TerryG wrote:Everybody should own a mini at some point in their life. I have had a few and they were all good fun in a gocart sort of way. Not really practical every day transport though, especially if you need to use a motorway.
I've had three of them (All used daily) and if I "Won the lottery", thus enabling me to buy more garage space, a Mini Cooper (1275) S would be on my shopping list. My last Mini (My only new car) was a City, with a 998 cc engine, disc brakes and taller gearing than the previous two. That one was OK on motorways but the other two got a bit buzzy over a sustained 60mph. The paintwork was not up to much on that car and the paint itself was poor. Being a white car (Not my first choice but it was in stock and I was just looking for a runabout), I was moved to ask Austin/Rover whether they had used Tippex instead of paint. I managed to keep on top of it and the car was pumped full of Waxoyl from new (Despite the five year corrosion warranty; I couldn't see how this was meant to work in practice); having had a old one, I knew where to put it. My cousin had the car off me and when he sold it, I suggested he show prospective buyers inside the rear pockets etc. Apparently the person who bought it was
sold when he saw the Waxoyl and absense of rust
I never had an estate, though had they been available, when I had the new one or had there been any about, when I bourght the second Mini (That was the one that saved the Midget from daily use), I'd have gone for a Clubman Estate. Indeed when my father sold the last Countryman, he traded it in for a then new Escort estate and although the Escort was a bigger car, he found that the Mini was a better shape and made better use of it's space (Wasn't as rust prone as the Escort either).
My parents had a total of five Minis, from a Downton tuned 1959, a supercharged 850 Countryman (My mother took her test in that one), an 850 Hornet (The first car I ever went in and indeed my earliest memory is riding in this car, in the snow, with my grandfather catching us up on his BSA), a standard Countryman (The first one I remember
properly) and later, as a second car, a standard Mk2 850.
As to 9X, this was an Issigonis project and I seem to recall that it's covered in some detail in
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/I ... edir_esc=y. I will have to have a look when I go home
Here are my last two Minis.
Rules exist for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.
MG Midget 1500, MGB GT V8, Morris Minor Traveller 1275, MG Midget 1275 & too many bicycles.
. Luckilly it was found not far away, with no more damage than a flat battery (Lights left on) and a forced drivers door handle. Thereafter if we went to Cardiff, it (And those that followed) was parked at Castle Garage, who offered secure parking.
