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Well, you guys convinced me to not only take a harder look at the car but to perhaps wait on a better deal.
I took a better look at the car and realized that it'll need a new pan and sills, as well as rust repair in the interior directly in front of the rear seat. Given this amount of rust and the asking price, I've changed my mind. Now, though, I am looking at upgrading the lighting in my shop, as it's clearly inadequate.
Thanks for helping me think clearly, and I look forward to being a member of this forum.
You can always look to the MKII's. MKII's are no frill cars. No 12's no AC it still has a center mounted gauge cluster and sliding windows. The only difference I can see it the tail lights and door handles, and a little larger rear window.
Well, I must admit that I am a glutton for punishment with a fetish for old Brits, so jackstand time is quality time. I'd rather spend hours fettling with a Mini than my silly, unreliable BMW. I've owned it for a year, and its been off the road half that time.
My problem is that I only like MkI cars. I don't want 12s, nor FI, nor AC. My budget is too low for the best cars out there, so I do have to settle for cars that have flares and minor rust issues. I have my choice of three body shops who do work for us, and all three would give me a hell of a deal on whatever needs to be done. I don't want an estate, because I feel that the extra inches on the wheelbase would dampen the fun.
I'll probably edit this with pictures later, after I talk to the owner.
This is just my opinion but if you are looking for a Mini that you can drive and enjoy I would pass on this one. I paid $7000 for my Mini, she is a potato head (no numbers matching here) but has been upgraded with some great stuff and runs and drives great and is in really good shape body wise. What is so great is that I can drive and drive and drive and enjoy instead of spending all my time under the car on jackstands.
Also I think by sticking to a non-cooper Mini you might get more for your budget. I spent a lot of time trying to find the right Mini and when she finally came along I knew it and had no questions when I bought her.
I'm not looking for an involved project. I'm 22 and a full-time student, in addition to working 30 hours during the week trying to manage a restoration shop and trying to further develop my track car.
I want a MkI that needs minimal finishing to be a daily, and I haven't seen anything of the sort for around $7500, and that's what I'm willing to pay. It'll be fun to semi-restore while retaining its driver status.
Sounds like a fair price to any old joe, but I wouldn't be inclined to pay that much for the car. I bought a 66 Cooper S with every single original part, stored since 1974, for 3k. I also bought another 67 Cooper S with nearly all the parts, disassembled, for about the same. Both cars have great full interior, strong engines, twin tanks, etc. Though these are great deals, it has happened twice in 4 years. I believe someone bought an S on this board for under 1k. I also know another S was offered at $4500, with a NON S motor.
It's only worth what you are willing to pay. That price is not in the clouds.
It has brackets in the trunk for a boot board. It has a cutout around the floor-mounted gear lever, but neatess hasn't been checked yet. The blanking panel on the firewall looks to be factory. There is no covering on the top dash rail, but there is a chrome ashtray. The doors have chrome trim around the top outside half.
It has no wiper motor or ignition switch. The boot lock does not have an apparent date stamp. The door handles may have date stamps, bt I need to check tomorrow. The voltage regulator is mounted on the right side of the engine compartment, rear bulkhead.
The chassis number of an Mk1 Austin Cooper begins cas27. There should be no 63 infront of this prefix.
Assuming the body has not been messed about with there should be the following - boot brackets in the trunk to take a boot board above the spare wheel, a neat cut out around around the gear lever (i assume it is a remote, i.e the gearlever comes out by the front seats, rather than a long cranked stick coming from the toeboard), and black vinyl on the top dash rail.There should also be chrome trims around the door, and the front ashtray on a cooepr has a chrome lid, rather than cut outs like the ones in the rear, thoguh this is obvioulsy easily changed.
If the motor is 1275, and has 9 studs, then it is from a later model. A standard cooper should have a 997 / 998, S would be 1071, assumng the rear view mirror has not been changed it puts it as one of these, though you can check the wiper motor, ignition sitch, boot locks and door handles for date stamps to clarify. The right hand tank in a car of this age would be a serck tank, standard tanks did not come in until 66. Where is the voltage regulator mounted on the body? Are the discs 7.5" or 7"?
I really hate for my first post to be a request, but I've noticed that more than a few of you seem to be very knowledgeable about Minis and I'd like to take advantage of your knowledge to better my own.
Here's my question: is $7500 a fair price for a MkI Austin Mini Cooper/Cooper S in decent condition? The VIN is 63CA2S7L2xxxxx. It has been sitting for about ten years.
Here is a very long description of the car based from a couple hours of inspection:
-Bodywork-
As far as Minis that I've seen, this car is SOUND. The car is extremely straight, no dents or ripples. The paint is okay but needs some small chips attended to and definitely would benefit from a buff and wax. I have found no filler yet. The body was, according to the previous owner, sandblasted and then painted. I have no reason to disbelieve this. All rust is currently stopped with zero indication of any worsening since about 1998. The car was never driven in the rain and was always garaged since the repaint. The roof drip rail bottom is rusted through in areas, but the visible part is in good shape, with nice drains at each corner. The doors and bootlid are perfect, with no evidence of detritus collection and the accompanying rust. Rear quarterlight surrounds are intact with no evidence of fussing. Rear parcel tray is solid. No tell-tale gaps around the windows. There are small, 1.5-inch-square rust spots on both front wings, but the paint isn't crunchy yet. The seams show small amounts of scarring where surface rust was halted. The floorpan is solid, as is the boot floor. Engine bay shows no corrosion problems except minor holing through the dash corners. Fenderwells look great with the exception of the front driver's, with slight holing around the bottom rear section.
Front has a MkI grille (possibly aftermarket) held in place with those aftermarket buttons. There is no moustache, either upper or whiskers. There are no cutouts for front indicators, and the front panel does not have seams under and around the headlight. The lower valance and bumper area are also much different from stock, probably an aftermarket race-style piece. The hood has a single works-style leather strap (in poor condition) and is pinned. A fresh air intake, fabricated from aluminum sheet, as been fitted to the area between where the wipers would be, and a cutout for a battery cutoff was added. Yes, you read that right: there are no wiper or wiper sprayer cutouts. This factors into my purchase, as I would require wipers for daily use. There are two holes for gas tanks, but I'm fairly sure one is not factory.
-Trim-
The trim is generally in pretty good condition. The door hinges are slightly worn, the chrome headlight trim is slightly pitted, the handles look simply OK, the inner door handle looks mediocre, the rear quarterlight surrounds are pitted, but the sliding window trim looks nice, as does the window surround.
It came with stiff, small sun visors as well as metal sliding window catches. There are no courtesy light switches in the door hinge panels. The rearview mirror is black metal, not white plastic. These details, combined with a build number that leads me to believe it was built between April and July of 1962, make me think it's a '63 model.
-Interior-
The interior is, in a word, stripped. No carpet, no headliner. It does have a recent upholstery job (grey with red piping, front and rear seats, parcel tray cover, door cards) which needs a right proper cleaning. There are no rear interior panels, which is a pity because I think they're pretty interesting. The dash consists of the stock instrumentation (including 120mph speedo), a tach, and the bodyshell behind it. There are no surrounding panels. There is a roll cage which tucks in nicely and was done fairly well. There is no heater, and no switch panel. The indicator stalk is included with the car, but is not currently installed. Whether or not the harness has been chopped up has yet to be determined.
-Engine/Transmission-
The engine is a numberless 1275. It has nine studs. The sump is ribbed. It runs, but is constantly in a clutch-in state which I haven't had a chance to rectify. I haven't looked particularly hard at the powertrain. It's at my shop, so I can take a look at it whenever I wish and can find the time. The engine was rebuilt prior to the car's latent period, by a Porsche engine builder. I will warm it up and make sure to make a note of the oil pressure next time I get a chance.
-Brake-
It has disc brakes up front. There is no servo. Size isn't known yet. I don't know if the rear drums have spacers yet.
-Modifications-
The car has a Fuel Safe fuel cell in it. It has plastic flares (factory 1984-on style) on it, and the arches were cut out to accomodate A008s on Minilites. It's loud as heck, although more comfortably loud than my previous daily. The shift lever is some kind of bent lever, not straight like stock. It has hi-los, I believe, and adjustable Spax dampers. Steering wheel is aftermarket, and it's running a dual battery setup (made by the PO) that was done purely because it was cheaper to buy two of those portable jump-starters than buying a battery that fit.
Internet Specials!
Posted: May-12-2008 09:39AM 
Edited: May-12-2008 09:41AM
NB, Canada 
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