"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" -- Just as I was heaps happy about eleiminating the shudder in the front wheels and having the car back on the road again - comes this --> I drove the mini to work on Friday and parked it semi - legaly next to my bar by a construction site in the city - where "someone" has blackened out the "No Parking" signs. It used to be my secret spot but now everyone parks there but I still managed to squeeze in.

Get back to the car at 4am with some mates, about to drive home and its standing atleast 3 metres from where I parked it with the wheels turning in the direction it traveled. My first thought "drunk ****" tried to move it = massive panel dents, ripped trim etc = $3k in panel beating bills. On closer inspection it wasnt as dramatic. The damage was limited to the right hand side.. But the fact that there were no dents in any of the gaurds and no damage to any other side suggests against it having been picked up.

The immobilser was on and the alarm wasnt activated so probably no one got in. But the car was still draged for 3 metres, plus the sills were covered in a multitude of small scuffs in two spots on the right hand side and the paint just along the sills was scraped off again in two spots. Plus the clamp on the exhaust appprox in the middle of the remote - has been almoust ripped off ( I know for sure it was fine at the start of the day).

I've been generaly lucky so far with parking the car as nothing has been scratched or brocken before (apart from one small incident) - and the damage is not nearly as bad as I feared, plus some Magna that parked across the construction site gates had all 4 tyres slashed - so it could've been worse - but this whole thing puzzles me. The damage is almoust as if a careless forklift dragged my car (as its two distinct spots plus the flare) - but I doubt the construction site would have a forklift, plus I wasnt really blocking any of their access points - And I fail to see how any other car could have damaged the sills, but nothing else.

Any ideas>?

have you nu over a chinner man or what?
What time of day night was it..?
Atleast you didn't get a $250 fine also

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

Did this happen near starcity? Thats awful I can't picture how it could have happened. I'm glad the damage isn't too bad. But I would hate for something like that to ever happen to my mini.

strange.. i go with the forklift idea.. ****

I could only think its a fork lift also...is thier any dints in the exhaust around the same spot at the remote box?

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

Trucks that deliver bricks and pallets have portable forks.

pallet jack?

these do lift quite high and that would explain someone else helping and having a broken flair

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67' Matic
73' S

nice theory coops sounds quite plausable..were the "fork" marks closish together?

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No longer Ms Westwoods mini outside her original kings road shop

sorry to hear mike, measure the distance...a pallet jack is about 27inches i think...

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Starlet Conversion:
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15484

pretty much all city construction sites have a forklift or two - not everything gets craned into the place. i'd go with that theory with your description of the damage.

still bastards

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Bloody hell though - I wasnt blocking their gates or anything and parked outside the bariers they've erected. Plus they wouldn't have been using those gates anyway with that magna sitting over there.

So not sure if its the constrution people, but I'm considering to set their crane on fire just in case it was them - It cant hurt now can it?

Sorry to hear of the damage Mike.
Personally, I think you are game leaving a `Cooper S' badged Mini unattended anywhere near Sydney CBD, but maybe I'm just paranoid.....

I'd get a throwaway car to park there- old Suzi Swift, Daihatsu Charade, etc...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Guaranteed it's the construction site. Do a door knock at the local shops and put in a police report and see if anything comes out of it. I wouldn't park there again, but you can't let them get away with it. You'll probably find it's the personal parking space of the union boss.
I worked on the Mirage resort and marina on the Gold Coast years ago and some of the things they used to do were unbelievable.

Sorry to hear of the damage Mike.
Personally, I think you are game leaving a `Cooper S' badged Mini unattended anywhere near Sydney CBD, but maybe I'm just paranoid.....

Yes-I had a Cooper S stolen in Sydney
Now I wouldn't park a Mini anywhere at night,unless it's in the Garage

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A mate of mine was working on a construction site.....some guys thought it'd be hillarious to pick up his mini with the forklift and put it on top of the big steel rubbish bin

he didnt think it was very funny! It's annoying sometimes that people dont look at mini's as cars.....they look at them as toys or something.....they seem to forget that the owners actually have to drive them, take care of them etc.......

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1962 Morris 850.....with a 1310

1998 Toyota starlet.....161.1hp atw