Spotted this 1973 Classic Mini while pulling into the parking area for my son's baseball game. My boy actually spotted it first (we are a MINIac family.) Was first time I've seen a classic Mini..boy does it truly live up to the name!

 

I love how you can see the evolution from the classic mini to the new minis. They don't look like twins but you can definitely see the family resemblance so to speak. Those classic minis are soooo awesome. I'd love to have one one day

 

Great find!! I love the look of the classic NINI, I just dont know if I can fit in one...

 

anyone can fit in one. that's the magic of the original mini's =P

 

I based my statement on the commentary from the Italin Job movie, where the classic MINI had to go extensive modifications (internal) to accomodate the actress...maybe I misundderstood...

 

Yeah, I don't understand what she was talking about. Maybe she just had someone adjust the seat position for her. I think you will find that there is actually more interior room in the Classic Mini than in my R56. Seriously. I'm not kidding about this.

 

I've had both and it's basically the same for the front seats, you can crank them back so far that there's plenty of leg room up front plus you don't have the center stack in the classic. The poor sap that sits behind is SOL however, old and new.
I did drive 4 folks around in my classic as I wasn't at the limit of needing the seat all the way back. I'm 6'1".

 

"I've had both and it's basically the same for the front seats, you can crank them back so far that there's plenty of leg room up front plus you don't have the center stack in the classic. The poor sap that sits behind is SOL however, old and new.
I did drive 4 folks around in my classic as I wasn't at the limit of needing the seat all the way back. I'm 6'1"."

Actually that wasn't true for the early ones. I had a 1962 Mini, and the first mod I made was a fairly standard one back then - the seat extension brackets. They relocaed the driver's seat about 4" farther back than normal and allowed people like me (I'm only 6'0") to dirive it.

 

My wife drives an '07 - I have a '73 classic. There's room aplenty in the classic. There's also no crash padding so you tend to feel a bit exposed.

 

My wife drives the classic, and I drive the '03



Nik

 

Well if you watch the new italian job, they did add a modern steering wheel to the car, so they may have had to modify for the wheel position. I don't know though. Just speculation.

I went on drives with a few classics about a month ago, that was a blast following behind some classics carving up and down the Malibu canyons.

 

The one I want to buy looks simmilar to these!


Will take a bit of money revamping it though! (and I want to boost it ^_^)

 

Wife is afraid to drive the 79 .... what a shame

 

Classic Minis are very rare in my area. However, I saw one recently being driven by an elderly lady. It had a vanity plate that said something like "DWNSZN".

The only time I've had a chance to sit in one was when I was in high school. My recollection was that I couldn't find a comfortable driving position. If I moved the seat back enough for my legs to be comfortable, I couldn't reach the steering wheel. Otherwise, I would have seriously considered getting one. This is based on memory from a longtime ago. So I could be remembering it all wrong.

 

That is a SWEET classic Mini!

 

A '64 Mini competed in our autocross last weekend, and did quite respectfully. It was right hand drive, and also race prepared. Our own '64 Porsche 356 SC ran, too. Did pretty well, although I did beat my hubby. I'm a lousy autocrosser, so I was glad, but after all, a MINI should beat a '64 anything!

 

IIRC, one of the car magazines did a test between some cars of that era and a modern Japanese mini van. The mini van beat the vintage Porsche.

 

It really depends on the autocross layout. If it's tight, the 356 doesn't like it as well--the rear wheels tend to tuck under, and when that happens, a spin isn't too far away. He did spin once. It was a tight autocross. Porsches sing on twisty roads, though...

 

I think the test included their usual race track.

Sing? I thought Porsches of that vintage sounded like incensed eggbeaters.

I was an Alfa Romeo fan. It sounded much better, but a Porsche could run circles around it.

 

Sing? I thought Porsches of that vintage sounded like incensed eggbeaters.

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Yup--sing. No "incensed eggbeaters" in an SC.