Only have the car two days, but there appears to be very little in common between my old 1966 1275cc Austin Mini Cooper S and my new MCS. The new one is far heavier, complicated and sophisticated.

But so far, I have found some common points:

1- You are always smiling while driving. It's fun!

2- Sound systems are not quite as important as the mechanical sounds, which are more entertaining

3- You can go around familiar turns faster than you thought you could. Way faster.

4- It's very easy to scare the %#@& out of your passenger.

Anyone else spend some time with the original?

Life is better with a a MINI. Happy to MINImized once again!

Regards,
Red :smile:

 

I know there are many others on the board, but 8ball seems to have racked up quite a few sMiles in Classic Minis. Hopefully he'll see this thread and post a remark or two.

 

Hi Red, welcome to the crew. Just sold a 1380cc Mini with suspension mods, so I know whereof I speak.

1. Agree, smile is always there!:D
2. Who needs a sound system? Its a Mini! I do need a custom exhaust for the MINI!
3. Hell yeah! The new car can match or beat the cornering in the old.
4. True. Suggest stainproof seat covers.

 

One point that's not common. I don't carry any tools in the New MINI, but fill the boot with spares in my Classic everytime I head out of town. Both get the looks and are a blast to drive.

 

pflashinez
Tell me, what kind of tools & parts do you carry in your Classic Mini when you go on
trips? Within the next few days I will become a CM owner. Just had to have one to
go with my new MINI. I am buying mine from a guy who sells CM parts, so while I am at his shop I might ought to buy up a few things for an emergency.
Thanks!

 

Well, naturally a good spare is in order (even though on my last trip to Tucson I forgot to put it in). Nowadays I concentrate on electrical items, wire, fuses, connectors, points, condenser, coil. Used to take a spare starter, alt., and misc. bulbs. If your running the old Lucas elect. fuel pump take points for that. Also, spare fan belt and some coolant. A spare set of wheel bearings wouldn't be a bad idea. This list seems a bit much, but these are all the things that have gone south at one time or another when I was on the road with my Mini. The wheel bearing thing happened at the Route 66 run back in 1990. The more time you spend doing the simple maintenance items the less time you'll spend on the side of the road. I learned the hard way. Almost forgot, if your running carbs, always carry a spare set of springs and a throttle cable. Now that your boot and back seat are packed your ready to go.

 

Pflashinaz,
Thanks for the list. Hear you loud & clear.....
Happy Motoring!

 

I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same ...

When i got my MINI, there were things like the speedo and center-switch group that made it feel familiar all at once ... then driving home (in the rain) i felt some familiar handling, too ... it does go around the corners almost as well as the old one!

There are things like the rake of the windscreen that are the same - they both catch rocks, and they both get a blast of wind at speed that clears rain off quickly; The squared-off back end holds the wind too so both cars share that layer of schmutz on the back window ...
Both cars have anti-lock brakes ... although it wasn't actually designed for the Mini - kind of a bonus feature ...

Both cars have flow-through ventilation - but i feel i had more control over where it flowed in the old car ... i could reach all four corners in the Mini from the drivers' seat , popping the back windows open and sliding the fronts just a bit to get just the right amount of air.
On long trips, i could slide the off-side window open and stretch my leg out, foot through the window, left foot on the gas, in an attempt to get in some calistetics as well as ventilation (in the new car, there's too much in the way).

I liked all the storage in the Mini - in addition to the shelve that everyone is trying to emulate now, the door pockets were huge (front and back).
The back seat leg room was better in the old car too - and it could carry five! The head room in the front , i believe, was a bit more in the Mini , too ( at a bit over six feet, that was important ...).

In the old car, when i went to draft a Semi, i could take my foot all the way off the gas ... now when i get bored of having to draft with some gas applied, i just floor it and pass the trucks ...
The range is about the same for both cars - the Mini had a tank that was about half the size of the MINI's, but got about twice the milage...
... and i miss not having two gas caps; the owner of Mini City Ltd. perfected the fill-up tecnique of sliding to a stop between two islands at a filling station, jumping out of the car and stuffing one hose in one gas cap, while the co-pilot jumped out the other side and shoved a second hose in the other sides' cap ... looked really cool ...

As far as carrying parts, i learned quickly which ones i'd like to have on hand and which ones i didn't need - that was a function of how often i actually was doing the routine, preventative maintenance. My on-board tool kit got to be relatively compact with just the right number of screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, and gapping instruments. The parts i carried included (as already mentioned by others) belts, hoses, different ranges of spark plugs (before going to wide-range NGK's), band-aids, a spare distributor (why carry the points-and-stuff on the road? set up a second and just swap 'em), bottles of various fluids (including Guinness), extra Lu-car connectors, and the St. Issigonas Prayer Book.
Now, with the MINI, all i take is the Roadside Assistance card, and the Dealer Network book ...

Tuning is suprisingly similar: intakes, exhaust, rear sway bars ... just like old times! ... but with the Mini, i was never in a possition to have to worry about the Warrenty - if i wanted to port-and-polish a head and throw it on, i would ... now i have more to consider ...

... and then there are the Comments -
People used to notice how small the wheels were, now they notice how big they are ...
They used to ask if it was electric, or a two cylinder - now, if it's electric or a hybrid...
They used to look at the car with almost looks of horror, now they mostly smile ...... but they all look ...


... that's a few things off the top of my head ... i'll go find another Guinness and probably get hit with a few more ...

 

Wow, 8Ball, you really brought back some more memories for me. I do recall that the back seat had more legroom.

The only mods I had were a roll up driver's window, a Recaro seat for the driver, and a Paddy Hopkirk throtltle pedal.

I did install a new home made dashboard (easy to do with real instruments and switches!

The only thing I packed was a spare and dumb luck.

Regards,
Red

 

I used to carry a spare thermostat, and a throttle cable (after snapping one half-way around a semi-trailer). I never had to replace a distributor, though WD40 was a critical supply. I do miss the huge map pockets, front and back, and the pop open rear windows. A regular tire smaller than the "compact" ones that come with so many new US spec cars as standard.
It was always important to carry wire, wire strippers and electricians tape. The electrics were tempramental in all the Minis I owned. I also miss the milage I used to get (with fuel prices climbing here). I used to get about 200+ miles on a tank of 4 gallons. That was in an 1100cc. The 998 was better, the 1275 a little worse.
Hydroelastic suspension was more comfortable than dual cone but much more expensive to fix when it had a problem.
I think the most expensive fix I had to do to any of my Minis was after a wheel came off while cornering, I had to replace the caliper (front disk hit the ground) and the most frustrating was replacing the bypass hose at the back of the engine. About 2 inches long, concertinad and put into a gap about 1 inch long that was phsyically impossible to see.
I miss my old Minis though.

 

The huge map pocket in the door was available because the outer skin of the car was the inner skin of the map pocket. Did not have that feature on the driver's side, because it was fitted with a roll up window. Big space waster, but it was nice compared to the sliders.

And who needed power windows when all windows could be opened from the driver's seat.

I sold my 1966 S in 1975, so perhaps I did not have as many problems as mentioned by Agro & 8Ball. Just the odd dash board fire.

I had two Austin Americas before the MINI (like an MG 1100). Rode nice, but they could not pull the skin off a pudding.

Had to get a Mini Cooper S. Got it from a dealer called "Adams Mahoney" on the upper East side of Manhattan.

Regards,
Red