I just bought a 74 Mini off of a lot in Florida. The salesman told me an older couple used to take it to car shows but couldn't take care of it anymore and traded it in on a new Buick. The dealer was Phillips Buick in Fruitland Park, FL. It is Black with a white checkered roof. I'm not sure if this will help but there is a decal in the window "Florida Mini Enthusiasts FLAME 084." I'm planning on restoring it and would like to know a little about it's history. If anybody knows the previous owner and could help me get in contact with them or could pass my contact information along to them, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

The decal is from FLAME's annual Spring Thing registration. It was the 84th car registered that year. Now for what year? They only started issuing these a couple years ago. You might want to contact the club secretary/organizer of ST, Sharon Priep at purplemini62@aol.com she may still have the registration lists.

 

You might be able to get someone who has seen or knows the couple on Mini mania if contacting Sharon does not work.

 

traded a Mini for a Buick? that's madness!

 

sounds like my old one.....lol......but i think the guy i sold it to still has it..........

 

Thats the car. It looked alot nicer in your photo than when I got it. I have a ton of questions.

 

Post some pictures. I wanna see how it's different from Norm's picture.

 

here are some photo's i dug up of the car for ya.........

 

Hella sweet. I don't see why the new owner would need to restore it... (he has the boot repair thread)

 

i know what he's talking about it's in the very back Right rear.......also not sure the sales person is telling the truth about the car "if it is my old car" .....previous owner is about 23ish and lived in Lady Lake FL........still not sure why he would sell it .......doesn't all add up.........please post pics of the car....as many as possible......i will be able to identify if i see it

 

 

Wow......looks kinda rough......the car was restored less than a year ago.......more pics please kinda interested in how much wear and tear the previous owner put on it

 

That is pretty much the only picture I have available at the moment. I will dig up some more later.

Unfortunately, there is rust starting to appear in the roof gutters and around the seams. There are quite a few scratches where you can see the red underneath. There is a hole in the drivers side front wheel well. I'll post some pictures of these when I get a chance.

Mechanically, it backfires quite a bit and it appears that one of the cylinders is burning a little oil. The transmission is not shifting well, which I believe is partially due to the clutch not fully disengaging.

Honestly, the car is real solid and in pretty decent shape but I am real picky about details. There are just alot of small details that need work, but when you add it all up it amounts to quite a bit of work.

 

well from what i remember, this car was not garaged at all after i sold it.....so it wouldn't surprise me if it started to rust........it just burns me to know that the car wasn't taken car of the way i would have, but due to money prob's at the time i had to let her go.......and thats alot of miles put on it since i sold it.......

 

Norm, the more I look at your pictures the more I can't wait to get the car looking like that again. It looks like I was lied to by the dealer, I'm not really that suprised though. With enough time and money I'll get it back to show condition.

I just moved and haven't gotten around to getting internet hooked up at my house yet so I'll post some more pics from work tomorrow.

 

if you PM me your info i can mail you a complete disc of images of the restoration I did on it........sorry it didn't make it to you the way i sent it out of my garage......you never know who your selling your car to and it's unforchanet the car was treated that way.......Chuby Checker was a good car

 

For those interested in seeing how this car came about check out the restoration here: http://minicreations.net/chubby_checker.htm

 

Yeah, I'd say so. Who the hell would trade in a Mini to buy a Buick?!! Obviously something ain't right.

In any case, I'm glad to see the car is in the hands of someone who will take care of it rather than letting it deteriorate any further.

 

Not lookin to great in that picture. Doesn't seem like the previous owner took care of her.

 

Here's a few of the problem areas in this album. If you notice on the hood the paint is covered with fish eyes. I initially thought it was from not prepping well before the paint job but Norm's pictures don't show that at all. I wonder what could have caused the paint to get like that.
You can also see that the paint rubbed off where the hood closes, inside of the doors and some other spots.

Theres alot of dust in the pictures cause I have been doing body work on the Mini and my truck (Mini's tow truck) all week. I don't want to wash it with the bare metal.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...y.php/cat/2147


Big Norm,
I wish you would have never shown me that video of the car before when it was red. I had nightmares about the rust last night.

 

The paint blemishes look like acid rain.

 

wow........ i knew about the very back of the boot but have no idea about the other area's..........the people with SunshineMinis will tell you, when i had the car it was in mint shape.......not sure where the fish eye's in the paint came from........the car was wet sanded after it was painted and it had a showroom shine.........like i said before i know the car was drivin alot due to the miles that are on it now, and i also know that it was not garaged.......which can also be the cause of some of the issues........

 

How many miles were on it when you had it. I don't think you ever said. I think the odometer is in kilometers. Thats why I asked about how many times it has rolled over cause the 87,000 on it now could be 54,000 miles, 116,000 miles or 180,000 miles depending on how many times it's been around.

 

i will have to find the bill of sale from when i sold it but i know it was in the 64000km area.......i sold it to the guy in March 07......restoration was completed by me in early Jan. 07.......

 

Wow, those rust holes appeared in under a year?