G'day I'm restoring an early 850 ground up but I'm building it to replicate an english Cooper S with all the correct features I want to build the car so as the only features which are incorrect will be the ID plate and the roof drainage slots which are comman to the english cars
The reason I'm doing this is because like Everyone one I've always dreamed of owning a Cooper but never been able to afford a real one .
I'm only new to the mini scene although I've owned several minis in my time but never dedicated so much time to just one car all the other cars were just daily drivers.
What I wanted to know is will the car hold any real value concidering what i'm going to do with it even though once finished I have absoulutely no intensions of trying to sell it, I really just want to know what other people think and if there are other people out there who have done the same thing?

hey mate welcome to ausmini, u have come to teh right place. i live in angastoin in the barossa valley , there is heaps of places around sa and australia for all your parts needs,

your car will have a fair bit of value imo aslong as u do everything properly.

cant wait to se the pics mate even of the previous minis

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

hey mate,

congrats on getting a mini.

Although it may be hard to fathom, 850s are actually becomming worth something these days, but if you have a 1275cc motor in a round nose mini and if it looks like a S it will always be worth some money.

either way your car will not depreciate

Thanks for getting back to me Guys!! I've alrady had an original S spec 1275 engine built by Minisport and all the long hard work eg Rust etc is done ,the body is being painted as we speak , I'm now in the process of rebuilding the subframes and brakes with all new parts from Minisport again Thanks Tony !! with all new bushes and absoultely anything that is worn I'll post some pics up here as soon as my camera is charged!!
And Thanks for the Advise and making me feel welcome, I'm gonna stick around! :D

Mate you just answered all my questions lookin at that project AWSOME!!!!
If that doesn't turn heads on the road I don't know what will [/img]

I wanna post pics up here of my current project but can't do it for the life of me ???? :oops:

The car will never be worth what a genuine one will, probably won't come close to it either, unfortunately.

Expect to pay 10 grand for an 'S' replica, or 25+ for a real one.


I am looking forward to picutres, as I am doing a similar project.

Thanks for that willy I'm aware the car won't hold the value of a genuine cooper I wanted to find out how many people out there are doing the same sort of thing?

Cheers
Sean

Sounds like a good plan.

A Cooper S'ed mini will most likely be worth more than an original on any spec. Appart form maybe a genuine Cooper of either 998 or 997.

A Cooper S replica will be just as fun, if not more than a genuine. Advantages is that it will be built to what you consider to be 'the ultimate mini' and it will be okay to give that 1275 a working on the road. I know people (non-mini) people who can't bare to use their genuine peformance model classic cars on the road as they are way to much!

A replica is a good comprimise between fun, affordibility and nostagia. It's the direction I went, but I went a bit further and made what I consider to be the ultimate 'modified replica mini'. What you do is up to you, have fun!

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T