There is a bloke on ebay using your photos too. (as well as any other photos that he finds on the net )

The Yanks can not do a single thing about it, for one the Yanks are addicted to consumerism and guess where they get their cheap fix from and two, China owns 1 trillion dollars of America's debt and on top of that America is basically bankrupt all their banks are literally technically bankrupt and Goldman Sachs will be the latest casualty especially once the Germans are finished with them.
China is the biggest boy in the room, it can do what it wants. The glory days of America are over.

Well I wouldn't write them off too soon. I don't think 300 million of them will allow their standard of living to disappear that easily. When the Chinese Remimbi (?) becomes the world's premier currency then I will be convinced. The Chinese rate of growth is not sustainable in the long term. Anyway, who the fu*k would want to own a car with the name Great Wall? About as marketable as the SSanyong. Producing cheap cars is one thing, selling em is another.

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

Had to revive this one.

I had a little chuckle with the response I got from the Sydney Morning Herald.

I sent them a polite note to say that they had used one of my photos from our website. I said that I was happy for them to use it, provided they acknowledged the source, but otherwise they should remove it from their site.

News Ltd papers have a general policy not to acknowledge non-group publications unless absolutely necessary (happy to mention them if reporting against them though). I already knew this, having worked for News Ltd for about 10 years.

So, I was not surprised to receive the following response.



So, I checked, and true to their word the image is gone. Not replaced, just gone, so now there is no image of a Mini at all with their story.

I guess they didn't want to acknowledge TME because we pose such a threat to their circulation.

Cheers,
Watto.

Murdoch never got there from being nice to people.

edit: sorry my question has been answered.

Um why would it be, it was just another wannabee Mini car that was released too late. And then Chrysler bought it... so the end was in sight, as for Simca years before.
I don't mind Imps, my bro' has had a `65 one from new (now restored).

Imp features I recall-
Faster than a Mini Deluxe, [+]
Synchro on all 4 gears [+]
Underdone front suspension, [-] bloody swing arms!!
4 wheel drum brakes, [-]
Rubber donuts on the rear axles [-] they wind up terrible on takeoff
All alloy OHC engine, [+] for performance, [-] for long term reliability in Oz
Rear engine, [-] name another that's any good and still made, besides Porsche
More rust prone than Minis, [-] today they are nearly all gone, ~43 left in NSW total, my bro' says

So, there ya go. I can't think of any ground breaking Imp features that started a revolution since.

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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.

Perhaps the article was a thinly veiled snub. Every car on the list except one could arguably be included in a list of Australian car industry influences or rule breakers. The Great Wall stands out like a sore thumb.

Its like a dare from a colleague to include something ridiculous, or the need to segway in an insignificant, yet subscribing advertisor into any article they could find in five minutes. Like Hustler they should perhaps include a warning that the article is simply "parody, not to be taken seriously".

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.