SOLD for £13,500
“The greatest car of all time.” Autocar, 29th August 2012
We are pretty sure that most people who are reading this listing know what a Mini is and what it has (or more perhaps more relevantly hasn’t - unnecessary equipment, fripperies, wasted space etc.) and if you don’t, where have you been for the past 60 years? We hence won’t dwell too much on Sir Alexander Issigonis’ wheel at each corner ground breaking masterpiece but rather focus on what this super-early Mini is all about. So, in brief, shoving the wheels as far away from each other as is physically possible within the cars tiny footprint and dropping a compact engine, with its gearbox and driven wheels, into it at right angles to the direction of travel made for a Tardis-esque amount of space; effectively the blueprint for every compact front wheel drive family car made since. Launched in August 1959, unrivalled levels of charm and style coupled with a super-low price meant that by the mid-1960s the Mini was literally everywhere from Carnaby Street to both Country and Council Estates, transcending the country's already dissolving social boundaries.
The British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate on file confirms that this Austin Seven was built to right hand drive, home market De Luxe specification with the optional extra of a heater and was finished in Farina Grey with Grey and Red trim. Completed on 11th May 1961 it was dispatched a week later from the Morris factory in Cowley to Fletchers Limited in Swansea (Invoice Number 15463). It was then registered on 25th May 1961 with the March 1961 onwards Carmarthenshire Registration Number XTH 925 it still wears today.
Over the next forty-five plus years the Mini remained domiciled in South Wales and it was apparently owned by just one family, being utilised for everyday chores such as shopping and the school run. It also provided transport for longer trips out and even for family members to learn to drive in; the current owner found colour coded pedal rubbers with the car, green for accelerator, red for brake and amber for clutch. Having been passed down the generations it was eventually retired to warm, dry storage (see below).
The Mini was acquired by the owner, who is showing as XTH 925’s third on the V5C, from the family in December 2007. As can be seen in the ‘as bought’ photos, by then it was painted ‘Paddy Hopkirk Red’ and though highly original it was suffering from the usual ravages of time (we’ve seen a lot worse) plus a slightly dented roof caused by a heavy snowfall collapsing a roof onto it (presumably temporarily compromising the ‘warm and dry’). The motor engineer vendor then stripped the Mini to a bare shell and mounted it on a rotisserie before undertaking a full body restoration. The intention was to replace anything that needed to be but no more so, for example, the original floors were retained. A new boot floor, sills, front wings, front panel, valence, A Panels and roof, all correct for a 1961 model, were sourced from Mini Machine, renowned for the quality and accuracy of their panels. These were then fitted to a very high standard - this is by no means the owners first restoration.
The original Farina Grey paint found in the boot and interior of the car was matched to and the shell was repainted to a very good standard.
The Mini was then rebuilt with new or refurbished parts as required. For example, a new correct pattern cloth bound wiring loom was fitted along with new carpets though remarkably the original sound deadening material was good enough to be reused. This very comprehensive restoration was recorded in over eighty photographs, a small selection of which can be seen in our gallery.
With the Austin almost finished, the owner took up a position running a classic car servicing and restoration business in Australia and the car was placed into dry storage. While abroad he had the original engine and gearbox rebuilt and upon his return some ten years later, the restoration resumed. Unhappy with the standard of the work he had delegated whilst away, the owner rebuilt the engine and gearbox again himself. With early Mini gearboxes a known weakness, BMC produced a kit of gears, shafts and bearings with which to repair or upgrade cars to the later post-1962 ‘baulk ring synchromesh’ specification. The owner tracked down a ‘new, old stock’ kit and used this to rebuild the original ‘box. With the what turned out to be twelve plus year restoration eventually finished, the odometer was reset to zero.
Today, with the bodywork, restored and painted with use rather than showing in mind some fourteen years ago, it is still very good if not absolutely perfect. For example, the doors were repaired rather than replaced or fully reskinned and being hyper-critical, their fit is not absolutely concours spot on. More importantly though, on inspection we could find no evidence of any significant rust or corrosion at all. The Farina Grey paintwork - one of our favourites on an early Mini - still looks very nice, being smooth and having a good shine. A considerable upside is that while it is relatively easy to make a car look great when freshly restored, the passing of time will expose sub-standard work of which this machine seems to be free. Please review the photo gallery or better still view the car in the metal and make your own judgement.
The chrome-work is a little bit variable with new stainless steel bumpers box fresh and shiny, excellent headlight rims and grill ‘moustache’ while items such as the door and boot handles are un-refinished originals and slightly pitted as shown in the photo gallery. Unusually for a Mini the door handles do not droop which points to a lack of significant wear in their mechanisms. The correctly finished wheels have good hubcaps and the top quality Falken tyres have copious amounts of tread remaining.
Underneath there is a light coating of surface rust on some suspension components and oxidation to various nuts, bolts and washers but an hour or so with a can of WD40 or the like would improve this purely cosmetic point enormously. The original floors are slightly uneven in places but they are absolutely solid and rust-free with no underseal present to disguise potential problems. There is an area just behind the near side front wheel where the paint has flaked off and the surface of the underlying metal has started to corrode as shown in the photo gallery; this should probably be simply rubbed back and repainted reasonably soon. The mild steel exhaust retains its paper label and new brake pipes have obviously been fitted.
Carpets aside, the interior is remarkably original; a year or so ago we advised the owner not to replace it on the basis of ‘it’s only original once’, so if you don’t agree, blame us! The original red and grey fleck seats and door trims might benefit from a good clean and they have a couple of nicks, splits and wrinkles but they would score well from the increasingly important ‘preservation’ perspective. The standard Factory glue stains are present on the otherwise excellent roof lining. From the capacious ‘three bottle’ door bins to the original Routemaster-style steering wheel, flashing green bulb indicator switch, surround-less rear-view mirror, ultra-thin sun visors, chrome window sliders and correct plastic string door releases, the Mini is chock full of charming features, many only found on the earliest cars. Of particular note are the courtesy lights within the rear companion boxes which were only found on the very early cars and are often not seen on restored machines. The floor mounted starter button and magic wand gear lever are givens though the latter conjures up ratios better than any we have previously experienced with the change, if anything, still feeling slightly ‘running in’ stiff. The owner alerted us to a non-functioning fuel gauge but with fixing instructions already printed out, we are confident he will have it working again by close of auction.
In the boot the correct rubber mat is a bit ragged but the jack and associated tools are present along with the fragile fibre battery cover in very good condition. The painted surfaces are still very good with no scratches or scrapes while the spare wheel retaining bolt and disc are the originals, replated.
The engine bay is much the same, well finished and correctly detailed with no hint of things having been ‘overdone’. Original parts such as catches were replated rather than replaced even if they look as good as new. Even the new Kunifer brake pipes were silver zinc plated to give modern longevity with period correct looks. The correct ‘parallel dynamo’ is in place and it is hoped a brass heater tap is on its way to replace the incorrect version currently fitted.
Having been messing around with A Series engines for longer than the Conservative Party have been choosing a new leader (forty-five years or so), we have to admit this particular unit was something of an eye opener. After a week or so of inactivity it still fired first time with a whiff of choke and within a few seconds this could be dispensed with as it settled into a smooth 750/800 RPM idle that would point towards electronic ignition at least, if not fuel injection and one of those ECU thingamajigs. From then on it fired after just a few degrees of crankshaft rotation. The owner credits the distributor which was rebuilt (at considerable expense), with the correct vacuum advance, by the renowned Distributor Doctor but there can be no doubt that meticulous assembly of the engine also played its part in producing one of the smoothest, sweetest units we have encountered. Having covered less than three hundred miles everything is still bedding in and the slight blue smoke we noted from time to time will surely disappear with use.
On the open road the ride is classic Mini which is to say a little ‘bouncy’ on first acquaintance but one quickly appreciates the way it absorbs the sort of road imperfections that would cause a modern big wheeled, low profile tyred machine’s occupants considerable discomfort, mental and physical. The ace in the hole with this particular example is that it drives as one might realistically expect a new Mini would have done in 1961. Taut and responsive, there is not a squeak or rattle to be heard and its skinny tyres grip the road tenaciously.
The Mini’s history file contains a fairly well used original Austin Seven Driver’s Handbook, the aforementioned British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate, four old MOT certificates dating back to 1978 and a Sales receipt from the last change of ownership. There is also the current V5C Registration Document and a copy of a previous one along with a ‘Declaration of exemption from MoT’. There is also a summary of the Mini’s ownership history and the work that has been carried out. We will provide the new owner with the photographs of the restoration in a suitable electronic format. Unused for decades, very original and fully restored less than three hundred miles ago to a really good standard, XTH 925 just needs using - frequently. Increasingly hard to find in such good and original order the owner sums it up perfectly; “Not concours perfect but damned good.”
Give me a call on 07917 167397. Thanks Gerald
August 22nd at 08 : 10 PM
August 22nd at 08 : 09 PM
August 22nd at 02 : 57 PM
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August 13th at 11 : 18 AM
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