59 replies to this topic

[shedonwheels]

Introducing my mini, Vinnie.....




I didn't know much about Vin when I got him so I wrote to the old owner on the paperwork. A lovely letter came telling me that he was bought brand new by an elderly lady as a 90th birthday present to herself in 2000. The lady, Rosalie, was featured in The Sun(!) and also drove Vinnie in an episode of the old Top Gear all about elderly long-time drivers!



You can't see the article very well in that photo but it says

"Motor-mad Rosalie Wass celebrated her 90th birthday by spending £10,000 on a Mini Cooper Sport [hes not a Cooper Sport, stupid sun reporter!]. It's the fifth new mini Rosalie has bought since snapping up one of the first off the Longbridge production line in 1959.

She said last night: "I don't suppose many 90-year-olds buy a Mini Cooper as a birthday present but I've always loved motoring."

The retired headmistress paid £165 for her first motor- a ruby red Austin Seven Deluxe she called Phoebe-in 1936. Despite now entering her eighth decade of driving Rosalie has had just one minor prang- and has always bought British apart from a Fiat 126 in the Seventies.

Rosalie, from Sheffield, added: "Minis have always been my favourite after my Austin Seven. They're so manoeuvrable and they're very economical."

Her latest Mini, which boasts a top speed of 90mph, will ferry her to shops, bridge games and the golf club.

A Rover spokesman said:"She must be one of our most loyal customers."

I'm still searching for the Top Gear clip, would be grateful for any ideas of where to look for it!

Rosalie used Vin to drive to the shops and to golf which she played until she was 91 and she drove him until she was 93 when she sadly became too ill to drive. This is when her niece, the lady who wrote the letter, inherited Vinnie. As far as I know Rosalie is still going strong in a nursing home up in Sheffield! I'm trying to keep in contact with the niece.

A 'better' photo of Rosalie and Vin.....



and with her Austin Seven....


So fastforward to the present day and Vinnie is now my first mini and my daily drive!

I'm not planning on doing anything too drastic to him but the first thing i think he needs is a nice centre console and maybe an armrest.....

Here is a picture of his interior


I'm planning on making the centre console myself which should be interesting..... i need it to have a ciggy lighter(for plugging in my satnav not nasty cigarettes ) and quite fancy having cup holders or a little sliding coin drawer! Not a massive fan of walnut although quite like my dash, so I'm thinking it will be trimmed in stone beige to match my seats....

Edited by Verns Playmate, 22 April 2010 - 08:32 PM.

[GreaseMonkey]

The seats are gorgeous

[91neon]

thats a minter!!!

I would write a letter to bbc or even go as far as you tube (its amazing the stuff on there!) as top gear often features on there i just typed in top gear gran and loads came up

cheers nic

[shedonwheels]

The seats are gorgeous

Thanks! went to look at lots of minis in the summer but it was these seats that sealed the deal for me! bit cold on your bum in the winter tho

thats a minter!!!

I would write a letter to bbc or even go as far as you tube (its amazing the stuff on there!) as top gear often features on there i just typed in top gear gran and loads came up

cheers nic

You wouldn't believe the hours I've spent on youtube watching all the granny drivers and topgear clips! I tried emailing Topgear but I think it was the old series she was on as it would've been in 2000. Really want to find out which presenter it was that rode in the passenger seat! I found a site with loads of tv archives but couldn't find it on there, I'll try writing to the beeb next

[yorkshirechris]

Amazing story! thanks for sharing it with us

[shedonwheels]

ha no problem! i couldn't believe it when I got that letter through with the newspaper clipping, I really didn't expect to get a reply at all, it made my year !

[yorkshirechris]

Awesome I'm trying to contact the previous owner of my Mini I just bought, to ask a few questions about its history, I found a mobile number on some documents I got with the car and I left a message earlier but it isn't looking hopeful

[shedonwheels]

Right so this past week Vinnie has had a mini makeover!

During the week he had some new tyres fitted- yokohamas (*swit swoo*) Then on Friday he had a new exhaust from mini sport fitted.....

......so he went from this (note the peashooter)


to this !


i like the sound a lot now and he seems a bit nippier although that's probably just in my head. When he was getting his new zorst fitted up on the ramp a couple of young lads walked past and yelled "whoooo mini cooper mini cooper, pimp my ride mini cooper, stick some neons on it!".

Then over the weekend my lovely older brother helped me fit some new arches to vin. I would prob have just sprayed his originals but two of those were cracked so they needed replacing and i wanted some with a chrome lip, soooo group 2s from huddersfield spares were my choice.

First 'we' cut out the various seam holes in the arches and sanded them down then got the primer out and knocked up a cardboard box diy spray booth.


Then after two days, three rounds of primer, two whole cans of tahiti blue paint and two coats of lacquer we had these.....!



My brother drilled out the old arches......



i was prepared for lots of rust so was pleased with what we found! wasn't too bad, just 9 years of grime to scrub away! we painted on some kurust and treated vins secret rusty bits that are normally covered by the sill trim.

Then 'we' pop rivetted the new arches in place, a few holes didn't quite line up so vin had a few new holes added to him the poor thing, so glad I had my brother to help me with this, drilling is scary.

After they were all fitted I added a chrome lip and here he is as he stands today.....



Will take some better photos soon but he's not very clean and not quite finished yet! Really happy with our progress this week!

Edited by shedonwheels, 01 May 2009 - 01:33 PM.

[rozzer!]

you have done a top job on the arches there! wonder who said how to do them?! hehe!

[bamby]

oh my Vin does look good ! love the arches and the tyres look smart .. what zaust did you go for ?

[Elisha-The-Cooper]

good job
xx

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

look great that i really like my black plastic arches dont think i could make myself paint them

[shedonwheels]

Thanks for all the comments!

you have done a top job on the arches there! wonder who said how to do them?! hehe!

haha thanks for all the advice terry! was my brother that did all the spraying really, i did the first coat and got a massive run in the paint which we had to sand down and go over again so after that I just 'helped'!

oh my Vin does look good ! love the arches and the tyres look smart .. what zaust did you go for ?

errr, its the minisport 'ownbrand' jobbie! I will get a decent one when this one dies (prob in about 6 months ) but this one suited my budget for the time being. I was also a bit of a pleb and couldn't work out what i needed to order rc40 wise from minispares and when i rang them up i think i just confused them! Found the minisport website was just the most straightforward to understand what i needed to get. It looks ok/sounds/performs alright though

[megabob]

very nice, very clean interior and nice arches

[shedonwheels]

Didn't see that comment Megabob-thankyou!

It's been ages since I've updated this!

For my birthday I was given an arm rest from custom consoles, a bit like this one only in stone beige....



With the storage bit....



I've also bought a plain stone beige centre console from custom consoles as it was the cheapest they did. I want my centre console to be a little different so after buying some air vents to go in it I also found this....


Part of a Vauxhall Vectra dash (not the actual one above but that's what it looks like)! It has a working cig lighter and a small ash tray. I've cut off the top half of it which were cup holders. Really fancied having cup holders but it's just too big and chunky with those on it to fit in the console plus they spring open and the position they would've been in would mean them springing into the gear stick. Now I'm recovering the half I've got left with some stone beige vinyl bought from retro retrims (thanks chris!). I also need to line the ashtray as I'll just be using it for storing bits, I thought I might make a small union jack out of vinyl and pad that out and line it with that for a different look. Not decided yet though!

I'll get some more photos when the interior is finished-got some nice new mats to go in too!

So I've been using Vinnie as a daily drive for about 10 months now and he's also parked on the street in all weather, this has begun to take it's toll on his bodywork sadly.

I took a few photos of his worst areas so I'll be able to see as it gets worse,

The worst rusty area is under the driver's side headlight,



Close-up...



Then some rustyness along the sills, Drivers side front,



Other side towards rear quarter,



Small bubble on scuttle,



Underneath the front it''s not good either but I didn't take the best photo...





Also on each door there is bubbling coming up under the mirrors,

And on the driver's side there is tiny bubbles at the bottom you can just see in this pic...


Don't think the doors really need doing too urgently but I definitely want to sort out the front bits, sills and that patch on the scuttle before the end of the summer!