drive shafts to pieces in no time. Surely what one wants most of the time is a smooth, driveable, pretty quick, more or less reliable and long-lasting road rocket, not some brutish slingshot special... Of course the Mini's worst feature was its gearbox. I suppose that Honda-engined thing of Lygonos's has an in-line or parallel gear or chain driven Honda gearbox too, hmmm? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 21:11   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - crocks

>> Of course the Mini's worst feature was its gearbox. I suppose that Honda-engined thing of >> Lygonos's has an in-line or parallel gear or chain driven Honda gearbox too, hmmm? I saw a mini in Guildford today and it set me wondering about the gearbox on Lygo's car. Here is the full story of that car. www.vtec-mini.co.uk It has the Honda Civic 5-speed box and a Watson's Engineering final drive kit. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 23:45   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Armel Coussine

>> sorted Tks Rob Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:37   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Avant

Must have been two or more very keen bidders. EEY is an old Anglesey registration - maybe RP was one of them. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 22:39   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Lygonos

Gash. Here's a properly sorted Mini: www.vtec-mini.co.uk/photos/steve/picture-012.jpg Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 25 Jul 13 23:02   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Runfer D'Hills

Oh jeez, now y'see thats torn it. I don't want one of those but y'know how it is, these threads set you off at a tangent and having spent far too long messing about on AT tonight I now feel that the big ( or little really ) thing missing in my life is a late model John Cooper Works... Cold shower required. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 00:51   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Armel Coussine

In the Other Place a few years ago, I won a short story competition proposed I think by oilrag with a story describing a short drive in a Mini Cooper, from the top of Gloucester Road to Earl's Court. It was a bit shameful really. For one thing, it wasn't fiction but a moment-by moment description of something that had really happened. For another, it was about someone who wasn't all that nice or virtuous, but who was amusing and badass enough to have been a companion and sort of friend of mine for many years in my youth. And thirdly, I heard almost immediately after the story was written (it didn't take at all long, a couple of hours) that he was dying, and went to see him on his deathbed in the West Country. The prize was an extremely heavy ballpoint pen with a Jaguar logo on it. Not a lot of ink inside though. Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 26 Jul 13 at 00:54 Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 06:34   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Dog

>>Here's a properly sorted Mini:www.vtec-mini.co.uk/photos/steve/picture-012.jpg In-credible! Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 19:21   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Roger.

Nah, here is one from the glory days! tinyurl.com/l2zf7hw Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 29 Jul 13 00:12   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - henry k

>> Nah, here is one from the glory days! >> >> tinyurl.com/l2zf7hw >> Here is one from the last day. Final Longbridge factory Mini sold at auctions www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23482725 Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 07:11   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - L'escargot

I don't see the point of buying a car like that. Modern cars are so much better in every respect. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 07:37   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Dog

Nowt so, um, queer as folk. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 07:38   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - R.P.

The orange plate on the rear number plate was a dealer plate - in all likelyhood the Automobile Palace in Llanfairpwllgwygyll - a historical dealer going back to the dawn of the motor age which was demolished around 15 years ago. Shedful of money for a shed. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 08:00   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - corax

>> I don't see the point of buying a car like that. Modern cars are so >> much better in every respect. You wouldn't buy it to use like a modern car. It's for high days and holidays. Nasty little death traps. Many of my mates had them, most had accidents and I saw one guy being stretchered out of one. I drove one but didn't see the appeal. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 09:18   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Focusless

Saw a Mini on the road the other day, being followed by a current Corsa. The Corsa look massive in comparison. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 11:10   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Mike Hannon

>>I don't see the point of buying a car like that. Modern cars are so much better in every respect.<< It's just another example of the bonkers world that is 'classic cars' - but you've still missed the point, Mr Snail. Some of us like old-fashioned, simple solid engineering, with all its faults, rather than the technological hell of modern-day gizmology. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 11:18   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Robin O'Reliant

>> Some of us like old-fashioned, simple solid engineering, with all its faults, rather than the >> technological hell of modern-day gizmology. >> The problem was there were just too many of those faults and they cropped up too frequently. When was the last time you heard someone say, "I really fancy a trip to the coast this weekend, but the car would never make it." Even in my 15 year old Astra I wouldn't hesitate to drive from one end of the country tomorrow and I'd fully expect it to do the journey without a murmur. Modern cars can cost a bomb when they do go wrong, but they don't very often. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 11:24   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Mike Hannon

That's why they're so b...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 12:07   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Robin O'Reliant

>> That's why they're so b...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz >> Nothing more b...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz than walking to the bus stop in the rain because your car has refused to start yet again. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 12:37   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Mike Hannon

I can't remember. 30 years ago I was driving a Honda. Forget the extremes - old cars can be fun, modern cars have to be boringly reliable - but often aren't. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 26 Jul 13 12:38   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - sooty123

They're so what good at what, bumble bee impressions? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 27 Jul 13 00:54   Austin (Rover) Mini - Would you pay £31000 for this shed? - Dave_

>> "I really fancy a trip to the coast this weekend, but the car would never make it." My lad, who's turning out to be a true petrolhead, said to me this evening that he knew lots about car designs and features, but not much about engines. It dawned on me that I've never done more than clean an EGR valve with him watching, whereas my dad and I seemed to spend every Sunday of my youth adjusting carburettors, lapping valves or remedying obscure electrical faults - more usually on his nearly-new company cars! Reply to this message | Report message