Sometimes its best to say nothing .... especially if you dont have anything constructive to add Please show a little consideration - what if you were in his shoes and your pride and joy was in this situation. Comments like that are just pointless but most of all make you look a complete moron.

NG, best of luck with the resurrection of the car. I feel for you and hope the cleaning up process is successful.

Matt

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The oil and sh*t everywhere is an unfortunate side effect, remember oil floats on water and the engines in the shop will now be full of water and the oil that came out of them will be deposited everywhere as the water went down.

As Simon said, dont panic, you will be amazed at how well things will dry out. Get as much trim out as possible, and get it dry, you may need to weight it down to stop things curling. Foam in the seats can take weeks to get dry, turn them upside down and kneel on the foam with towels, then wring the towels out.

With engines, as quickly as possible, pull the sump plug, let the water out, take out the spark plugs. Take off float chamber lid and use rag to mop out. Disconnect and drain the fuel tank, rig up a temporary fuel feed. Put cheap oil into the engine turn it over on the starter with the plugs out (watch outfor the squirts!) remove the dizzy cap and dry out everything, my compressor was underwater too, so I bought a super cheap $99.00 one and used that.

Drop the first lot of oil which will be all milky. Refill again with fresh cheap oil and get the motor running off your temporary fuel supply. Get it hot and allow the exhaust to blow out / dry with heat. Heat is your friend!

I then dropped the second lot of oil, an put the stuff I normall used in.

Then move onto Brakes, rinsing tank with fuel, new fuel filters, wheel bearings, instruments.

If you want to keep the car, the sooner you start the better.

Chances are the insurance company will write it off, they can't cope with trying to repair, they worry about lingering issues, electrics, bearings etc.

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Sir Alec! we are not worthy!

Also since you are depending on the shop's insurance to cover this, and had no insurance cover of your own, don't expect the insurance company to be your friend. (Not that they ever are!) They will try and pay you as little as possible, or get out of paying the shop's claim if they can, so it is important to do as much as possible now to save what you can of your car. If insurance then coughs up you are ahead, but if they don't, at least you have salvaged as much as you can!

Good luck,

Matt

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68 Deluxe.... it's shiny..... I like shiny!!

That would be a gut wrenching phone call to get , you have my fullest sympathy . As for traveller's , no , they were never sold here so your's has been privately imported at some stage . I have heard claims (was it bnicho who was doing a loose register of them ?) there are only a couple of dozen here but don't know how accurate that is . Several companies were converting local mini van's to 4 seaters but they are really different to travellers so can't be compared to them value wise . I won't hazzard a guess at a value , you should talk to one of the mini specialists for that but I would think what has been said by others would be pretty close . Good luck with it .

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Nah, it wasn't me that was maintaining the register of Travellers. It was someone else on here. My rough estimate of Travellers in Aus is 40, and yes they were all private imports. That's an easy $15-20K car there.

I really feel for you. Hope it all turns out to your satisfaction.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Nick mate, my sympathy....thats the 1st photo i've seen of the van....
this is horrible news to hear when you were so close to it being finished
heres hoping that there is no complications with the insurance and things are resolved relatively quickly for you.
...
Lachie

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00' Forester GT

so long as they don't try and pull some "that car isn't in our database, here we'll apply some arbitrary value to it" bullshit

damn nick. i feel for you.

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Mini Clubman 72 aka Juno 998cc

Practical Classics (UK) value a Traveller in Condition 1 (ie: roadworthy, rust free and no major faults but not concourse) at 5,000 UKP, which is about $12,000 AU. Alowing for the fact that yours was freshly restored with some tasteful mods and options such as air con it should be valued higher than condition one, so $16,000+ should not be hard to prove.

At worst someone like Shannons should be able to inspect the vehicle and provide a pre-damage valuation (for a fee).

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

well i just checked up on the car.

there is mud all through the inside of the car.
the water hit past the dip stick i checked & pulled the dip stick out it has this white cream froth on the end with no oil?

they are insured with NRMA & he said i will cover it. I hope so. he keeps saying the engine will be fine with a few oil changes but will it?

the engine was semi rebuilt & now with that mud & silt & crap sitting in my engine i would push for it rebuilt.

it's not looking good for a car that was in A1 condition.

lets hope i get a full re trim & new engine & rust proof new bearings new bushes.

anything else add to my list i'm making one now!

damn. i would hate to be in your shoes ay.. cant imagine my one in my shed for the last 12 months being like flooded.

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Mini Clubman 72 aka Juno 998cc

As lots of people in here and your mechanic has said, your engine will be fine! As long as the water doesn't sit in it for too long, the oil that coats the insides will protect it from rust. Just flush it with oil like suggested and it will be as good as new

The only things you should really be worried about is things like bearings etc and the interior. It was fresh water, the same stuff we use to wash our cars and many other things. The seats can be dried out fine. Do as Graham said, and get as much water out, then just sun them.

Brakes will clean up fine, just dry them off....they are designed to be able to get wet.

Door cards may need to be replaced if they warp, however they are not very pricey.

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

Start preparing for the insurance battle now. Put together a compendeum of before and after photographs - take many detailed photographs of the damage. Progress photographs as you strip out the interior etc.

As somebody said "they are not your friend" and they will try to minimise the payout. The more unemotional evidence you have the better chance you have of coming out in front.

Mike

& I suppose a good lesson for the rest of us to insure our projects & unregistered cars, especially once you have invested time and $ into them!! Nick looks to be getting it sorted through the workshop, but it could have been much worse!

Matt

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68 Deluxe.... it's shiny..... I like shiny!!

Blatant ad time.... Sorry Poeee.

With my claims, (which is when you really find out what insurance is all about) I had to deal with two different insurance companies, with very different degrees of dificulty!

All my cars,, including projects / shells and parts are now insured with Shannons.

As far as I am concerned, their 'Laid up' cover is an absolute bargain.

Good luck NG, Mike Byrons advice is good too, take lots of photos.

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Sir Alec! we are not worthy!