A Huge Vintage Mini Find in Texas
The always interesting site bringatrailor.com has a great find of six vintage Minis found in a warehouse in Dallas Texas. Well worth a look.
+ Texas Mini Cooper Warehouse Stash / Bringatrailer.com
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<p>Those Minis look older than ’68s…</p>
<p>Awesome find, would be happy to bring them all home with me.</p>
<p>“bringatrailor”?</p>
<p>If you were to rename this post “free classic mini” it would be the largest commented on thread on the site.</p>
<p>Bring an Airstream and tow’em all home with your Clubman.</p>
<p>Man would I love to find a cheap deal on a classic fixer upper.
Somehow, 6 would be too many.</p>
<p>@ Viley: If you bought 6, you could fix up 2 or 3 and use the other ones as parts cars.</p>
<p>Interesting looking bonnet stripes on the green one.</p>
<p>This was discussed on the minimania community forum back in Dec of 08. It seems the seller has quite a few bits of rolling junk on his hands, which he imagines to be rare pieces of gold. Been apart for 20 years. Not S models. Good luck.</p>
<p>I doubt I could afford them. That’s the issue. Being a starving college student is no fun. For a tiny second a while ago I was thinking about selling my R50 for a classic mini. Fun in downtown baltimore, probably not as much in between all the Suburbans on the highway.</p>
<p>Classic Mini’s are a blast in most places Viley. Just remember a head gasket and watch the temps. Not much different than most older cars but a heck of a lot funner.</p>
<p>These would probably be not too expensive – maybe $500 – $1000, depending. After that, you have the rust repair and the mechanical repair, and maintenance.
If you want a driver, mostly reliable, look elsewhere. Like in the Mini Club owners and classic mini forums.</p>
<p>I promise myself, once I can save some money, im going to spring for a classic fixer upper for the weekends. Or hey, idea! Anyone wanna do a group buy on these? There are 6 after all, wink wink.</p>
<p>You will love a classic fix-up, very fun cars and simple to work on with basic tools and basic skills. Would point you to Mini Mania as they are one of the best resources for classic Mini’s.</p>
<p>Visit <a href="http://www.minimania.com/Cars4Sale_list.cfm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.minimania.com/Cars4Sale_list.cfm</a> to see a list of classic Mini’s for sale across the nation. One of the best sites one the web for finding a classic.</p>
<p>JonPD: wow, cool. I might have to check it out. Are they fairly reliable when done right? I’ve heard of classic minis basically breaking down every time they drive. Really getting keener and keener on the idea of working on one of those.</p>
<p>My ’61 Austin Mini 850 had sliding windows in the doors like both of these do. There also was a pull-cord and no interior door handle to open the doors. I don’t know what year they started to have roll down windows. It was “literally” a very hot car to drive around in the desert (Tucson). Not much ventilation and no insulation on the fire-wall to keep the engine heat out of the passenger compartment. Plus no hatchback, so not a very useful trunk. But at 16 years old, I thought it was the coolest car ever.</p>
<p>Even back then I was into small cars, and even test drove a used Fiat 500 before I bought the Mini (for $400 in 1966); but that Fiat was really scary and felt like it was going to fly apart. And the only way to slow it down, besides using the brakes, was to downshift, since just letting up on the gas pedal didn’t seem to work.</p>
<p>The Craigslist ad said there were five ’59-’66 Cooper S’s, and one pickup that only needed a clutch (hard to believe after over 40 years).</p>
<p>Scary to drive Fiat 500? Try a Dacia 1300 (I it got for free off the street to work on when I visited my grandparents in Bucharest). Ahhh, you haven’t lived till you’ve driven the best communist Romania had to offer. Or a Trabant. They were, from what I remember, built from basically cardboard.</p>
<p>Sidenote: are these really “coopers” if they’re that old?</p>
<p>Why don’t you check the minimania forum (as I suggested 10 comments ago) and read what someone who actually saw these vehicles has to say, instead of speculating and inventing the wheel all over again?</p>
<p>Here’s a link:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/97662/msgthread.cfm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/97662/msgthread.cfm</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/96067/msgthread.cfm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/96067/msgthread.cfm</a></p>
<p>Classic Mini’s really range on how dependable they are, one of the bonuses are they are simple and cheap to fix so never a big issue. Also think that for any hardcore Mini fan owning one is a huge bonus, part of my rant about the R60 links directly to my love of the classic Mini and sitting behind the wheel and feeling what Sir Alec had in mind for the name of Mini.</p>
<p>Who said that famous saying “A fool and his money are soon parted”.
Beware of people calling things something when they’re not – there are certain things to look for in a genuine Factory Mini Cooper.
You really need to do your research and there is plenty of it on the web.</p>
<p>The local MINI club checked these out in person. Mostly block-‘O-rust junk. Good for canabalizing for body parts but that’s about it. Guy has had them for 15 years, as project cars, but never did anything with them. Now thinks they are worth $10K a piece as-is. Only decent deal in the lot was an Estate shell for $1500. He had these posted on Craig’s Dec. 2008, with little interest after you see them up close.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mk1.</p>
<p>An old saying proves it’s worth again. “Buyer beware.”</p>
<p>I wish someone would just buy these already so I can stop hearing about them on every site I go to. Even the local guys here in Dallas keep re-posting it. The guy has been advertising these for awhile now, and he wants top dollar. Oh wait, look at Mk1’s post. That about sums it up. Carry on.</p>