--
1984 998cc Mayfair Automatic
We were not really looking to buy another Mini, but a relative had what was described as a 'slightly scabby' automatic Mini for sale for not much money, so being a good little Spagley I posted a few messages to various Mini type lists - without much interest...
So we just pop over to see the car for a bit more info. Mechanically it all looked pretty good, the engine sounded sweet and the auto preformed much as it should (a bit like when the clutch and gears are being operated for you by a drunken friend on the way back from the pub). Subframes are pretty good, but it will need sills and front wings for the next MOT.
Only real let down was the paint, a previous owner had resprayed the car but the paint hasn't faired very well with the UV so went nice and matt and powdery.
After a test drive, a bit of thinking we decided to splash out £150 and rescue the unwanted orphan ourselves.
Well, we can always play with it until the MOT runs out then claw back £50+ in unused tax and work out what to do with it over the winter ;-)
The front of Annie, looking mostly red in a kind of flaky red-oxidey kind of way, with nice gaffer tape detailing around one hedlamp.
The engine bay crammed full of bog standard 998 and a slushbox.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the blotchy patches are due to excessive JPG compression of the pics...
But Annie's bum really is that scabby !
But it's not all bad, the doors open, the interior is in really good condition and...
We got a free spider !
Just for fun we attacked the bonnet with some 400 grit wet&dry to see what the original paint looked like, and it didn't look too bad.
Will Annie get restored to her former glory?
or
Will Mr Angle-Grinder get there first ???
To be continued........