So why a classic mini?
From the age of eight, I was strongly influenced by the classic mini. My Mother had just begun to learn to drive and her very first car was, of course, a classic mini. In fact, it was a 1985 mini mayfair in cashmere gold... My first thoughts were "Oh my god, what on earth is this funny looking piece of junk? Why has my Mum bought THIS?!" - I was eight, I think all can be forgiven... Anyway, given a year, I'd gone from laughing at this silly looking car to absolutely loving it. The mini was nicknamed 'Colin' after the first owner. We went to classic mini shows, including the Crich Tramway Museum mini day and the mini 45 celebrations at Silverstone. By 2008, Colin was looking worse for wear and the rust was getting the better of him - he had been used as a every day car for the five years we'd owned him and hadn't had any body work done on him previously. We took Colin off the road that year and began a restoration on him, which several years later, ground to a halt.
Fast forward to 2011, I was sixteen going on seventeen (as the song goes) and getting enthusiastic about learning to drive; I'd always enjoyed driving based things previously and had spent several years racing go karts before hand. After looking around countless rust buckets and filler 'stunner' minis, my Father had gone in secret to view a 1985 cashmere gold mini Mayfair, not wanting to tell me incase the car was going to be yet another disappointment. The car was an absolute twin to Colin. We ended up purchasing the car in May that year, several months before I was legally old enough to drive the car. I joined a local mini club within the week of purchasing my car and told my Father that after I passed my driving test and had gained enough driving experience, I would do The Italian Job classic mini run to Turin and back again. I decided to call my mini 'Sophie'. My parents both drove the car under my careful and watchful eye for those months as we got to know the car - it could not keep up with the other minis in the mini club, and was 'crabbing' to one side for a while... Both problems were fixed and the car drove like a treat - after a head gasket change, though!
I got insured on the day of my seventeenth birthday and I spent most of my 17th driving my car around with my Father, ending up in Bourne in Lincolnshire from Nottinghamshire. It was fabulous to be driving my own little classic mini, my Father even made a pair of BSM learner plates which the car would have had on in its day - much to the confusion when we pulled into the local driving test centre to the older testers!
Upon passing my driving test, and also finishing my first year of A levels, three weeks later, my Father and I set off on a road trip down to the south of England, driving and camping in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The little mini handled the trip with very few problems, apart from a faulty alternator, which took us several days to fix in Poole in Dorset. The little car served me as a every day car, going back and fourth from my sixth form, going shopping, going to classic shows and mini shows and then accompanying me to University in Aberystwyth.
The car is currently under going a small restoration project to get the car back on the road and a MOT on it. And also go across the Alps to Turin in Italy and back in September. We'll see how that goes when September is closer. For now, the car appears to be quite literally shaking itself to bits in either excitement or worry for the trip!
Fast forward to 2011, I was sixteen going on seventeen (as the song goes) and getting enthusiastic about learning to drive; I'd always enjoyed driving based things previously and had spent several years racing go karts before hand. After looking around countless rust buckets and filler 'stunner' minis, my Father had gone in secret to view a 1985 cashmere gold mini Mayfair, not wanting to tell me incase the car was going to be yet another disappointment. The car was an absolute twin to Colin. We ended up purchasing the car in May that year, several months before I was legally old enough to drive the car. I joined a local mini club within the week of purchasing my car and told my Father that after I passed my driving test and had gained enough driving experience, I would do The Italian Job classic mini run to Turin and back again. I decided to call my mini 'Sophie'. My parents both drove the car under my careful and watchful eye for those months as we got to know the car - it could not keep up with the other minis in the mini club, and was 'crabbing' to one side for a while... Both problems were fixed and the car drove like a treat - after a head gasket change, though!
I got insured on the day of my seventeenth birthday and I spent most of my 17th driving my car around with my Father, ending up in Bourne in Lincolnshire from Nottinghamshire. It was fabulous to be driving my own little classic mini, my Father even made a pair of BSM learner plates which the car would have had on in its day - much to the confusion when we pulled into the local driving test centre to the older testers!
Upon passing my driving test, and also finishing my first year of A levels, three weeks later, my Father and I set off on a road trip down to the south of England, driving and camping in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The little mini handled the trip with very few problems, apart from a faulty alternator, which took us several days to fix in Poole in Dorset. The little car served me as a every day car, going back and fourth from my sixth form, going shopping, going to classic shows and mini shows and then accompanying me to University in Aberystwyth.
The car is currently under going a small restoration project to get the car back on the road and a MOT on it. And also go across the Alps to Turin in Italy and back in September. We'll see how that goes when September is closer. For now, the car appears to be quite literally shaking itself to bits in either excitement or worry for the trip!
Still besotted with classic minis...