Blake's Den Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Hello all Long time lurker and occasional poster here. I thought that I would share my classic Mini Designer project with you. There seems to be a lot of love for old mini's on here plus everybody has had some connection with mini's over the years. I'm actually mid way through the recommissioning of this. I'm avoiding the word restoration as that would suggest I know what I'm doing! The pic below was how it looked when I bought it back in 2016. Doesn't look too bad for a thirty year old car but mini's can and will rust about everywhere. The wing was an obvious problem but there were lots of issues lurking underneath... The sills were a joke! Both drivers side and passengers side pretty much disintegrated. This picture shows the old versus the new. I recently went through a mini rite of passage by removing the rear subframe. Things weren't actually too bad under there although I did find a hole in the frame when I was poking around. The boot floor and heel board are surprisingly solid. If you aren't a one for reading words then you can watch my youtube video to see what I did. BlankFrank, Conrad D. Conelrad, Split_Pin and 33 others 36 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJK 24 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Amazing! Looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Laurence Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Lots of Minis appearing on here recently! It’s not often you see one as original as yours either. It’s been at least a few years since I last saw a Designer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuvvum Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 There was a Designer at Kings Lynn auction last year - made decent money if memory serves. I love Minis but they're at the top of the list of cars I probably won't own again due to the daft prices they're fetching now. Blake's Den and Craig the Princess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Tidybeard Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 nimbus grey trim for these is made of unobtainium! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuboy Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 good luck with the 'tidy up' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Welcome along. I love these 1980s Special Edition Minis, I have a Corgi model of this one and many others. They must have made this one for a few years as it was launched by Mary Quant in 1985. That's tomorrow night's viewing sorted too! Blake's Den and HMC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 10 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said: nimbus grey trim for these is made of unobtainium! Thankfully mine came with all of the correct trim. I do need a new bumper though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montytom Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 Love the designer minis when I was at school my friends mum used to drop me home in her black designer mini. Keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garellikatia Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 Lovely car mate, good job in acquiring the proper sized sills. Nothing worse than peeling back dreaded over sills to find a pit of Rot and corrosion. Blake's Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six-cylinder Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 My friend Derek has a Designer Mini because his wife liked the Mary Quant link so much so made him get it and she does not even drive! We share storage I have the keys and permission to drive it but strangely while I love looking at it I am not so keen on driving it. A few years ago Derek lent me a 1991 Mini Cooper and I loved it, going round roundabouts extra times just for fun. Two days later I returned it and he said you can keep it longer, no thanks I said I can hardy walk now! stuboy, eddyramrod, privatewire and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Tidybeard Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 no! a Designer should have gingercators someone ought to be ashamed 🤔 500tops, Blake's Den and Vince70 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMC Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 I love 80s minis. Especially the special editions which I used to like to spot. In my neighbourhood there was a Chelsea (c plate) / 25 (b plate) / neon (j plate) and a designer. Cool car. To my mind when they were going over to satin painted bumpers and that sort of aesthetic they were trying to trade on its Modern day relevance and usability As a car rather than on past glories. I think that’s why I prefer an original spec 80s special edition over something red with fake minilites, and a full quota of spot lamps. Wilko220, mk2_craig, Blake's Den and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 8 hours ago, Six-cylinder said: My friend Derek has a Designer Mini because his wife liked the Mary Quant link so much so made him get it and she does not even drive! We share storage I have the keys and permission to drive it but strangely while I love looking at it I am not so keen on driving it. A few years ago Derek lent me a 1991 Mini Cooper and I loved it, going round roundabouts extra times just for fun. Two days later I returned it and he said you can keep it longer, no thanks I said I can hardy walk now! Wowser, good stuff! Although I agree it should have orange indicators. 1 hour ago, HMC said: I love 80s minis. Especially the special editions which I used to like to spot. In my neighbourhood there was a Chelsea (c plate) / 25 (b plate) / neon (j plate) and a designer. Cool car. To my mind when they were going over to satin painted bumpers and that sort of aesthetic they were trying to trade on its Modern day relevance and usability As a car rather than on past glories. I think that’s why I prefer an original spec 80s special edition over something red with fake minilites, and a full quota of spot lamps. Mini's have always been 'personalised' from 1959 onwards! I'm keeping this one completely standard as standard mini's are getting really rare now. Shite Ron, Craig the Princess, The Mighty Quinn and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remspoor Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Funny enough one of your YT vids got suggested to me today. That before I came across this thread. Blake's Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 I've been making the most of those days between Christmas and New Year when nobody really knows what day it is. The plan was to remove the rusty rear subframe bolts which had sheared off when I was removing the frame. I thought that this would be an easy task but it soon escalated! I found that the captive nuts had failed on both sides which meant that a repair to the heel board was required. I’m still impressed by the lack of rust on the heel board. Hopefully I’ll make some more progress before I’ve got to go back to work ☹ FakeConcern, Burnside, Twiggy and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_Rocket Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Nice work! We've all been there with the sheared subframe bolts 😬 If you don't want to disturb the heelboard, you can just about get access to the captive nuts from inside the rear bins, next to the rear seat base. If you look inside the rear companion boxes, you'll see a closing panel which appears to join the inner sill/ rear 1/4 area to the rear inner arch. This panel is lightly spot-welded into place, only down one side. If you drill through these and carefully prise the panel upwards, you'll be able to look down into the rear of the heelboard and those troublesome captive inserts will be revealed! That's why my '83 City E has 3x bolts going into captive nuts and 1x bolt with a nylock on the other side 😄 tooSavvy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooSavvy Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Timewarp to...... https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/mini/mini-special-editions-1979-1100-special/ Cool Six-cylinder, Shite Ron, LightBulbFun and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shite Ron Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 1 hour ago, The Mighty Quinn said: The best limited edition was the 1979 1100 Special in rose metallic with those smart 10" alloys. BL really made an effort with those and it was far more than the usual 'stickers and stripes' stuff they knocked out in the 80's and 90's. They did a silver one as well. One of the last Minis I worked on was an Advantage on an E plate that soon became known as the Disadvantage. There was a tennis theme going on with it iirc. I would love a mini 1100 special in rose metallic. These are great cars with 10” wheels, tartan seats and a tan vinyl roof, outstandingly stylish. I should have bought one while they were cheap, I’m unlikely to get one at current prices. The Mighty Quinn and Six-cylinder 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 5 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said: Nice work! We've all been there with the sheared subframe bolts 😬 If you don't want to disturb the heelboard, you can just about get access to the captive nuts from inside the rear bins, next to the rear seat base. If you look inside the rear companion boxes, you'll see a closing panel which appears to join the inner sill/ rear 1/4 area to the rear inner arch. This panel is lightly spot-welded into place, only down one side. If you drill through these and carefully prise the panel upwards, you'll be able to look down into the rear of the heelboard and those troublesome captive inserts will be revealed! That's why my '83 City E has 3x bolts going into captive nuts and 1x bolt with a nylock on the other side 😄 Now you tell me! I'm quite happy with the repair. The heel board is in suprisingly good condition. I was poking around it today and was pleasantly suprised Rusty_Rocket 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegod Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Lovely work, I recall my local scrappy has a mini "Equinox" in that was rotten to the core and falling apart but it still fetched around £1300 on ebay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_Rocket Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 The value of no-hoper Minis seems mad, but there is always the chance of it legitimately returning to the road with the availability of brand new bodyshells, even for Mk1 cars I think. They're not cheap though! Blake's Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 A bit more progress made this weekend. I did a bit of digging around to see how bad the rust was ar the rear end. It's a bit odd; the wheelarch is gone as expected but the battery box is solid. Normally these are the first things to go, maybe it had been replaced in the past. Unfortunately I've found some big rust patch on the boot floor / rear seat base area. I'm actually glad that I found it as it is right next to the rear seat belt mounts. There must be a moisture trap between the sub-frame and the body. The thumbnail makes it look a lot worse than it actually is! Mike D, FakeConcern, Craig the Princess and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bezzabsa Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 last mini i owned was a 25 that had accident damage...sold the triple clocks for more than I paid for the car .. seats and bumpers made good money too... sold the rest including engine and box to a guy that grass tracked it.. I paid £80.... it made me over £600 in the end.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMC Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 15 minutes ago, Blake's Den said: There must be a moisture trap between the bumpers. EFA OM646, groovylee and horriblemercedes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Lol - between the tyres and the roof too! Edited January 18, 2021 by Blake's Den reworded Twiggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake's Den Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 13 minutes ago, bezzabsa said: last mini i owned was a 25 that had accident damage...sold the triple clocks for more than I paid for the car .. seats and bumpers made good money too... sold the rest including engine and box to a guy that grass tracked it.. I paid £80.... it made me over £600 in the end.. £600 wouldn't even buy a project now. Fancy a laugh? Look at the prices of Mini pick-ups and vans HMC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bezzabsa Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 2 hours ago, Blake's Den said: £600 wouldn't even buy a project now. Fancy a laugh? Look at the prices of Mini pick-ups and vans Don't....My 1st legal car was an 850 van, Paid £250 for it and £250 to insure it LOL... they're north of £10k now..... garellikatia and Blake's Den 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan58 Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Almost exactly 21 years ago I bought a 1962 Super Deluxe for £3k which I thought was a bit rich but it was a nice solid un-restored example in rare Fiesta Yellow with sky blue interior. Ran it as a daily for 2 years before selling it for what I paid and thought I'd done fairly well. Would be into 5 figures now probably. Blake's Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMC Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 A friend of mine bought an ex RAC mini van at an auction in 1982 (blue and white) it was incredibly cheap and was used as the official vehicle of the university jelly wrestling society. It was used to transport the jelly. When it was scrapped the yard wondered why there was jelly in the back in recesses etc. Blake's Den, mat_the_cat and Jenson Velcro 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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