Meet Marjorie...........

here she is my new Van, Marjorie is her name and she is a 1998 T4 VW Transporter. My new everyday car and soon to be Camper Van..................!

Soon to be British Racing Green, with widows in the rear doors and the sliding door, a 50's Gil Elvgren Pin up to adorn her rear doors, the interior to consist of a full width rock and roll bed, Cooker, Sink, Porta POO and a 12v Cooler.................well thats the plan any ways.

Just ordered the rock n roll bed so its going to be six weeks of hard graft on the Van, to get it ready, so unfortunately the Minus builds going to have to wait, although I do now have a van to haul around lots of parts...............!

Just when I thought I could get started, still not to worry the Minus WILL get started soon!

Bristol Mini Day...........

well it may have been for some, but I had some spare time during this past week or two and I started to look on e-bay for a VW T4 Van......................during our recent holiday to Cornwall I saw loads of these and its got me thinking........................

(Now generally I try not to do too much of this thinking stuff, usually cos it hurts my head as well as getting me into mischief), but it would be nice to have a camper for lots of cheap Holiday's?

So I did a bit of a search on e-bay and up pops a couple of clean looking T4's from the mid to late 90's, a quick phone call to a couple of insurance companies for quotes and before you know it I am in the car off to have a test drive in one!

So I missed the Bristol Mini Day to go and view a VW Van a good two and half hours away from home, on what was one of the nicest days of the year, luckily it was a nice Van.

A bid was entered, and before I can say oh no what have I done, I am the highest bidder, its now a nervous wait until Friday night to see if I have won!

Progress at Last............

finally got started, with a bit of gardening! Unfortunately there is no room on my Dad's drive to do the build, so the car had to move from its resting point outside the garage to the back garden.

So just three small (ish) evergreen trees to dig up (that I am allergic to, I come out in a blotchy rash if I touch them), a fence panel to remove, a greenhouse to manoeuvre around and a couple of well established bamboo bushes in pots to move about to get the mini into position.................

So Bank Holiday Monday complete with full on Hangover, on what was supposed to be a very overcast and wettish day I began............the trees came up a treat, all three dug up in about half an hour, which was good as I was getting a bit itchy!

But it took another three hours to cut them up bag 'em up and load up the car with the 1st load (the 2nd load - roots went in a 2nd load later in the week), lots more itching!

Then a good hour to manoeuvre the car into position, with me my Dad and my brother all pushing, mostly in opposite directions to get the car into the back yard.

And next weekend it the Bristol Mini Day on the Sunday at Puxton Park, Weston-super-Mare, hopefully some good weather and lots of photo opportunities to brighten up the blog....................

All ready to start.................

Still no progress................

finally finished the early morning shifts and started on some of the house renovations. Fixed up the garden during the 1st week in May, but no more DIY on the house untill the 1st full week in September, when its the turn of the Kitchen to be sorted.

Unfortunately due to the Garden work I missed the BMC show at Himley Hall on the 10th of May, mainly due to a lack of funds (garden cost more than I thought).

But progress expected soon...............

Spring Bank Holiday Weekend, 23 - 25th May and work to strip down the mini can begin. Between then and now however I am trying to work out how best to start, but I think if I go ahead in the order of:

1. Interior (seats, trim, audio etc)


2. Engine Ancillaries (alternator, carb, starter motor, Exhaust etc)


3. Fuel Tank and pipes


4. Front subframe inc Engine


5. Rear Subframe


6. Brake and Clutch Hydraulics (master cylinders and pipes)


7. Wiring Loom


8. Bodywork (bonnet, boot, doors & Chrome)


9. Glass


10. ?

The plan at the moment is to get the car stripped down before the end of Summer, so I can order the new shell as Christmas present to my self, then start fitting out the new shell as a 1st fix in the new year, before stripping it all again, to spraying and rebuild all over again..............!

So hopefully from June the progress should be more rapid and the blog updated more regularly.

Parts Wish list added to the right hand Column........................

Malvern Mini Day

The Weather was Cold wet and Horrible, but a good day out none the less. No real big shopping list at the moment, as I have yet to start taking NWS apart................I still had a rummage around in the jumble but nothing grabbed my attention....................

Still managed to come away with a new 2 ton Jack and pair of Axle stands, along with a new 1/4" socket set and 100 piece driver set the latter not for the mini but for the current daily driver, which one of the electric window has packed up on and being French has got those posi drive screws all over the place.

Unfortunately no pics as it was just too crowded to get any good shots, there was a pale blue Minus on one of the club stands. Just about recognise it from the minus registers site number 39 I think looks better than in the pics!Just wanna get started now, but still got another 7 weeks of early starts to go, even then I need to fit working on the car around fixing up the house...........

Insurance Quote

Attempted to sort out insurance to get the car covered while its in pieces, looked on Adrian Flux's website and they had cover for laid up but only if its garaged, so the best quote I could get was for a 1500 mile limited policy which does not cover parts if they are off the vehicle, tried to get Kit Car build up cover, but would only insure me if it was a "Full Kit" like a Westerham or Caterham................

Why can't life be more simple.......................................?

More Influences / Inspiration

I had a quiet few moments this week and time to surf the interweb, found a couple of blogs that I took a shine too (See Blog list on the right).

Found a photo of a very cool looking '49 Ford Saloon in a suede Purple, from the 'Lowtech' Blog......




The ideas are comming into focus........
......all I need is to combine the Mini Minus body with some of the body mods from the e-type / ABMC Shorting Brake, with the simplicity of the Classic Mk1 stylings with a mix of 50's Custom styling......
.......its just the details that are still blurry.

Suede and Chrome: American Car guy with loads of cool photos and links.

Lowtech: Swiss Car guy, with again loads of cool photos and links.
Fav Quotes-

writing about the '49 Ford pictured:
No flames, no flakes, no frills and just more proof for the philosophy that less is more. Or as the saying goes: keep it simple, stupid.

his philosophy on building cars /
(comparisons between traditional 32 hotrods or Cal look VW's):
……….building one of them in traditional style, you really have to find your own path between tradition and your own ideas and personal taste. There are many attempts (some successful, many not) to build that perfect car.

....capture "the look". May it be the combination of stance, details, selection of parts and performance or whatever.

And it keeps getting harder to build a car that really stands out from the crowd (or from the cars already built) but still captures the traditional spirit.

It's all about attention to details and a constant strive for perfection.

Could’nt agree more!

Inspiration & Influences

It’s been a long time in between posts, I apologise (not that anyone is following this yet), I have however been busy........... and not just with work.

Not a lot of progress has been made; I have got the space to start stripping the car, but have yet to move it to its new home. It looks like it will happen at Easter or maybe even in May just after my birthday due to work commitments.

But, I have been spending my free time productively, well looking at mini magazines, and the odd website trying to work out what the finished car will look like.

So I thought I would attempt to explain or expand on my initial inspiration and influences.........

I have always liked the Radford converted cars of the 60's and have recently found a couple of images to illustrate the blog with.....

I also stumbled across this, which is a BMC concept car (if only they had built them) and only one of the three built to survive........

Which has then lead me onto thinking about the style of the car, its "look".......... and I got to thinking about the GT Cars (Grand Tourer's) of the 60's and one of the best (well the best British Sports/GT) The e-type Jag:

but more realistically...............I have narrowed it down to making it look like a Mk1 Mini as much as possible, with additional subtle (ish) modifications.

Searching through some Old Mini Magazines I remember seeing a Grey MK1 Cooper Replica, that just sat right, looked right and was well detailed.

Then there was a pair of Fiesta Yellow Mk1 Coopers S's, again just simple Mk1 styling with period accessories they looked quick and subtly modified but so understated.

Mark Deakin's Tuned Cooper Replica, Tweed Grey
Mini Magazine December 2004 pgs 8 - 13.

Len Barlow & Barry Long's Cooper S Twins, in Fiesta Yellow

Mini Magzine February 2006 pgs 42 - 47

In a slightly more recent edition there was a French Mini Tuning companies Mini featured, Automobiles BMC Shorting Break

www.auto-bmc.com/abmc/

Yes I know it looks like a Sports Pack. But, it does have some interesting features.

Namely the rear doors, the fuel tank location and the rear folding seat mechanism. So with a little imagination, a hatchback design does work, and the Mini can have a nice big rear load bay ideal for carrying luggage on long trips, no need for a matching trailer, therefore no (extra) speed restrictions!

Looks alot like an e-type Jag........... if you squint a bit....ok, ok, ok alot......or though the bottom of an empty cyder glass! (the latter happens to me alot more than it should).

Bingley Hall BMC Show

At last my search for parts could begin..........the first show of the '09 season was upon us. I had a couple of quid to spend and a small list of essential parts to find and an even longer list of non-essential parts.

Show was good, absolutely packed......... according to BMC website it was the busiest ever! Some interesting minis on display on the BMC stand including a Paul Smith MPi in the £1 raffle, alongside a covered special guest that was later revealed to be an un-registered Mini 30 Special Ed with only 12 miles (valued at about £15k).............. to be raffled later on in the year at £2 a ticket.

The weather was cold and it was a fair old trek from Home upto Stafford County Show Ground, but we made it through the rain to arrive at a very soggy car park, with a couple of cars getting well and truly stuck...luckily not me!

Auto Jumble as always at mini show's not that extensive (sorry used to being dragged around Classic Bike Show auto jumble stalls by my dad........when he goes to Stafford the jumble stands take up the whole of the car parking site that was used for the mini show and they have to park in the fields opposite the main show ground site!) but I did manage to snuffle out a dry rear subframe, with radius arms (in full working order and not siezed) that looks ok. I've not had the chance to give it a good look over but for £35 you can't go too far wrong saw one on e-bay for £200............. bargain!

So I am currently feeling very pleased with myself! (all the way up until I find out the thing's bent and twisted out of alignment and more rotten than the one thats on the mini already).