Hi everyone, my name is Erika and I currently reside in Sydney. I have been coming to this forum for a while now and thought it was about time I registered here
. As I have enjoyed reading the forum and looking at all those lovely Mini photos.
Well what can I say? Other than I dont have a Mini at the moment but I want one for many reasons
. Been saving as much as I can for a while now but still dont know if it is enough.
I have owned many Mini's in the past especially in my younger years. In fact my first car was a 1967 Mk1 Morris Cooper S. It was brought with the help of my dearest departed loving uncle who took my brother and I in when we had no where else to go after our parents died when I was thirteen. Ever since I can remember I have always loved Mini's and so had my uncle. In fact my uncle use to race them even
. Then when I was old enough to drive, it was a Morris Mini that I wanted to buy. At first I never knew anything about the different models available. All I knew was that I wanted a Morris Mini. It was not until my uncle said to me one day when I was ready to buy my first Mini that he said that I a wanted a Cooper S. I said to him no I just want a Mini! He said no if you are going to buy a Mini you are going to buy a Cooper S. So still not sure what he was on about as I always thought a Mini was a Mini I went along with what he said. But how wrong was I when we first looked at a Cooper S and I was taken for a ride in one. In fact it was the first Cooper S that we really looked at and on the spot he brought it for me. The fellow who was selling it wanted $2500.00 for it but my uncle talked him down to $2300.00. So there it was my first Mini and something that I will never forget. I still have a photo of it somewhere in a box which I will get around to finding one of these days
.
The Cooper S itself was pretty much stock standard. Apart from the motor being bored out to 1310 and a set of Contessa mags fitted to it. I had the Cooper S for quite a few years and in that time found it to be too expensive for me to maintain. Dont know why but CV joints and drive drive flanges were always a problem to me. So I eventually swapped it for a Leyland Van in which I had for a few years then moved onto a Celica.
A few years had passed and the Mini bug had hit me again and I wanted another Mini again. But this time I did not want a Cooper S or anything like that just a stock standard Mini was all I wanted. Then one day I came across a little white Morris Mini that was for sale. It was all stock standard and had an 850 motor in it. So I ended up buying this Mini for $350.00. It had next to no rust in it and the only problem with it was the motor was a little smoky. So with the help of some of my male friends we took the 850 motor out of it and dropped in an 1100 motor. I also fitted a woodgrain dash and had a complete set of Smiths guages fitted at the time. Such as a tacho, vacuum, voltage and amps in which I purchased cheaply at an instrument store in which the store was going out of business.
Now the only thing left to finish my Mini off was to purchase some mags wheels. At the time I could not afford to purchase new wheels so I started looking around for a set of second hand ones. Then one day while I was driving around I came across a Leyland Mini that was for sale and had mag wheels on it. The mag wheels were very unusal and I had never seen them before. But to make a long story short the Leyland Mini was very rusty but it was also cheap at $100.00. So I ended up buying this Mini and I took the mag wheels off the Leyland and put them on my Morris Mini. Little did I know what I had actually brought at the time and to be perfectly honest it is only recently after all these years that I realize what I had back then. As the mag wheels which were a complete set of 5 were Cosmic wheels. No wonder at the time I had never seen many of them around as I now know that these wheels are very hard to come by.
Well I had this Mini for many years and it was a great car. But the thing that use to annoy me about it the most was the fact that I had it converted to a rod change setup and when they did the conversion they did not do it properly and every six months or so I would go through those vacuum moulded engine mounts. So I got really sick and tired of this and I ended up swapping it for a Datsun 1200 coupe through a friend. I also told my friend that I wanted all the Smiths guages back and that they did not go with the Mini in which he agreed. But to make a long story short I never got the guages back and I should have just cut the wiring and taken them out myself right there and then when the trade was done. But instead I trusted him to take them out and give them back to me. So much for thinking he was a friend!
Since then I have had different cars but I have always had fond memories of my Mini's and yes even though my Morris Mini caused me grief through that dodgy rod conversion to this day I have always regretted parting with it.
So I am looking for a Mini that needs a good loving home. But this time I will not make the mistake of parting with it. I also want to join the Mini car club of NSW and particpate in the club events and outings. I also have number plates in storage for my Mini which I know is out there somewhere
. The plates themselves as well as the Mini will be a tribute to my uncle who passed away last year. As he loved Mini's all his life and gave so much to everyone else and so very little to himself throughout his life. In fact he was all set to buy a brand new BMW Cooper S last year after putting it off for so long. But unfortunatly he was diagnosed with cancer last year and died from it within two weeks.
Well thats basically a little about me and my experience with Mini's.
)
