Work on it or not

How much would you like to get for it? I would estimate that if you put it on EBay as it stands it would still fetch £500 to £800. These little cars are getting highly sought after.

================================== Your potential buyers are likely to be Mini enthusiasts and they generally prefer to get a car in original condition (i.e. not bodged) so that they can judge the true condition. Try selling as it is - Ebay is a good place to try but make sure you put a reasonably high reserve on it.

If you're new to Ebay try following the last few minutes of a few auctions to see the final prices which usually bear little relation to the early bidding.

Cic.

Don't try to "smarten it up". Most buyers will prefer an unmolested original car and decide themselves what needs doing. Personally, I've always been suspicious of part-resprayed cars - you just don't know what's underneath the paint. Much better to buy warts'n'all, then you know what you are in for.

Geoff MacK

put it in for an MoT, don't try to do any bodywork, put on ebay and say the status of the MoT whether it is a pass or a fail and list any known faults, describe it honestly and wait for the bids, I would guess at 500 to 1000, if the mot is a pass then 600 up

Mrcheerful

Mrcheerful ("Mrcheerful" ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Agreed. If I was wanting to buy something like that as a project, I'd want to see the raw state, rather than have to try and guess what's hidden under a bodge.

If you don't have experience of doing work like this, then my advice is not to try. There is nothing more depressing that working on a car and discovering that undoing the shoddy work of a previous owner takes longer than what would have been necessary if they hadn't touched it.

You are likely to get more for it if you leave it as it is and describe it honestly than if you do work on it and it doesn't look quite right.

But it would be worth the money to have an MOT certificate, pass or fail, in terms of a buyer knowing exactly what he is letting himself in for. And if it passes, the buyer has the option of driving it home, which will make a significant difference to the price.

Jim

Leave it alone and sell as is! I'd maybe like it myself, but lack of garage space says otherwise :(

Plus, as the OP doesn't have experience of this kind of thing, it could well look worse afterwards.

Get it in for an MOT. If it fails on minor things probably worth getting them fixed. But even if more the MOT results will help a remote buyer (Ebay etc) decide on what they're willing to pay. Don't do any more than just clean it up. Anyone wanting this sort of car will likely be happy to do the work themselves rather than pay for a patch up job.

I've restored many minis and agree with all the advice given with regard to getting an MOT and not doing work yourself.

Most minis of this age will need welding and a clean example such as this is far easier to assess and work on.

Pricewise, I would usually pay around £500 for an average condition one of this year, but I would expect to pay more for a good example such as this.

A private buyer could well pay a hell of a lot more.

Lucky to find any sort of MOT'd Mini for under a grand now. I paid £600 for a T&T'd 1978 1000 two years ago, and that had no headlining at the time. Even then I thought I'd done well.

That car looks bloody good for its year. With an MOT it's worth about £1200 I'd say.

Like others have said, don't try and do anything to it - the time and cost to do a proper job is more than you will get back. A bodge job will not enhance its value.

On the other hand, advertising it on some ot the Mini forums like Minifinity and The Mini Forum will cost you nothing (other than a couple of minutes to register) and you'll be advertising to the right market.

In my opinion, the early Mini's were the biggest load of crap ever to be put on the roads. My first Mini (1961) had single leading shoe front brakes which were hopeless in heavy braking The gearbox was rubbish, not helped by the two foot long gear lever and the handbrake cable route must have been designed to seize. The CV joint rubber covers and drive shaft couplings were located under the constant oil drips from the engine and so rotted away and failed. The suspension constantly squeaked until I had to replace all the plastic cups, and I could almost hear the car rusting in my dad's garage. The push button start on the floor was quite innovative at the time.

My second MIni was a Clubman - a great improvement, but still subject to rusting. I did a magnificent job on a rusty door bottom - you literally couldn't tell the difference and I sold it at a very good price. I also had an Austin Maxi at the time, but that's another story! However, both my Mini's were great fun to drive and I have many, many happy memories.

The new BMW Minis look nice, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be interested at an entry level of £11.625. My first Mini cost £360 new. I trust the new ones have power assisted front discs these days! Mine didn't even have a radio and just a recirculatory heater.

Terry D.

Some things were improved as time went on, but not many :-)

The later ones had disc brakes, but usually NOT power assisted. Made life even more interesting. Plus the fact that pads and discs last for ages due to the inability to put enough pressure on them to wear!

Later ones than the OP's had twin leading shoe front brakes. These were acceptable for the standards of the early Sixties.

Early Coopers had non-servo discs with a hydraulic booster; they were hopeless!

Funnily enough, I've owned cars from that era that had non-servo disc brakes. I always found pad wear to be horrendously high due to the fact that very soft friction material was needed in order to minimise pedal pressure. One of the vehicles was lucky to make it to 6,000 miles on a set of pads...

Disc wear on more modern cars appears to be related to the introduction of friction material that doesn't contain asbestos.

Chris

" My first Mini cost £360 new."

---------------------------------------------------------- Must have been a van then @£360. Iirc the launch price of the car was a shade under £500 in 1959. Mike.H.