My Mini
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Rover
Mini Cooper,
S***
MBL “MaBeL”
Mabel is my third Mini, though the first that I have actually had on the road/used. My first car was a 1983 Mayfair which I bought with the intention to do up ready for when I passed my test, sadly for one reason or another I never actually got round to finishing it and I ended up breaking it up, with a heavy heart I might add.
My first Mini. When I bought it and as it was when scrapped. the picture looks better than she was. I bought a Black ’79 automatic at one point to sell on. I carried out some light restoration work for the MOT along with a few cosmetics, thus keeping another mini on the road for a good few years to come. Although I've since heard it was hit by a bus and is now undergoing more restoration!
The Automatic that I restored. In good condition for what was a 21 year old car at the time! Around
summer 2001, my uncle was hassling me to do something with the rotting Mayfair
standing outside his garage, I was faced with the decision of either taking out
a loan and purchasing a new shell then paying to get someone to rebuild the car.
By now I’d lost the enthusiasm to carry out a major rebuild and wanted to get
a mini on the road and start enjoying it, so I took my second option, ‘buy a
newish mini’.
After
looking through mini magazine and visiting a few websites I came across a
Hawaiian blue cooper for sale by Minished in Milton Keynes. A few days later I
visited them viewed and test-drove the car. Two days later on the 6th
of June 2001 I again made the trip to Buckinghamshire to collect my car and
bring her to her new home in Kent. Mabel
as she was when I bought her. Mabel had been used by Minished’s sister company, Spectrum Racing, to promote their new 13" split rim alloy wheels and was displayed at Brighton that year as well as used for their ad shots.
The Spectrum Racing Ad taken from Mini Magazine, June 2001. Showing Mabel wearing a rather expensive set of wheels. On the return trip down the busy M1 I saw the familiar sight of a red car with white roof and round headlamps in the (vibrating, as they do) door mirrors. Great I thought another mini amongst all these euro-boxes. When the other car drew level with me, though in the centre lane. I was pleasantly surprised to see my first ‘new’ mini, I immediately thought, ‘it looks far better in the metal’. What surprised me, was this was early June and the new car wasn’t launched until the end of July. Still the traffic was too heavy to give chase so that was that. I wrote to Mabel’s former and first owner, asking for any info that she might have. On the 4th October I got a phone call from Nancy. She was glad to hear from me; though when she said, “I haven’t been paid for this car” my heart missed a beat. She was quick to reassure me that, it was my car, though she needed my help. Minished were telling her that Mabel was in a compound waiting clearance from a finance company. I was more than happy to fax her the invoice and the MOT etc. A few days later she confronted Minished, when they told her that Mabel was in Northampton having some work done, I guess they were a little sick when she produced the sales invoice. Anyway to cut a long story short, Nancy now has her money and needless to say don’t buy anything from Minished as we were the lucky ones! Minished have since gone bust and closed down, due to myself and Nancy not being the only ones whom they'd ripped off. Mabel was born (or at least registered) on 27th August 1998. When Nancy ordered her from SMC Rover in Uxbridge, Mabel was just another Naked body shell waiting patiently at Rover Longbridge, a few weeks and the majority of the options list later she was delivered. Along with Sportspack, Horizon Blue leather interior, walnut door cappings and the full-length sunroof. After a brief shopping spree at John cooper garages along with a couple of bits from Nancy’s old car (N449 UOL), Mabel gained an Aston filler cap, cooper mats, cooper gear knob, JC pedals and clear indicators. Regrettably due to illness Nancy was unable to take Mabel on the London to Brighton run that year. After a year or so’s happy motoring Nancy met Steve and they moved from Aylesbury to Milton Keynes. After some deep thought Nancy came to the decision that she needed a more practical car to commute to work in Aylesbury every day and as Steve didn’t quite have the stature sit comfortably in mini, Mabel had to find a new home. Which is where Minished came in. My old project car gave many additions to Mabel, torpedo door mirrors (to replace the wobbly Rover ones), chrome air vent rings, spot light covers, stainless wipers and a Newton commercial boot board. I’ve also added a few other bits, the Stainless RC40 back box to replace the rotten Rover one. A Rover CD changer, pale blue Rover mats, Rover mud flaps, Rover wood rim steering wheel, Genuine Rover alloy door furniture with walnut pulls, up rated adjustable tie rods, BMW ‘Cooper S’ badge, MG flag badges, additional rear fog lamp, window mounted brake light and chrome ‘GB’ letters, Minifin alloy rear brake drums, KAD 4 pot alloy callipers with drilled, grooved and vented disks. She's also now received a John Cooper S Works conversion taking her to 90Bhp.
Mabel as she is today. I have a few other minor bits and pieces in the pipeline. A JK 5-speed gearbox would be nice, but now I’m just dreaming. I have also acquired a Philips Carin Sat Nav system from a Vauxhall Omega, and some Steering wheel controls for the stereo from a Rover 200, might actually get around to fitting them someday! I use genuine Rover parts where possible. As a rule they are better quality. Although there are after market upgrades for various things. the Stainless exhaust being one example. I Acquired a pair of Genuine Rover leather trimmed dash rails from eBay. The seller had them made specially for him by Rover's supplier, this makes them a one off! Finished in Black and Blue Leather! I'm now gradually trimming the Plastic parts in matching leather. The Fuse box cover and Steering column cowling have already been done.
A birds eye view of her interior, needs updating now though! Like Nancy, I’ve found Mabel to be a real head turner (literally), It gets a bit embarrassing to come out of a shop to find a crowd of people looking at your car. I once had a bloke with a 1 year old Ferrari looking at her, “I used to have a Cooper” he said. On her first MOT the tester seemed more interested in telling me about the Mini that he rebuilt many years ago than doing the test. Mabel on her 1st London to Brighton
Run On the 19th May 2002 I took Mabel on her (and my) first London to Brighton run, she performed brilliantly, it was great weather for the sunroof and we had a bit of a chase with a Tahiti blue ‘S’ conversion (M5 YUM). I hope that to be the first of many runs, look out for us! Dennis Watts |
