45 replies to this topic

[0525116]

Soo I figured I would make a thread on my mini there's been plenty of changes on the way..

 

I ALWAYS wanted a mini when I was a kid, I would always be looking out for them and buying the odd mini magazine and little models of them..... fast forward to October 2012..

 

I had past my driving test a month or so ago and now was on the look out for a Mini.

 

My dad met a friend through work who's wife happened to own a mini and was thinking about selling it, he also explained to me that it was.. PURPLE, I wasn't too keen when he told me what the colour was, as I really wanted a sky blue or a tahattie blue sportspack mini... So I was sitting at the garage waiting for it to arrive and I can remember the lovely sound of it I could hear before I could even see it..

 

These are a couple of photos I took from that day:

 

 

 

 

 

The purple turned out to not just be purple but... Ameranth, which turned out to be really awesome, changes from purple to blue depending on the lighting! Awesome...

 

So after giving it a good check around everything seemed okay, sooo I made an offer and the rest is history.. she wsa mine.. I got her on my birthday, 4th November (was cheaper on the insurance to wait till then!)

 

 

She was wearing the magical P plates for a week or so ha :)!

 

Now to me.. She looked slightly too plain so I wanted to kinda give her some more character.. make her my own mini!

 

At first it was just minor changes.. such as the grill which was ugly.. the wing mirrors... fuel cap etc..

 

 

 

At this point I was looking into what decals my car was missing, I come across the equinox register website, which is sadly only half working.. but they did happen to have a copy of the brochure and more photos of equinox's so I could see what decals should be there....

 

The car had been restored a few years before I purchased her.. but they never put any of the decals on..

Edited by 0525116, 02 January 2015 - 05:12 AM.

[0525116]

By this point I had found this forum and was learning lots more about minis in general but also keeping an eye on the various traders on here... that's when I came across stickyfingers on here.. saw some examples of there work and was like right.. I want some of the equinox details, but also I wanted to try checkers.. I was looking for pictures of minis that had checkers but small ones on the roof, I could barely find any! But I wasn't keen on the huge checkers.

 

Not to worry though, sticky fingers (thanks Martin & Chloe for still being open for business on such a snowy day) did there magic with my requests and after a very snowy trip to Nuneaton to have them all fitted, she looked like this:

 

These I took on the drive back.. the snow was so bad:

 

 

 

And these were the next day with a better camera:

 

 

 

 

Looking back, it probably didn't do the stickers too good with the weather and the coldness, but alas, it was done and I was well happy with the results! :)

 

Also decided to go for cooper style wing badges as I just like the look of them more.

 

Now it was late March in 2013, nothing much changes for a while now.. I do love taking photos on my mini though!

 

 

 

[0525116]

I met a member on here not long after that (Brad, hi if you read this!) and ended up joining the mini club he was in.

 

Not much else happened on the mini for the rest of the year, but with my new found mini friends I ended up at both London 2 Brighton, Mighty Car Mods Meet and Mini in the Park.... had a fantastic time! :

 

London2Brighton 2013:

 

 

 

 

 

Mighty Car Mods Meet (we had such prime parking haha) 2013:

 

 

Mini in the Park 2013:

 

 

Those eagle eyed viewers will have noticed I changed the wing mirrors, I didn't like how the chrome ones bended up.. so I sprayed my old original black ones the same colour as my car and got some small checkers made up for those too, they looked pretty mint!, also dabbled trying some tyre paint.

 

Winter 2013:

 

Winter was drawing in, as was the nights.. I felt I needed some more lights on the car so decided to try some spots....

 

first two:

 

 

then four:

 

 

[0525116]

So onto 2014:

 

spring arrived, as did some maintenance work on the mini and also freshen up some of the chrome that had gone past its best, I also decided to go back to just two spots now the weather was getting better:

 

 

Now just away from my mini for a second.. since a few weeks before I owned the car, I started getting panic attacks and anxiety, to begin with it wasn't to bad and I would just try and carry on as if I was OKAY as best as I could.. It first started in a cinema of all places, then at a fire works show I was really bad that I went to just before my birthday.... slowly it started effecting my driving.. I'm find round the area I know, or in towns and 40mphs roads.. but on the motorway.. especially on the way back from some of the big shows in 2013 I was really panicking at times when driving!... 

 

Sadly at the start of 2014 it was really effecting me when driving, even just the 15mins drive from work to home.. I had to pull over 5 times and phone my sister to just calm myself down.

 

I brought my london 2 brighton ticket for 2014 with the intention of going but in the back of my head I knew I probably shouldn't, I wasn't right driving there.

 

Anyway, about 3 weeks before london 2 brighton... this happened:

 

 

The photo doesn't really do the damage justice, but the wing was all bent in with the arch popping off too...

 

I crashed into my best mates mini (the first guy I met on here), I've never felt so gutted in my life, my car got off very lightly compared to his. It was such a stupid slow speed accident that I'm still upset with myself over it now! The main thing is we were both okay, and we are still friends too :)! (Brad your awesome!)

 

My panicking was getting better prior to this accident, and it played no part in it as I was fine at the time. But the accident kinda set me back a long way with dealing with it.

 

So I decided that I wouldn't risk travelling to any of the big shows in 2014, it felt so gutting seeing all the photos of my friends and on here of the shows and me not being there, being a part of it!.

 

I patched my car up so that I could at least drive to work without getting pulled over until I could sort out the repairs. (we didn't go through the insurance, I paid for my mates repairs which was as little as I could do for him and he managed to get her fixed up for London 2 Brighton)

 

 

Luckily I never chuck anything away so still had my old ugly grill to use.

 

And so began the repairs done by one of my mates I met through the mini club I'm in, on the plus side, my mini was having some rust issues at the front under the headlights and I always wanted to have sportspack arches and bigger wheels, so I took the opportunity to get it all done, this bit is very picture heavy, sorry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sooo yes the wheels are pretty over arched at this point, but I'm very happy with how the repairs went. A few other changes, some grill buttons and also a new more snazzy style grill that sits more proud. Sadly I was now missing some of my lovely decals.

 

[0525116]

I didn't stay totally away from the mini events though, I was slowly getting better with driving again and went to Mini Spares Midlands open evening:

 

 

 

Some more of my car fresh after being repaired:

 

 

 

At this point I ordered some checkers to redo the bonnet, luckily stickyfingers gave me extra pinstripe to redo the sides :)!

 

 

 

 

Sooo some post decal pics (yes I take far to many pictures of my car, but heck minis are fricken awesome)

 

 

 

 

 

Sooo now after looking at so many pictures on here of minis, I was trying to decide on what wheels to get, I stumbled across the 10" wheel thread, and in-particular silverbullets mini, not only does it look awesome, but those minilight deep dish wheels nom, plus they would be wide enough to fill my arches.

 

Firstly I decided to fit high los and some gaz shocks:

 

 

And then in December I finally got the wheels, they looks so god damn pretty!:

 

 

 

I test fitted one on the back to get an idea on how it'll look:

 

 

 

So thats where I'm up to, the start of 2015...

 

Plans

 

- Fit the Brake conversion kit (I have it, just needs fitting)

- Put my 10"s on

- Spotlights make a return (maybe some small ones, I don't want to hide my lovely grill)

- Overiders and bars

- Maybe think of a Name for her, still haven't set on one.

 

and the biggest one

 

- Go to as many shows this year as I can manage with my panic/anxiety .. I really don't want to miss out again, even if its slow trips down A/B roads at 40-50mph instead of the motorway, I'm going to really try and do it, I'm determined not to let this control my life anymore! So if you do happen to see me at a show this year, feel free to say Hi, it'll will have taken a lot just to get there ha! :)

 

onwards and hopefully.. upwards..

 

I'll keep updating this thread with developments on my car, I know this has been stupid long, but I hope you've enjoyed my mini adventure so far :)!

 

Adam.

 

[0525116]

maybe I should have posted this in the projects section? If a mod sees this can you decide where it should live :) Cheers.

[Jared Mk3]

Lovely little car you have there. Great choice in wheels too :)

[Gadgets]

Nice thread, enjoy your mini and drive carefully, yes all good cars should have a name!

[Steve220]

Mini ownership never comes without it's adventure! Nice progress! Have you considered binning the exhaust for a more subtle side exit and putting colour back into the rear lights?

[mr cooke]

Great mini you got there love the colour , Hope your o.k now

Must get some pic's up when you have your 10's on

Chris

[superhuhn]

I really like it that you kept the original colour!

 

Good luck with the driving...

[megamini_jb]

Great looking mini

[Deathrow]

Moved to Projects.

[Ben_O]

Very nice!

 

congratulations on owning such a lovely Mini

 

Good luck with the brake conversion

 

Ben

[mark-stranraer]

looks awsome!