Many thanks to the listings on Mini Mania. We've been considering getting a classic Mini and ran across a very tempting offer for one in Kansas City. So, this weekend we're planning to drive up and hopefully drive home a 1980 Mini 1000. It's a beige color at this time, but plans are to turn it into a nice dark blue with silver roof and bonnet stripes in short order. I'll be sure to post many before and after pics.

As for some details, it was imported from the UK last year and has 29,000 original miles. It had one owner all the time, an elderly woman. It is RHD and has an auto tranny, amazingly enough. The interior is immaculate chocolate brown (not sure if we're going to keep that or change it, probably change it eventually). It's in great shape all the way around and has been garaged its entire life. Selling price? $6k. Couldn't pass up the deal.

Pics to come!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya!

Congrats on your purchase. I saw that Mini as well, the auto was an unusual feature, I don't know much about auto Minis. Good luck!

Thanks! Hopefully I won't need the luck. How was it adjusting to RHD?

I'm hoping the auto tranny doesn't give us any problems in the near futures - knowing that autos might be more likely to go out before manuals. Considering that I can't yet drive a manual, I'm grateful for having the oppurtunity to get an auto. Learning with my left hand would have been killer!

That is so true, not knowing how to drive a manual would make it difficult, sounds like you found a good match for you.

I hope you don't need the luck either, I was just wishing you well!!!

Driving RHD is too easy. You will find yourself hugging the right side of the road! When I bought my manual classic, I jumped right in and I was off. Have fun

RVExotics,

A congrats would be in order, but I'll wait as I don't want to jinx your purchase. Sounds cool.

While you're in KC, there's a local MINI meet on Saturday morning. There are a couple classics among the members and if you would like an extra set of eyes, I'm sure there would be interest in checking out the car with you.
www.kcminiclub.com

Good Luck and hope this car pans out for you!

That sounds kinda like my Mini o.O Congrats on the classic.

We're actually going to try to make to at least the back half of the meet in KC (the lunch meet?) with the Mini and the MINI ('07 CR/B MCS). Both of us LOVE coffee and it's a real shame that there's probably no way we'll be able to make it to the Roasterie in time. The car is in Richmond, and we'll probably be getting there around 8 or 9. I figure we'll be there at least an hour or two checking everything out and making the purchase, and then Richmond is about 40 mi from KC. Now if there would be any way to delay the Roasterie tour...lol.

But yes, having some experienced eyes looking the car over would be excellent. Hopefully we'll be meeting several of you up there Saturday if the weather doesn't ruin it!

Good deal. I look forward to meeting you and the MINI/minis.

Welcome to the Dark Side!

The auto requires frequent oil & filter changes to avoid failure as the trans & engine operate on the same oil. Take good care of it. Trans parts are likely very difficult to find in the US.

You can eventually swap to a manual but its best just to buy a complete engine trans & front subframe.

I assume the poo brown interior has brown door panels? Good news - they can sucessfully be dyed black using Duplicolor Vinyl Spray Dye available at Pep Boys & other parts stores.

before you do any mods check it out carfully- it may be a rare model, and it being stock boosts the value greatly.

Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty sure this is just a typical Mini 1000. Here are some pics the seller sent me the other day. As you can see, that color's gotta go!

even still, autos are coming harder to come by each day, and in ten years youd be kicking yourself for the swap

Ohhh, don't worry about that. I'm not going to swap the tranny unless this one were to die, and even then I'd probably swap it for another auto. I don't really think I want to learn how to drive a stick with my left hand!

i learned how to drive a stick RHD, having driven LHD Automatic for years. its EASY! its very easy and much more fun. i prefer RHD over LHD since im a righty, i have a better grip on the wheel during aggressive driving

Remember that with the automatic it doesn't have a park "gear" so you have to always put on your emergency brake when you park and put it in neutral or in gear.

You'll find that the wiper and turn signal sticks are reversed from your MINI. I occasionally find myself 'wiping instead of signaling' when I go from Mini to MINI. (I never had a problem adjusting to shifting with my left hand. Go figure.)

Ah, good to know! See, any little tips like that ahead of time are great! Might save me from a surprise on Saturday. I'm sure I'll become very well familiar with the car on the 400 mi trip home.

You are very brave. Good luck.

Automatics don't have park? In other words, you park it in gear, but when you start it, you shift to neutral? Is that right? Unless there's an ignition over-ride, I would probably launch it through the garage a few times while getting used to start-ups.

Personally I'd ditch the interior color and leave the exterior, but that's just me.

My vote is keep the color, but then again, I only say that because I have the same color. Seriously though, look at swapping out the interior, preferrably with the MPi seats. Throw on some wing mirrors, paint the wheels to match the body, along with an early grill, and put the chrome bumpers on that have the over-riders on it. It makes it look like a older mini, but still very nice looking. There should be pictures of mine in my gallery. The biggest reason I say keep the color, is because its not the typical mini color.

If the exterior color were in better shape (uniform-ness) I might consider keeping it. As it is, there is some discoloration and obviously some fading. I'm not so nostalgic to not be willing to spiff it up a bit. Yes the interior is turd brown, but it's also in immaculate shape. I'm sure I will be replacing it, but probably not any time soon. The first interior issue I address will be the steering wheel. After that, then I can worry about the upholstry, seats, etc.

No they don't. I leave mine in neutral when I park because the car won't start if it's in reverse or in gear. (Another tip: if you turn the key and nothing happens wiggle the "shifter" to make sure it's in neutral. The car won't do anything if it's not.)