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Welcome Back !

Posted by Interstage Tranny (A) on July 17, 2017 at 07:49:50

In Reply to: I'm lurrrkinggg...just a ghost in this house. posted by ghost of olddude55 on July 14, 2017 at 16:03:20:

Lurking ghosts are fine. We just needed to know you were okay....

So, let me get this understood...Is this fascination with a vintage sports car something like a mid-life crisis ? I had one of those, circa 2000-2001. I craved either a restored muscle car (had a few in my youth) or a certain 1958-'59 Chevy/GMC NAPCO conversion Suburban. After checking a few affordable choices, my wife reminded me how silly it would be to spend our hard-earned money on a car/truck still needing resto. She asked, "How about another Mini...?"

Way back when, 1981, our honeymoon car was a beat-up '67 Austin Cooper 998. In spite of the British normalities of car maintenance, that car was way too much fun. 46 mpg by the way...She reminded me how I once retrieved her younger sister from a movie theater, along with five friends, and proceeded to drive them all home through the upstate NY twisty roads. While that was not a fun drive, I was then convinced we could definitely fit our two kids in the back seat.

So, I began researching which sporty tin-top cars our budget could afford. Between a Honda CRX, VW Scirocco or Mini, the Mini was by far the most affordable, at that time...In the eighties, old sports cars had little "lifeline" help available. The auto-parts stores were the only life-line...But, after the internet boom, car clubs abound in every state. Not only is there a British car club in most populated states, there were actually two nearby Mini Cooper clubs and numerous active restoring "dealers" within fifty miles.

Like the now defunct NJ Mini Owner's club, I am sure you can locate some sympathetic British car lovers, as I did with a wee bit of research and phone calling. I wanted an everyday driver car, not a show piece. I wanted to autocross again, reliving some adventures of youth. When I mentioned to a Brit tech not too far away that I wanted an everyday driver, he was very enthused and invited me over to his barn full of British sports cars and over 25 Minis.

I cannot fit inside many of the sports cars I always dreamed about. Lotus and TVR (highest recommendation for you, if you can fit comfortably) just did not want my extra large frame inside. Like those, my knees hit the dashboard of a Sprite/Midget. Man, did I want a frogeye...But, the Mini has an unbelievable amount of room inside, for two. Like any other sports car, tight turns may cause some shoulder rubbing, but the Mini handles better than anything, within "normal" speeds.

More importantly, Original Cooper S Minis have the best brakes, period. Seriously, you get the ultimate in dodgeability, very surprising speed and fantastic brakes. And, those brakes fit inside those little ten inch wheels ! Even with twelve inch wheels/tires, the Min will outhandle most contenders. In dry weather, my 68 Cooper S with roll-up windows, outhandled and outbraked our WRX ! Sure, I could drive the WRX as wildly as I could the Mini, but the Mini handles gracefully. Taking a right angle turn with the WRX at 45 mph causes sideways drifting and gas-on correcting, while the dry-suspended Min simply pivots gracefully with g-force of 1 reliability.

Okay, so why am I trying to convince you that a vintage Min could be the choice ? Because, the Spridget family requires way too many upgrades for any practicality. Their rear suspension swing arms are a major problem. Their street brakes will never compete with the normally fantastic brakes of Lotus, TVR or genuine Coopers. Their soft-tops are and will always be a pain. BTW, there were some genuine 1990s Minis with convertible tops; now very rare and sought after.

I could go on, but you have to drive some cars, my friend. You have to research and decide. The old points distributors can easily be updated with Pertronix pointless innards and the Aldon race distributors can negate any vacuum advance. So can the original Cooper S distributors, which will fit the 1275 Spridget engines. The fun never stops with real sports cars...it just gets interrupted when they break...

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