Well luckilly its not all about looks and thank god for that in your case

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Some people are stoopid!!

Miniman, I have to give you 10 points for that rant; it was great.

My car, The Moneypit, was exactly what you described. It 'looked' mint. Whoever skimmed the bog over dented and rusty panels was a true artist. Seriously, my car was resplendent in BRG with the predicable white roof and looked a million dollars.

In reality, whilst all the original bits were there and it was registered, the car was a heap of shite. A very sad engine, gearbox, brakes, steering... you name it and it was shagged.

Added to that was under the gleaming paintwork was dings and rust built up by the previous 5 owners. I have all the fotos of the re-build and when I show folks a foto of the car when I bought it and the fotos of what was lurking under the paint & bog they are dumbstruck. Whoever did the duco/bog work was a true magician.

cheers.

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1964 Cooper UK 970 S 'CZ 4289'

Hats off to the people who have show winning cars... that drove their car 1000kms to the show in the first place.

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can you name this so called well known car so if it comes up for sale we all know to stay away from it

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busier than a 0ne legged man in a butt kicking competion

Nothing has to even work on a trailer queen. As long it looks nice nobody cares, and everyones like WoW thats nice.

No use having a nice car if you cant drive it.

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I'm backing you 100% . WTF is the point of having somethiing that looks "mint" when all it is is a f***in trophy... it's like

" check out my awesome car"
"can we go for a spin?"
"are you kidding me? does it look like it's built for driving?"
or
" look what i just bought"
"what is it? what does it do?"
"dunno, but it sure is pretty"

THE REASON YOU HAVE A mini IS TO DRIVE IT AND LOVE EVERY MINUTE!!
you have two options..
1. build it to run A1 then make it look good. or
2. Buy a model and sit it on your desk... more practical.

yay, i has 3cents...

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So what's the last thing you remember...

I'm pretty sure you were..

WRONG ANSWER!!!

or, its your mini, do what u want with it!
I'd prefer mechanical A1 personally, but being a painter as well as a body builder, looks do it for me aswell.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

I think it was that ute of yours alan you should give it back to the guy you got it of

i dream to have one of your twin cam heads

I learnt this lesson when I bought my first mini six years ago.
Being new to the game I worked on the commonly spewed advice to newcomers: buy one with a good body, everything else can be fixed......So I did.

It ran okay but not perfect. Gear changes were rough and occasionly non existent, plenty of electrical gremlins and the wheels stuck out more on one side of the car than the other.
Two months later my nice looking car was written off and I began the process of dismantling the car. It was years before I realised just how bad that car was mechanically: worn shockers, perished suspension rubbers, twisted subframes, poorly greased balljoints and suspension arm bearings (inner race fell out of one), loom was a fire waiting to happen and varoius other crap.

My next mini went the other way, my white rover. Body was rough but solid, I redid the balljoints and bearings and brakes, driveshafts, made sure any electrical modifications were done properly, engine was basic but worked. Sure the paint was faded, the flares were falling off and it only has pizza cutter tyres, but the oil pressure gauge worked and the car drove well and I felt more safe in that than the car before it, making the mini a fun car once again. When I sold it I couldn't believe how hard that was. I sold a complied rover for 4.5k, and it took a dozen people to look at it and not like the body before a hot rodder turned up, had a look and a drive and took it on the spot. Body didnt fuss him cause he knew the rest would go the distance.

It's one of my pet hates (and no offence to anyone I know thats done this), but I don't like seeing cars that have been 'done up' to be sold. You know the drill: buy a cheap POS, put a lick of paint on it and a subwoofer and some mambas and get some unsuspecting first timer like I once was to fork out cooper S money for what isn't worth jack. The car you want to buy and is the car somebody has had for ten years, not perfect but you can tell it's an honest beast beneath the dusty exterior and the dent on the bumper.
Tell it to yourself, tell it to your mates or anyone you want: if a car has been bought as a money spinner i'll bet any ****** money you want it's being done differently to a car built to keep by the same person, because it's easy to cut costs when it's somone elses car. Might be engine, might be suspension, might be the difference between a good body repair and paint in original colour versus a skim of bog and some tiger-mica to look all pretty. My top tip for a new vcar buyer: if it was resprayed less than 6 months ago then walk away!

My soon to be complete deluxe is a whole different kettle of fish to my other minis. It's been built to drive, to stop, to start, to get from A to B reliably. My car only uses two components from the one I started with: just the rear tariling arms, everything else is new or a rebuilt substitute. Body might be a bit rough around the edges, but brakes and suspension are new, so I can be happy it'll stop safely, and then I can get onto the fun stuff like subwoofers and driving lights.

Yepp same here - the EB SXR8 looks like a dogs brekky from the outside(faded black pearl paint - the WORST paint Ford ever put into a paint tin!!), clear on the roof peeling off, bonnet faded as is the boot. Interior is sweet and in perfect condition and mechanically it is mint. Rebuilt the 302 to 373ci and all the explorer inlet treatment(GT40P heads, rebuilt BTR auto with shift kit, new lines(ALL LINES both rubber and brake)throughout, engine was basically reassembled to factory but to the AUIII XR8 standards), new injectors for the SVI LPG and getting 205kw on the LPG. No fancy exhaust system and very low note - people leave it alone as it looks like shite but goes where it counts.

I might repaint it sometime in the future; however, with no time to do it and my mini is the priority now. New brake lines being made up(no second hand poop here now)and new shocks all round(KYB).

Reverend, Matt - showponies need not apply...

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Rob Forsyth
Miniot!!

I reckon a Mini - or any other car - can look mint without actually being worth 2c. Appearances are known for being very deceiving. The fact that something looks good doesn't mean you'd want to live it.

This all has me thinking, though... I wonder what disaster Matt's had to deal with to bring on this vent/rant?! Matt, hopefully it'll all be over sooner than you're expecting.