advice on mini clubman needed

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Chris Long - 29 Oct 2004 20:43 GMT

Hi

I can get hold of a 1977 mini clubman for a couple of hundred. All of the
bodywork is sound and it has had a good respray. Until a few years ago it
was used as a general runaround and has about 50000 on the clock. The owner
then had it resprayed but it has sat there for the past few years and he
hasn't had time to get it going again. The owner wants it to go to a good
home, he's not worried about getting a good price, hence it is only ?200.

I want to use this as a day to day car and keep the miles off my T reg Rover
mini. My question is, can I get this serviced/fixed so that it is reliable.
The only thing I can see that it needs is new tyres! Of course I would get
it all checked over (brakes etc) With only 50000 on the clock I'm thinking
that there may not be much else wrong with it. Anyone give any advice as to
what may have broke on this car, i.e. what the most common problems are on a
car this age.

Cheers

Chris

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Steve68s - 30 Oct 2004 14:17 GMT

There could be lots of things wrong with it, the secret is to repair things
as they need doing, & not letting things mount up, you want to hear it
running, after all if the guy rang a scrap yard to ask what he would get for
it he would probably have to pay to have it removed, anything is fixable,
its probably not worth ?200 unless you can drive it away, has it been stored
dry? look for rust in the sills, inner sills, floorpans, boot floor, a
pannels, door pillars, bottoms of the doors etc, if you can get it started
see if it blows smoke, an engine re build could cost a few hundred quid,
50,000 miles dont mean much if the engine has seized up due to it standing
somwhere damp, what prep work was done when it was sprayed? minis rust, it
may have had a load of filler put in it & a blow over, examine it vary
carefully,

Steve.

> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Chris

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Longshot - 03 Nov 2004 10:36 GMT

Vickers is that you?!

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Longshot - 03 Nov 2004 10:44 GMT

As previous respondent says, don't rush into it, I'd be inclined to get an
AA or RAC inspection done, all right so it costs a bit but it should give
you a fair idea of whats needed to save it or whether its worth just
walking away. Having said that if the cars not currently running it makes
it harder to say whats wrong (if anything at all).

Take a fridge magnet with you and really give all the panels he mentioned
a careful going over with it. The tin worm is one of the worst things about
these lovely little motors. Plenty of shiny examples out there held
together with nothing more than fibre glass and filler.

Lastly if you want to keep miles off a T-plate mini why not just spend
the ?200 on a second-hand car thats got a years ticket and starts and goes
as it should? You could be taking on a major project just to save a few
miles on your pride and joy, sometimes better an economic choice against
an expensive mistake.

Good luck

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