Prospective buyer

[elpappy]

A friend of a friend has a Mini for sale and I'm interested. The story is Car bought in Japan. Somehow ended up in New Zealand. It was purchased on eBay 2ish years ago and is now here. For some reason it is titled as a 73 but obviously not (I think 94 but I need help with that).

What I know...It has Ac, Fuel Injection, has a “35 classic” sticker on the side, Front disk and rear drum, the vin is only 6 numbers, shakes at 65+ m.p.h, and has minor cosmetic dings and the only rust is a 2 few less than 1sq inch spots of rust be hide the front and rear bumpers.

What do I need to look for before purchasing (I did read the sticky)? What is this little guy worth?

Thanks in advance for helping I'm VERY new to the classic Mini.

[MINIxB]

How much is your friend selling it for? You could possibly find out the year it was made by checking the top of the boot latch. The week and year the car was made is stamped on the top..

[elpappy]

He is asking 10,000. I sent Don from MiniMania a email about it and he confirmed it is a 94. The only thing that really concerns me is the reliability of this engine and the shaking after 65 (tire balance or worse?)

It also has very small rust spots be hide the front bumper and rear bumper am I going to have to replace panels or is there another possibility?

[nabeshin]

It was probably titled as a '73 so that it could be registered in the US. I hear there are rules against bringing some newer ones in because of emissions and safety regulations.

edit: getting the tires rebalanced would not be bad first step. Even cheaper, rotate the tires and see if the shaking moves from the steering wheel to the seat or vis versa.

[veggivet]

How many miles (or km) on the odometer?

[elpappy]

I'm going to test drive it today (again) but with the wife. It has 77200ish km or 4800 miles and is due for an inspection today. Anything I might be missing?