This beauty was first sold in June 1968 at Regal Motors in Gosford.  My parents purchased this car in 1976 for $300. The Mini had 25,000 miles on the odometer and my parents were the second owners.

 

Mark’s dad had a special fleet order 1969 Mini Panel Van that was formerly a Sydney County Council vehicle.  The Mini panel van was T-boned by a Valiant and written off a week before they purchased the Mini sedan.

The Mini sedan was originally a Mini-Matic. The bands in the automatic transmission were shot and it was  going to cost over $2,000 (1976) to rebuild the transaxles and engine.  The 1100cc engine  and transmission from the wrecked panel van were transplanted into the Mini sedan. The transmission in the Mini S.C.C. special production order (S.P.O) was geared lower than that of a similar production sedan and therefore the speed was much lower and ultimately resulted in the early demise of the engine. 

 

Shortly after the replacement engine was installed an electrical fire under the dash in the main wiring harness almost resulted in the car being lost. Thanks to some quick thinking and a garden hose the fire was extinguished before the entire car was engulfed in flames.  The cause of the electrical fire was a “self-tapping screw” that had accidentally pierced the insulation of the main wiring harness. 

 

In the cars’ 34 year history it has had eight engines and four sub frame modifications , some people might say “not bad for a Pommy car”.  The Mini is now fitted with Rubber suspension (rather than the hyrolastic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TwOc62YXJc  ),Mini Cooper running gear, Kidney Bean mag wheels, flares and multiple instrument  gauges.

The Mini is well into its third time around on the odometer. A very unique car with a very interesting history, certainly a car that you can be very proud to be seen driving.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini