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Old and new Mini next to each other

gez said:
Do you realise the irony of your post?
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[I meant to write Wanted: General Moan Section. Asap]

Well, YES! Look we have a new section after classifieds. For the old grumps to grump off, in one big shi1tshow of a section. New bmw's, german minis, tory v labour tish-tosh, rega, naimers, the band Oasis.. everything that's -rightfully- there to moan about. I go in & do a moan, & I exit said sh1tshop feeling a little bit better. The PFM mental therapy room.

Capt
 
Well, I seem to have hit a nerve here. Ironic, as I drive one of these. 😁
nissan-cube-070410-(30).jpg
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I remember working on the original Minis and agree with you entirely. However, they were also massive fun to drive, entertaining at sane road speeds, something which few modern cars achieve, and fewer still at affordable money.
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Cramped to work on but... you could change the clutch without removing the engine, and if you did need to remove it you could do that easily with 2 people and a rudimentary winch. I did quite significant mods on mine with nothing more than a set of ramps and all the mods including block changes had to be done between Saturday morning and Sunday evening as it was my only form of transport. Mine was my first car, I never wanted a mini initially but at 800 quid it was all I could afford, my reluctance to have a Mini however vanished after driving the heck out of it an investing in David Vizard's How to Modify Your Mini and a Haynes Manual.
 
gintonic said:
Hideous - my Dad had one for a short period of time as a company car - hugely unreliable.
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One of my dad's favourite cars, TBF he does think the Fiat 124 is great as well, he even bought a Lada Riva estate and insisted on dropping us off right outside the school.

My mum crashed the Maxi into the gate post (we're convinced it was on purpose) but all it did was flatten the wall and scratch the maxi.
 
The Captain said:
Ah but the Maxi was revolutionary, inside.
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Yes it was, you are right. Fully folding seats so that you could sleep in it if necessary, and so on. For the time, lots of innovation.
The Captain said:
Possibly the only family car designed with function as priority?
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Absolutely not, back in the day family cars were generally tools for a job. Only the wealthy in the 60s and 70s could afford cars-as-fashion, which has generally changed. We are a *lot* more wealthy than we used to be. Despite the naysayers, and despite the presence of Deliveroo drivers making less than min wage for a 14 hour day.
The Captain said:
I dunno but defo looks miles better than new £110,000 bmw's.

Capt
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Hmm. I don't have £110k to spend on a car, but know which I'd rather drive my current 500 miles a week. Actually the best car for that journey is one with "Inter City" written on the side, and someone else drives it while I look out of the window.
 
vacuum_tubes said:
One of my dad's favourite cars, TBF he does think the Fiat 124 is great as well, he even bought a Lada Riva estate and insisted on dropping us off right outside the school.

My mum crashed the Maxi into the gate post (we're convinced it was on purpose) but all it did was flatten the wall and scratch the maxi.
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We too were rear ended in our maxi.. By a Renault 5 of a similar vintage. The maxi was dented in the boot with damage about the size of a football.. the Renault had its skirt hooked up over its neck, and the driver had been knocked out by her unseatbelted rear passenger (her 10yo son i seem to remember)

I quite liked it as an 8 year old. Then dad turned up in a 944 turbo. Wow.
 
Aaaah, the good ol days of little to no crumple zone and a loose occupant or two.

And still the police pull people for not wearing seat belts.
 
martin clark said:
It's an outcome of the take-over of the SUV 'two-blob , but high stance' approach. Also why the wheels have become so pointlessly-large.

Draw the outline of any such car, and the wheels, and you'll see what I am getting-at; anything less would result in a horrific slab-sided horror.
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Except the Renault Kangoo jhas always pulled it off, being a smaller, cuter design, it just looks like Postman Pat's van. I saw one last night and had a walk round, as a means of lugging a few people and a pile of camping/cycling/mountaineering gear off for the weekend it looked like a good solution.
 
MartinC said:
Cramped to work on but... you could change the clutch without removing the engine, and if you did need to remove it you could do that easily with 2 people and a rudimentary winch. I did quite significant mods on mine with nothing more than a set of ramps and all the mods including block changes had to be done between Saturday morning and Sunday evening as it was my only form of transport. Mine was my first car, I never wanted a mini initially but at 800 quid it was all I could afford, my reluctance to have a Mini however vanished after driving the heck out of it an investing in David Vizard's How to Modify Your Mini and a Haynes Manual.
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A yes, been there too. I loved my Minis (the original sort) & ended up with what started as a 1,000cc one in an 'orrid dark green but ended up as a real wolf in sheep's clothing. Well, by the standards of the day anyway.

My mate had a 1500cc Maxi, which was pretty good really, apart from the truly awful gearchange which they changed in later models. The double-bed in it folded up to make seats.
 
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