racer_project

1070cc Historic Racer Project

STRIP, PAINT & PREP, REBUILD, SUPPLIERS

For about 2 years I have been threatening to build a historic racing car. I had already decided that it would be a 1071cc Mini Cooper S based car that would stick as closely to the spirit of 1960's saloon car racing as possible apart from the obvious safety features required by 21st century scrutineers.

Before I can commence, there are a few major hurdles to overcome.

As I get older I have become seriously averse to rolling around on my back in freezing cold weather trying to weld up a rotten old crock of a Mini and too be honest, if I am going to eventually drive this thing at high speed around a race track I wanted it to be as solid as possible. So, I needed to find an early Mini in as good a condition as possible to be the basis of the project.

As you are probably aware, the early 1959 & 1960 Mini shells were considerably lighter than the post 1961 shells. These early shells didn't have any inner A panels, and the sill sections were single, not double skinned like normal. In its day this arrangement was responsible for the huge water problems that BMC experienced in the early days of the Mini.

But to find a light weight shell in excellent condition must be impossible I hear you cry.

That's what I thought too. Until my brother reminded me of a "barn find" car he purchased a couple of years ago, it was going to be a quick turnaround project that hit the buffers when it was discovered it needed a full re-spray Some kind soul had re-sprayed this car in a damp garage causing the paint to micro blister, not badly, but it was bad enough to mean that if it was going to be restored back to standard to would need a full good quality re-spray This was way to expensive to do, after all it was only a 1960 850..

Rick and myself attempted to sell the car for more than a year, and eventually forgot about it. As it turns out, this was a major stroke of luck.

I decided I could live with the slightly dodgy paint as long as the car was basically sound.

On Friday the 10th of October we collected the car from my parents house where it had been stored for nearly 2 years and on Saturday afternoon my son Adam & I started to dismantle the car to see exactly what we had.

I always knew that this car was good, but it was only after the stripping started that I began to appreciate what an amazing find this car was. When it was purchased it was complete with glass washer bottle and original tires, these were already spoken for and their sale helped to fund the project.

Once the original carpets were removed, the drivers floor was found to be more or less like it was when it left the factory.

The engine bay was also found to be amazingly intact and under a pretty drastic layer of underseal all was as you would expect. Or should I say, like you wouldn't expect. This car had never been drastically messed around with, just look how much ORIGINAL paint was still left.

Have you ever seen a Mini with this much green paint on the sump? It's been like that for 46 years.

This odyssey of originality continued!

As each part was carefully removed and stored each item was found to be just like brand new. OK someone at sometime had painted over the rear subframe with cherry red paint, but under the paint, the original frame was like brand new. All the brake pipes were original, and totally un-corroded

Items were present on this car that I had only ever read about in books. The small pieces of felt packing were still there to stop the doughnuts squeaking.

When the front and rear screens were removed for the first time in 46 years, it was found to be absolutely perfect. Have you ever seen a 1990's Rover Cooper with so little rot. This car was incredible.

The bronze hinges that were fitted to these early cars were totally un-corroded when the doors were removed.

The radius are shrouds, once again covered in a thick layer of gunk were easy to remove, the retaining screws all came out first time and the shrouds themselves were completely intact, no sign of rot at all!

The rubber cross drive couplings had their original green paint on them.

But it was only when the total stripping process was near completion that this amazing little car offered up its most staggering secret.

These early cars were fitted with splash shields that stopped, or should that be, tried to stop water entering the front bulkhead seam. When these splash guards were removed, to say that Rich ( my good buddy who works at Minispares North) & myself were totally speechless.

The image below was taken through the headlight aperture on the drivers side, it shows the inner wing, complete with hinge mounting points and closing panel. This wasn't just good, it was totally perfect!

After 46 years this car had simply not deteriorated at all.

So, after one day and an evenings graft, the car was reduced to its shell. Every single bolt on the car had come off without stripping, everything was in excellent condition. So the next stage is getting all that horrid underseal and glue off.

Oh, and before I finish for the moment. Rich assures me that I will burn in hell for wrecking such an amazingly original and mint early Mini. To be honest I am sure that he is correct, but the truth is that no one other than I was prepared to put their money where their mouth was. I put my hand in my pocket and paid for it, something that amazingly few "Early Mini" enthusiasts are actually prepared to do. So I probably will rot in hell, but I won't get there because my badly welded rust bucket of a race car disintegrate around me because its not up to the job!

Jusy as a matter of interest, the car was first registered in Scarborough North Yorks in June 1960, since then it has had 3 owners including me and has covered a little over 23,000 miles. It spent most of its life laid up in a barn or garage as the person it was bought for was unable to drive it. When its first owner sold it, the car was given a new exhaust, and a bit of paint. It was then put back into storage where it was "discovered" in 2003. I have all the history for the car, including bill of sale, all receipts, handbook etc. It even came with the complimentary key ring & Tax disk from "Country Garage" in Scarborough where it was originally sold. When the seats were removed I found a number of petrol receipts and CoOp coupons all dated 1966.