Here's the place to chat about all things classic. Also includes a feedback forum where you can communicate directly with the editorial team - don't hold back, they'd love to know what they're doing right (or wrong of course!)
The development path for the Aussie cars went a different direction as local content built up. All our Minis had external hinges and Mk1 sized glass from 1961 right until the end in 1978. Even our Clubman models teamed the square front with a Mk1 shell.
Late Mk1's had the option of 998 engines - our second Mini Traveller, "F" reg, was a "1000" and I think it had a remote gearchange too. It certainly had more grunt than the 850 one we had before it! One of my aunts had Minis from about '62 (WTY 53), changing them every two or three years until she died in the mid 80's and missed the Mk1 1000 when KJR 29D was replaced by something - I don't remember if it was a Mk1 1000 or early Mk2 1000, but it was replaced by a "J" reg Clubman that she hated!
Sorry to break it to you, Tractorman, but the MK1 never came with a 1000 engine in the UK, other than in the Cooper (997cc).
MK2 (1967-'69) was the first to feature the 998 in a basic mini, though the Elves and Hornets had it earlier. Perhaps you were thinking of a MK2, with its external hinges but with the wide rear screen and rectangular rear lamps?
J "Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
Apologies I could have sworn it was a mk1 but thinking about it - it did have mk 2 rear lights hence it must have been a mk2 - in my defence it was bloody long time ago !
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
Back in 1991, fresh from passing my licence, my first car was a 1980 Peugeot 104 poverty-spec. 954cc of backwards-canted power, it had already suffered enough rot to require new wings & a door skin, so was presented in a fetching mix of the original yellow paintwork & patchy grey primer. At 10.5 years old, this remains the youngest car I have ever purchased!
My first car was a 1936 Rover 12 tourer, bought from a fellow student in 1960, and sold on with the arrival of my first company car, a 105E, in 1964. The Rover had the standard steel bonnet and wings back to the scuttle; from the doors back it was aluminium over ash frames. The windscreen was half the standard height, and could be folded forwards for that wind in the hair feeling. Non-synchro crash gearbox, and rod operated Girling brakes that had so much slop in each joint that braking required a remarkable amount of anticipation - and I learnt to drive in it. Great bird puller in the summer, but no good for the rest of the year - no heater and the soft top and sidescreens leaked like a sieve. Apparently there were very few made; if I had only hung on to it .....
This example isn't the one I had, I just borrowed the picture from the net,I'm sure the lucky owner won't mind.
Ian Stanford, Co Waterford, Ireland
1990 XJ-S V12, 1973 Fiat 500R, 1973 BMW 2002
Ian,
Your post is stirring memories. I learnt to drive in a 1934 Rover 12 sports saloon as well. Dad had bought the Rover for £7 to take the axles off to fit to a couple of horse carts to make a couple of small trailers. When the car was delivered my brother and I jumped in and started the car and found it was running better than our old Bradford van. We used the Rover from mid '56to December '61 when someone didn't drain the engine and the block cracked. I used the Rover to take my test on May 31st 1961 so I will have 50 years of fully licenced driving under my belt in a couple of weeks. If I have a chance to buy a Rover like that one there will be a Wolseley 1500 and a TR7 up for sale
The first and last Rover Tourer I saw after 1964 was in Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, in the mid '90s. It was a 1936 10 hp, ever rarer than the 12 hp, and was owned by a garage owner who insisted he was going to restore it. He wouldn't discuss selling it despite my asking him on several occasions over the years. Later on I returned to Burnham - the garage was gone and there was a Tesco Express in its place. No-one could tell me where the car or the owner could be found, and the trail went cold.
I took my test in a driving school's Austin A40 in South London in July '61, so I'm a relative late-comer to fully licenced driving!
Cheers
Ian
Ian Stanford, Co Waterford, Ireland
1990 XJ-S V12, 1973 Fiat 500R, 1973 BMW 2002
