New Toy

Tornado

Tornado

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I guess I'm going a bit stir crazy waiting nearly 8 weeks now for parts to come in (one from USA, one from UK) to get my Commando running again. Haven't even been able to ride my Bonneville for some weeks due to some troubleshooting and all the cold wet weather in these parts.

So, went out one day and brought this red thing home:
New Toy


Now I just need to sell the bigger thing on the right to pay for it!
 
Had one of those red ones once, needed to put in some extra soundproofing to make the journey a more enjoyable ride
 
In my younger days (1979) I brought a Morris Mini from a mate for $100 it was his wife's car and she had a crash in it with front guard and bonnet damage, it cost me $70 to fix it and it was one of the best fun cars I ever owned, drove it everywhere even on bush tracks where 4x4s went. had it for about 4 years before I killed it, it was like driving a go kart and handled great and was cheap to run.
They are harder to find now and the ones for sale they are asking to much for them I would have loved to have a Copper S, a friend I worked with had a Copper S with more work done to it and Nitris added it was a very fast mini and he called it his V8 killer, it pushed you back into the seats when he hit that switch, I tried to buy it of him but he wouldn't sell.

Ashley
 
Ah, the Mighty Mini! Two of my colleagues used a rather highly tuned Mini Cooper in the local rally championships. The wife of one of them had a Mini station car as her shopping car, and this needed some work done on the engine. So, over a winter (well, off season really, this being South Africa!), they transplanted the full race rally motor over into the shopping car, which he used, and the wife took his car. The ultimate "Q" car really. The only clues were the rather lumpy idle, the exhaust tailpipe size and the wheels. He used to delight in blowing off all sorts of "normal" performance cars on everything from traffic lights to the long uphill climb on the motorway. Said it was the most fun ever on 4 wheels, and was almost sorry when the engines were swapped back again :)
 
My mate had a way early one (starter button on the floor, sliding windows) Couldn't get over that: 'Backside One Inch Off The Road' feeling.....
Dave Mountain (Mountune Racing) was in our town, he built a few quick ones..
 
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Had one also, it was given to me after I had run my 1967 GT Falcon into a brick fence and couldn't afford another car, it was blue and had the sliding windows,
work mate felt sorry for me.
Great thing is you are so close to the ground you always felt you were going faster then what the speedo indicated.
One of my acquaintances had a hotted up one went like stink, he used to scare the crap out of you with flat out hand brake jobs, sending the thing in sliding circles at unbelievable speeds, only went with him two times, second time we had six or eight young lads in the car, I was positioned looking out the back window and every bump we hit all I could see was a big shower of sparks :eek:, most tormenting ride I have ever had, pain from being crushed up inside the thing and the maniac driving it.
When I bought my Manx I took a trip to Sydney, with the engine in the boot in bits and pieces, I got tee boned at a red light, not my fault, the car was bent in the middle but still went, could only open the drivers door, I drove it like that for about another six months.
Burgs
 
I bought a new red and black 68 Austin Cooper S in Germany and brought it back to the states a year later.
I put 700x10 Firestone Indy tires on it and a straight pipe right down the middle. It was a terror on the autocross courses here and I often won FTD. No synchromesh on 1st gear was a problem on tight turns, but I learned to manage it. Handbrake turns were fun too.
It was surprisingly fast and I won a lot of stoplight drags on the street to the amazement of some Chevys and Fords.
Fun car, wish I had not sold it.
Jaydee
 
A good friend of mine had an Austin America. Clobbered a dog at 30MPH and messed it up pretty badly, stripped it apart and rebuilt it in 2 weeks, working only in the evenings. He's got dementia now and wouldn't remember it, but he's one of the last few "old guard" that could survive and thrive no matter what was going on around him.
 
Seems just like good old bikes, everyone has a story about the Minis.
My Dad claims we had a van in England. Used to put me, in diapers, in the back to roll around while driving about town.
This one is a '88, Canadian spec (LHD) recent full restoration. Extremely clean, no sign of rust, even underside is spotless and has been given an undercoat of some kind. The subframe and suspension arms also coated. Exhaust is new, Bosal aftermarket expansion can mid point and then no other silencer, just a dual exit center tail pipe. So it makes a good growl!
VIN indicates it was a 998 c.c. but now has the much vaunted 1275 lump. Again it looks completely new, no surface rust or oil seeps. Interior is also redone, new seat skins, sound deadening tar sheets on floor beneath carpet. Dash is aftermarket rally style in a brushed stainless. "Heater" box looks to be aftermarket. Only has two clocks, and desperately needs a Taco!! Will be looking at options for that.
Only immediate issues are a cracked windshield and seeping rear brake cylinders.

Off to give it a first wash and wax. Will get more pics if I can find a nice backdrop to stop at.
 
My first car im six two & they always had a dome in the roof lining! Comuted 38,000 miles a year in that. Misses did the shopping & we went out at weekends.
Brought it as a project with no brakes. ' Drive it back from London slowly not because of the brakes but because I only had a bike licence. Brake compensator valve! Taught me a lot about brakes, definitely clutches. I used to buy an engine from the scrappy under the westway at Shepherds Bush. A mate used to have one cut out with a touch & I used to use the seat belt to hold it on the floor pan where the passenger seat used to be! I used to change the engine over in a weekend. It went from an 850 to a 997 cooper given to me. Then a 998 & a 1275. Back to a formula race 850 with Dave Vizard engine. Fibreglass front end you could take off completely cause my hands were too big to go through the grill to get too the distributor.
The joys of being skint.
Moved house one child in carry all. All clothes & soft furnishings around him. The wife driving. I couldn't see any of them! Big old Victorian pram on the roof rack & me in my Ford Transit 2ltr v four with our whole house in it!
2nd run was for the garage!
Great times. Took my boys to a Brands Historic car meeting & they came back with shed loads of brochures on how to build a race Mini. Please Dad please!'
 
Chris said:
My first car im six two & they always had a dome in the roof lining! Comuted 38,000 miles a year in that. Misses did the shopping & we went out at weekends.
Brought it as a project with no brakes. ' Drive it back from London slowly not because of the brakes but because I only had a bike licence. Brake compensator valve! Taught me a lot about brakes, definitely clutches. I used to buy an engine from the scrappy under the westway at Shepherds Bush. A mate used to have one cut out with a touch & I used to use the seat belt to hold it on the floor pan where the passenger seat used to be! I used to change the engine over in a weekend. It went from an 850 to a 997 cooper given to me. Then a 998 & a 1275. Back to a formula race 850 with Dave Vizard engine. Fibreglass front end you could take off completely cause my hands were too big to go through the grill to get too the distributor.
The joys of being skint.
Moved house one child in carry all. All clothes & soft furnishings around him. The wife driving. I couldn't see any of them! Big old Victorian pram on the roof rack & me in my Ford Transit 2ltr v four with our whole house in it!
2nd run was for the garage!
Great times. Took my boys to a Brands Historic car meeting & they came back with shed loads of brochures on how to build a race Mini. Please Dad please!'
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Scrapyards!!! The joy of those days! Beware of the dog and: 'No, you can't borrow a f*cking spanner!'
 
Met my first Rottweiler there. F*ck me was I scared. He used to go mad at the gate. Then when you were let in he used to humph with disdain & later when you were sorting out the parts rub against you to be stroked! But you couldn't your hand would be stuck trying to move it across that coat, full of dry dust & coating of oil & grease. Then he used to drool all that gunk over your trousers cos he was pleased with you stroking him. He used to fart! Oh like thunder & the stench what did they feed him.
When you went back next time he'd still try to have your throat out.
 
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Chris said:
Met my first Rottweiler there. F*ck me was I scared. He used to go mad at the gate. Then when you were let in he used to humph with disdain & later when you were sorting out the parts rub against you to be stroked! But you couldn't your hand would be stuck trying to move it across that coat, full of dry dust & coating of oil & grease. Then he used to drool all that gunk over your trousers cos he was pleased with you stroking him. He used to fart! Oh like thunder & the stench what did they feed him.
When you went back next time he'd still try to have your throat out.
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Got bit by a scrap yard Ally Chris, I was running away from it and it bit me on the arse, so I turned round to hit it and it bit my hand straight through. Climbed up onto a skip and eventually someone called it off. Skip was full of dogshit ! I' had to get it all cleaned, dressed up etc at A & E and the nurses were taking the piss thinking I'd shit myself. ------------ I've had better days !
 
1980, I was working in a car repair garage and we also rented cars. We had a nice new Mini City 1000 on the fleet and it got hired out for a week to a chap who phoned us up a week later to ask to extend the hire.

several weeks later it’s stolen :mad: and that was the last we saw of it.

until the Police called and asked us to identify a car they’d found when they apprehended someone stealing from the motor parts place he worked at.

yes, it was ours, vin number matched, colour etc. However it now had alloy wheels, fancy seats, steering wheel that the guy had added to personalise his car. We kept all the parts, they were there when it was stolen, honest guv :cool:
 
EstuaryBoy said:
Scrapyards!!! The joy of those days! Beware of the dog and: 'No, you can't borrow a f*cking spanner!'
Click to expand...
And you always went in with an extra large toolbox!
And the ground was always a black sludge of oil and mud
The bit you wanted was always on the top car
So you'd stand in the window frame of shattered glass of the car below as a ladder
Happy days
 
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