Forum Name: jwight

The Saga Begins…

It doesn't seem that long ago but in 1971 I was posted to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk with the USAF. My first car was a Morris Minor "woody" (station wagon or estate, take your pick.) It eventually rusted away and became a planter in our driveway, replaced by a tired Mini 850; that was replaced in 1973 with a spanking new Mini 1000 from Marshalls in Cambridge. My ex-wife tells me we paid 440 pounds for it but I find that hard to believe. It was a fun car, which made many trips to London and around the UK until she rolled it on a newly gravelled road one night. It was replaced with a used Marina and the less said about that the better.

I have always missed the Mini and made a few half-hearted stabs at finding another one, but nothing serious. I started watching the website of a guy in South Carolina (www.Turkys.com) who imports them from New Zealand and I was looking for a decent car at a reasonable price (Minis in the States have suddenly caught on and the prices are heading up rapidly.) Early in November, I saw the red 1977 Mini 1000 on the site. Lots of e-mails and phone calls ensued, and we struck a deal on the price. I had the car trucked from South Carolina to Cincinnati, Ohio and picked it up on November 25th with a friend who provided backup transportation and a cell phone just in case. We'd planned on taking the back roads back home to Dayton (about 35 miles) but lack of navigation skills found us hammering up Interstate 75 north at 115 kph (on the speedo) with traffic flying past us and staring at the little red car with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Turns out the Mini was doing 63 mph, which will get you run over on most US Interstate highways (good to have a large Pontiac Bonneville keeping them off the rear bumper!)

When we got to Dayton we dropped the Mini off at a local Mini mechanic and parts supplier only a few blocks from my house. It's in there getting a good inspection and a full system check prior to going into storage for the winter.

What I found when picking up the car was a sound body, very little if any rust, seats in great condition, all the lights and electrics working, very hard to keep running when cold, no radio and no heater - I thought all Minis had heaters but this one seems never to have had one installed! Also no eyeball vents, which I again I thought all Mini 1000s came with. The car drove well after warming up and seemed to have reasonable power on the road. My friend said it was smoking on acceleration and during shifts so maybe a valve or ring issue but I don't know yet. Just over 20,000 km on the clock but I'm guessing that's the second time around. Anyway, a nice solid car suitable for restoration and a new heater.

More to follow when spring arrives…