Advice on car purchase

Brake Master Cylinder.

Richard

Oh yes? Never seen a rusty Beetle the same age as a Minor? They were at least as bad and more costly to repair...

Still a crap car in its class, though. ;-)

That's the Mk III. The Mk II is a bloody excellent car.

Richard (Mk IIIs rust, too. I've seen enough rotting ones to know that it's not just the odd badly-repaired one).

Only minor experience of it, but I preferred the Mk I...

I was unfortunate enough to own a Beetle for a while. It had rust. Oh boy it had rust. Wings (of course), side panels, doors and most amusingly right through the bases of the door pillars. You could waggle them around if you wanted, and a big bump in the road would pop the doors open. MOTs didn't really bother about rust in those days. VWs rusted. Beetles rusted less than other VWs, slowbacks a bit worse than Beetles. All the rest were almost down to Vauxhall standards, which is why you don't see them around.

Ever seen a 411 or a K70 /at all/? Or an early Passat, or for that matter an early anything-VW-watercooled? Up to about V-reg., maybe late T-reg VWs rusted as badly as anything, and much worse than most BL products. From V-reg onwards there was a real change, and they sorted out the rust problem to a much better degree than most other firms of the time

- but that was a lot later than anything we're talking about here.

My sister owned a Beetle. Enough to put me off ever even thinking about it. The rust and the noise, crap drive and lack of go...

Are you sure that is a smile and not a grimace?

I was genuinely concerned when I saw where they'd put it.

Not that much of a problem. I drove my Mini to work every day through the winter, never had a problem starting it. And nothing can match a good Mini for the smile factor when you chuck it round a bend!

I know of a couple of very good ones. But as you say, rare.

Common enough with bottom pivot pedals.

You beat me to it, but I don't think the Golf will ever equal the status of a MM. In fact I can't think of any car built within the last 30 years that will. Many will no doubt have their dedicated bands of followers, but nothing on the scale of those intent on preserving the MM.

One big advantage they have, is that they are relatively cheap to buy and maintain as classics. Maybe an even more important point in their favour, is that they are british, and with a small upgrade on the brakes, they are very practical classics for everyday use. Quite capable of keeping up with modern traffic flows.

BTW, strictly speaking, the term Moggie refers to a Morgan. Their owners were using it long before it was appropriated and applied to Morris Minors. Just a bit of useless information. :-) Mike.

True. But when that fails, you don't have to do any more work on the car at all.

In my experience, at least...

Mk II feels a bit more solid; I prefer the looks of the Mk 1 and the overall experince of the Mk II. Wouldn't have a Mk III if it was free.

Richard

The Mini. Admittedly it wasn't designed within the last 30 years, but it was built!

Likewise, a pair of properly set up Strombergs will start first time with frost on the car.

Come to think of it, my Imp with its Solex never gave me cause for concern in the winter either.

Jim

But not in mine :-)

Jim

Well I never had any problems with my MG Midget starting easily in the winter.....(twin 1.25" SUs and points....)