Hello everyone,
We've had 'Ernie' almost a year now and he is well and truly now part of the family - currently there are almost more Mini parts in the spare room than attached to the car!
He's an original Surf Blue Sportpack, and we even have the original sales invoice in his history folder - what a dude!
We picked him up from GC Minis (first major error!) on Friday 13th March 2015 (second major error!) and to say it was an eventful trip home is an understatement. We broke down on the A1 after picking him up, and had to be towed the rest of the way home - not a great start.
He was soon back on the road, but only for a short while - his rear wheel fell off going down the road!
But we soon all became friends again and since then *touch wood* he's been a little gem.
He needed quite a bit of restoration work, from a distance he looked great, but up close his issues started to show. we decided to enjoy him for the summer months and get to work while off road for the winter season.
Enjoy him we did, Ace Cafe, Brands Hatch, Himley Hall, and even a short stint on the telly with Ant Anstead for Building Cars Live!!
He occasionally goes to work with Matt, where he sits in the showroom being admired by all, including the valeter!
And at home he spends time with his newer brothers and sisters.
He came off the road at the end of last year and we started to strip him down.
The alloys went off for a full refurb
And we stripped the interior, which has now been sold. We have a new interior waiting to go in!
Yesterday we took him to the bodyshop that will be completing the resto work; all the usual Mini rust issues plus a few other complications, but with any luck he'll be back and looking fresh soon, so that we can start to refit all of the new parts we have ready and waiting!
To be continued!! 
