Dave and his neat Mini estate

Mini Clubman estate photographed after restoration work

Dave kindly sent over a selection of photos featuring his neat blue Mini Clubman, and the following story about its collection and the improvements that he's made to it.

The picture on the right shows his Mini estate (a direct descendant of the 1960s Mini Traveller) as purchased, and before the restoration work was done to it, of which more below.

In the original photo, the Min is fitted with what look like Group 2 (I think) arches, and replica Minilite-style wheels. Under the surface a fair bit of work was required to bring the Mini, a car built by the British Leyland empire of the 1970s, up to standard.

Here is the story so far ...

More information on this Clubman estate:

"My Clubman Estate was purchased as a private sale in Solihull in the tail end of 2005. I went to look at it on day one (Saturday). Day two (Sunday) I took a friend to have a look at it. Day three (Monday), my mum, sister and myself went to pay for it and pick it up. We travelled down in the afternoon, did some shopping in Solihull and went to pick it up early evening, about 6pm.

This all went without a hitch except the driving position was somewhat different to my sidewalk and took some getting used to. The lights seemed to be pointing at the sky and the wipers did not wipe the window. Just my luck! Lost in Solihull with poor lights in the dark, in rush hour and it starts raining!! I managed to do my usual and get mega lost, ending up in Coventry. Not impressed!! By this time I was in desperate need of fuel as the previous owner had been very kind to sell it almost empty. I managed to get on the M6 motorway, now that was scary, very scary, bad lights, big trucks and bad wipers. We got back home though in the end, although it was about 10pm.

I used the clubman as my daily car until Christmas 2005 and then started swapping between the clubby and the Mini Sidewalk (my other Mini, see www.minisidewalk.co.uk). I replaced the exhaust and starter motor and then decided at the end of January to have the rest of the work required done in one go. I took the clubby to Leaton Mini Centre near Shrewsbury and they have carried out the following work:

New inner and outer sills on both sides, new front floor pans on both sides, a new rear subframe, re-fitted drum brakes and 10” wheels, aftermarket arches removed, shell rubbed down and resprayed in the original colour.

It now looks pretty good and only has a few outstanding things left to do; these are being sorted as I write this. These include having the doors sorted as they have dropped slightly, a new MOT and some other little niggles. "

Thanks for the write-up and stories Dave, are there any more Mini owners out there who'd like to see their car featured too? please drop me a line if so. As well as the Mini Sidewalk website (link above), Dave is also setting up a local Mini club for the Market Drayton area - see www.marketdraytonminiclub.co.uk.

If you need parts for your Min, or have some bits for sale, don't forget there is an extensive free classifieds section on oldclassiccar, here: Free Spare Parts ads. Fans of proper Minis can also download a screensaver featuring their favourite British classic here.

This just one of a number of stories & images of classic vehicles owned by surfers who have called by my oldclassiccar website - why not send me your details and see your classic on the web?? Click on the image link below to find out more, its easy!

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