26 replies to this topic

[Mini-Sarah]

Hi, I'm on the search for my 3rd mini and keep seeing balmoral limited editions about, anyone know anymore on these? Can't seem to find any info on them but I've fallen in love with the interior! Were they a special edition to celebrate anything? And what colours did they come in? I've so far found them in red, blue and purple! Thanks :)

[Itsaminithing]

I'd ignore the 'Limited Edition' bull-crap, 50% of all mini's ever sold were so called limited editions. All this normally meant was that they had different body colours, trim, & seats from normal production cars. (There are limited editions that are more desirable from standard cars - but this isn't one of them).

 

I've come across various references to the Balmoral  as being a 1995 non-Cooper SPI, but a lot of cars advertised now as Balmorals are just a non-Cooper MPI

-so basically with minor differences the one you've been looking at is probably the same as a SPI or MPI Cooper but without the Cooper stickers.

 

The MPI cars advertised as Balmorals seem to be this

http://www.roblightb...97-onwards.html

Same engine, same gearbox, same diff etc

Different wheels -12" 'premium' wheels (pepper pot alloys) though you could order them with the Sport Pack (with 13" alloys, wide wheelarches etc).

Different seats - Balmoral stone beige (optional full leather available).

Colours - White Diamond, Old English White, Charcoal, Anthracite, Platinum Silver, Yukon Grey, Whitehall Beige, Flame Red, Solar Red, Nightfire Red, Volcano, Electric Blue, Tahiti Blue, Surf Blue, Kingfisher Blue, Hawaiian Blue, Amaranth, Morello Purple, British Racing Green, Almond Green

 

Personally i would buy a Mini based on it's mileage & condition, not on how pretty the seats look. You can buy a second hand interior a damned sight cheaper than trying to sort out some rust-bucket you bought because you love the seats.... Sorry but i can't help being be brutally honest at times -i'd rather that than see you purchase some money-pit.

Edited by Itsaminithing, 08 May 2016 - 02:09 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

Right. Lets get the truth...
over 50% of minis were NOT limited edition, thats rubish.

The Balmoral was a limited edition in germany only.
Later non cooper UK production models used the balmoral seats as standard BUT these are NOT Balmoral limited editions. Its just a case of people getting their facts wrong, like when people say they have a mini sky rose. If its a real Balmoral le then it would have been imported from Germany.

There does seem to be a lot of so called Balmorals for sale, so unfortunately there does seem to be a huge case of the blind leading the blind going on. Same as the rare and expensive cooper RSP alloys.

They are simply minis with seats trimmed in a cloth that was called balmoral because it was first used on the german ONLY Balmoral le (got this wrong... see below)

I think their correct name is a mini seven (going back to the old austin mini 7) but I'll have to confirm that.

Edited by THE ANORAK, 08 May 2016 - 06:52 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

Actually im quite amused by how the facts have been twisted on this one. You move away from minis for 8 years and people start making things up.
i guess DVLA's way of naming the cars dosent help.
Might try selling my mini city as a rare mini lightning because thats the name of the cloth used to trim it !!!!

[Shifty]

Interesting!!
I've got a 97 mpi with the Balmoral trim and I don't really know what to call it.
I've always thought of it as a Balmoral not a 7. I thought the 7s had a different full leather interior.

[THE ANORAK]

The leather interior may mark the start of the mini seven or it may be an option. To be honest im not sure, ill have to get the books out BUT i do know its not a mini Balmoral! !

Edited by THE ANORAK, 08 May 2016 - 06:23 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

Ok... from 1996 to 2000 non cooper mpi minis were simply called... mini. They had Balmoral trim as standard and leather interior was a option as was the "sports pack". In 2000 they were renamed classic se7en, more comonly known as the seven. These dont have the balmoral trim.
Overall 5,387,862 minis were made. Less than half were special or limited editions.

Edited by THE ANORAK, 08 May 2016 - 06:37 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

Got to go now. I'm off to view a mini a mini alloy gear knob limited edition at lunch time !!!!

Edited by THE ANORAK, 08 May 2016 - 06:48 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

Actually looking at the real german Balmoral, it seems to have the same seats as the uk sidewalk le. !!!

[THE ANORAK]

Yep. The Balmoral is the 1995 german version of the sidewalk and seems to have the open roof of the uk open classic le. In Japan it was called the tartan !!!

Edited by THE ANORAK, 08 May 2016 - 07:00 AM.

[some1158]

Ok... from 1996 to 2000 non cooper mpi minis were simply called... mini. They had Balmoral trim as standard and leather interior was a option as was the "sports pack". In 2000 they were renamed classic se7en, more comonly known as the seven. These dont have the balmoral trim.
Overall 5,387,862 minis were made. Less than half were special or limited editions.

 

Yes - the Se7en was a 1999-2000 model with red and cream leather trim, a bit like a 1959 interior. The 96-99 non-Coopers were just called 'Mini' and had 'Balmoral' trim. At least that was the case for the UK! I wonder what the non-Cooper Japanese-market model was called.

[Ethel]

Without looking at annual sales figures, the bulk of that 5 million were sold before 79 when the 1100 Special showed the appeal of limited edition models. Admittedly, most thought they were buying a collector's item, with the Metro set to kill off the Mini. Once the Mini got it's reprieve the stream of LE's must have been continuous?. It's Minis from that era we're left with so finding an "unlimited edition" is probably harder.

[some1158]

Without looking at annual sales figures, the bulk of that 5 million were sold before 79 when the 1100 Special showed the appeal of limited edition models. Admittedly, most thought they were buying a collector's item, with the Metro set to kill off the Mini. Once the Mini got it's reprieve the stream of LE's must have been continuous?. It's Minis from that era we're left with so finding an "unlimited edition" is probably harder.

 

Yes, after the 1979 1100 and then the 1983 Sprite, there was at least one if not two or three LEs every year from c. 1985 until early 1996, when the Equinox was seemingly an attempt to use up the last of the SPIs before the MPI came on stream. After 1996 there was the Paul Smith in 1998, then the final LEs including the Se7en on the run out in 1999-2000.

 

In some ways the LE models were superseded by the idea of greater customisation from the factory. What's very noticeable about the MPI brochure is the great increase in the number of options and ways to personalise the car, compared with the SPI and previous models. The LE models allowed Rover to maintain momentum and sell reasonably unique cars without having to allow full customisation of a kind that would have been more tricky in the 1980s than was the case by the late 1990s.

 

It'd be interesting to see figures for the sale of the City/Sprite and Mayfair relative to the LEs for the late 80s/early 90s.

[THE ANORAK]

Yeah. The first mini le was actually 1976, then 79. Then from 1983 there were diferent LE's each year until 1999.
As you say, the 5 mill mini was made in feb 1986 so approximately less than 1/5 minis can be limited or special edition.

[THE ANORAK]

My book states 1,439,819 mini 1000,city and mayfair models between 1969 and 1992. !!!??