Importing British Rust

That's what my colleague rather unkindly referred to my car buying habits as. And here we are again, barely 6 months after buying a Jaguar XJ-SC, yours truly is the proud owner of a 1999 Mini.

That's right, THE Mini. Not the (admittedly very nice, albeit the spoils of a treacherous asset-stripping operation) BMW imitation Mini, no sir - the real deal. It's an end-of-the-line standard Mini with the 1275cc block. It's an MPi engine, which means fuel injected, and internally it has all mod cons like driver air-bag and seatbelt pre-tensioners (as if that'll save you if you hit anything of any moment in a Mini!) a radio/cassette with actually quite decent factory speakers in the parcel shelf, alarm and engine immobiliser, a rather attractive walnut dash, "pepper pot" alloy wheels, even a rev counter!

I must confess, this was a bit of a gamble. I've never driven a Mini before, though I remember mates having them when I was at school. I even remember once being forced to sit in the back of one (thanks Pat) and surviving to tell the tale (just). Which meant it was quite cute when I took it round to Pat's house, whose wife also used to have a Mini, and now have photos of their little daughter leaping all over the inside of mine...

Anyway, I digress, never driven a Mini, knew little about them, just had a sense they'd be fun, soulful little cars and of some value for their cute looks and head-turning abilities alone. And this is a late one with about as big an engine as a Mini can have, so I figured it'll start first time in the morning, behave itself reasonably well on the motorway and be a genuinely viable second car.

So I bought the Mini. In Liverpool. (That's right, 1,000 miles from home.) And flew over to fetch it. And drove it back to the south of France. This was approximately my route.

I have rarely had so much fun. The Mini is a *fabulous* car. I am still grinning from ear to ear. It's noisy, it's bouncy, it leaks oil all over the driveway, but all is forgiven when you hear that exhaust note. Driving it through the Peak District National Park, in Derbyshire at dusk, was just amazing fun. This car is every bit as much fun as my Lotus used to be, and I sincerely mean that! That's right, the Mini has the soul of the Lotus Elan! Wonderful handling, glued to the road, gutsy 1275cc engine, just bags and bags of fun.

I'm so happy I've got this car. I've a feeling it will be a pain in the ass to maintain, but who cares?! I am loving driving it, and that's what really counts.

Another win for the old British car in my book - yeh, it might rust, but I can live with that.

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More Oldsmobile

Ouch! See that seam I just made? After all the careful work I am now just welding it shut! And the reason for covering my replacement seam (which I made specifically to reproduce the factory lead seam) is the frustration with lead. I filled the seam with lead (actually lead-free solder) three times, each time the lead seam cracking after bodywork. I also was warping the metal too much with all the heat of three rounds of solder.

It is very possible I could have left it, scored the seam and been fine. But it was driving my susceptibility to paranoia crazy. I kept imagining the flux stained innerds of the new joint rusting fast, pushing a bulge of lead up; which is exactly why I removed the seam in the first place.

The last picture shows the seam totally covered, getting the plastic filler treatment.




Here is the lower driver 1/4 that I fabricated, finally getting filler and some left over urethane high build primer. The little spot just below the emblem holes also got some filler after hammer and dolly work.



Sneek peek above! After selling the '64 Le Mans, I stumbled on this amazing "parts car" for the '64 442. It is in unbelievably excellent condition: virtually NO rust, runs perfect, and the interior is in excellent original shape. I am scared to tear this car apart as a donor for the 442 even though I need almost everything from it. It is just too nice of an original. True treasures still exist!



Here is the whole '62, slowly coming along. Why is it that a car that needs comparably little bodywork still demands so much time, so much decision making?




Passenger rear spot that I replaced sheet metal on is getting filler and blocking.




More filler on the pass. quarter. Lots of dents on this side of the car, forcing me to improve my hammer and dolly methods.




Here is the upper fender lip, showing the painstaking work of stripping without removing the fender. I remove one bolt, strip with a small wire wheel on my die grinder, then replace the bolt and move to the next spot. The plan is to keep the fender aligned.




This last picture is referred to at the end of the first picture's description. Body work is actually a painstaking project! Especially the straightening and forming, the blocking and filing.

And there is still much more to do...

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High Rollers at Charterhouse Classic Car Auction

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There is plenty of choice for collectors to buy a Rolls Royce or a Bentley as there are 10 included in the Charterhouse July auction of classic cars at Sherborne Castle on Sunday 17th July.
“We usually have a couple of Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars in our auction, but this time there are 10 models on offer!” Commented Matthew Whitney. “There are rare and early coach built cars through to later standard production models, if you can ever call a Rolls Royce standard.”
There is a 1927 Rolls Royce park Ward Tourer at £40,000-45,000, a 1933 Rolls Royce  Hooper bodied 20/25 four light sports saloon for £30,000-35,000, a 1961 Rolls Royce Cloud II long wheel base £28,000-32,000, a 1979 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, once owned by the Qatar Embassy, £10,000-14,000, a 1986 Bentley Mulsanne £6,000-8,000, a 1995 Bentley Continental  R £28,000-32,000, a 1956 Bentley S Type £17,000-19,000, a 1962 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur £65,000-70,000, a 1997 Bentley Brooklands £10,000-14,000 and totally at the other end of the scale a 1977 Bentley T2 for spares or restoration at £1,000-1,500
Viewing for this important Charterhouse classic car auction of 60 motor car and motorcycles is on Sunday 17th July from 10.00am, with the auction starting at 2.00pm. For further information concerning this sale, please contact Matthew Whitney, Head of Classic Cars, at Charterhouse 01935 812277 or log on to their website www.charterhouse-auctions.co.uk where you can see all the cars.
Captions:
A 1927 Rolls Royce Tourer £40,000-45,000
A 1962 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur £65,000-70,000
A 1995 Bentley Continental R £28,000-32,000
A 1961 Rolls Royce Cloud II long wheel base £28,000-32,000Quick Links

Forthcoming Sale Previous Sale Sale Preview

Tel: (01935) 812277

For further information regarding this article, please contact Richard Bromell, Partner

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