Shite at the Vicarage: Early Bini

[yes oui si]

On 16/07/2025 at 16:01, SmokinWaffle said:

I've always had a strange soft spot for those. I imagine they'd look brilliant on some sort of stupidly deep dish 13" wheels and unmanageably low suspension with an ASBO exhaust. It'd be absolutely dire to drive but it'd look....probably quite dire as well but in a very cool niche Japanese scene way. 

Maybe I just need to up my meds. 

Nice colour too. 

I'd prefer 13s as well, but this works:

Lose the eyebrows though. 

[barefoot]

4 hours ago, yes oui si said:

Lose the eyebrows though. 

Those aren't eyebrows, that's a bad-boy bonnet. Do you fuckers know nothing?

Please forgive my language, father.

[yes oui si]

4 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Those aren't eyebrows, that's a bad-boy bonnet. Do you fuckers know nothing?

Please forgive my language, father.

No, a bad-boy bonnet is when the bonnet is extended down over the lights:

The car I posted has stick-on eyebrows. 

[barefoot]

It was only an excuse to say fuck and forgive me. 

[The Vicar]

Thread resurrection! I’ve just bought another car 😁

Saw it this morning in the classifieds with an ominous two line description:

“1 owner from new. Offers above scrap value? Need it gone from my driveway this weekend.”

Made a call to the seller who was a well spoken, older gent. I knew straight away I was having it. He told me it was the very first New Mini sold in Ireland, and he drove it until 2019 when it was replaced by another new 4 door Cooper. 

I still haven’t even seen it yet. I’m in Italy and it’s in Ireland, due to be delivered tonight. The VIN ends in 312…any Mini gurus able to tell me if this makes my Mini particularly special/early?

Updates when I can!

[Matty]

53 minutes ago, The Vicar said:

Thread resurrection! I’ve just bought another car 😁

Saw it this morning in the classifieds with an ominous two line description:

“1 owner from new. Offers above scrap value? Need it gone from my driveway this weekend.”

Made a call to the seller who was a well spoken, older gent. I knew straight away I was having it. He told me it was the very first New Mini sold in Ireland, and he drove it until 2019 when it was replaced by another new 4 door Cooper. 

I still haven’t even seen it yet. I’m in Italy and it’s in Ireland, due to be delivered tonight. The VIN ends in 312…any Mini gurus able to tell me if this makes my Mini particularly special/early?

Updates when I can!

I've never been a gambler on the horses and football and so on. But I love a gamble on a sight unseen car. Had a few, proper exciting not knowing if you've done a good thing or lost your shirt! Fair play and good luck 👍 

[mk2_craig]

2 hours ago, The Vicar said:

special/early?

There's a bit of a community around these early ones, if you're on Facebook someone's set up a "Y Register" group acknowledging the fact that the very first ones were on Y-prefix plates in the UK, in other words put on the road before Sep 2001. So not many around answering to that description. When was yours first licensed?

There's apparently quite a few differences on the earliest cars, so some care is required when sourcing certain spare parts. 

[The Vicar]

Registered 19-08-01, so a month after UK sales but I have a feeling that the Irish launch might have been a little later, ie August. I did some reading, and apparently the production number of each car is within the VIN, and the first car was marked 10, which would make mine the 302nd BINI ever made (if I’ve understood correctly). Nice bit of trivia if nothing else!

[The Vicar]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

I've never been a gambler on the horses and football and so on. But I love a gamble on a sight unseen car. Had a few, proper exciting not knowing if you've done a good thing or lost your shirt! Fair play and good luck 👍 

I’ve done it more than a few times, and touch wood I’ve never been badly burned. In my experience people who keep a car 20+ years tend to be the kind of people who look after them pretty well.

[hairnet]

Furious driving mini is may 2001

Keep seeing approx oct 2001 irish launch date

[EyesWeldedShut]

9 hours ago, The Vicar said:

Registered 19-08-01, so a month after UK sales but I have a feeling that the Irish launch might have been a little later, ie August. I did some reading, and apparently the production number of each car is within the VIN, and the first car was marked 10, which would make mine the 302nd BINI ever made (if I’ve understood correctly). Nice bit of trivia if nothing else!

Our first was registered September 2001 (so not a Y plate) but had a build sticker under the bonnet that said March 2001. Never knew about the VIN idea - our one was cubed about a decade ago with rampant rust around the back end, continual, multiple ABS faults and a big dose of "I've had enough of this feckin' car".  Same wheels are your new one except factory coloured in white - BMW liked to allow a heck of a lot of specification choices back then. Best seats in a Bini that I've ever sat in too.

Well bought, ideal* time of the year to risk enjoy that panoramic sunroof,

[The Vicar]

So the car arrived, and along with it a heap of very interesting paperwork:

Bill of sale, price list, original brochure, service history, owners manual and wallet, x2 keys, etc. There is just no better feeling!

Check out the prices, especially compared to UK prices. IR£25,000!

it seems to have salt, pepper and chilli options packs plus air con and sunroof, so a well spec’d little thing. By comparison a mid spec punto in Ireland was 10k at the time 

[Lord Sterling]

Nice. I've always admired the Bini. Drove a few of them and loved them (accept for a Mini Countryman I drove when I was trade plating, absolutely hated it, it had little to no go in it)

I've got a couple of books on them here and a book and DVD pack set I found in a charity shop.