Irish Mini Owners Club

As a student living in Oranmore, Co. Galway back in the 70s/80s, my friend Gerry Hawkins' father Tom drove this Clubman Estate and Gerry and I often used it to get home from the pub. Indeed I drove it myself when Gerry was in a worse state than I was. All that is in the past and Tom died in the mid-90s and the Clubby was pushed into a shed on the farm where it laid since. For years I pestered Gerry to get my hands on it and last year he agreed on the basis that I'd do it up. So one day last October......



I packed up the Citroen with a compressor, tools, spare wheel, and wellies and headed for Oranmore.

The red thing is a fertiliser spreader, the yellow thing is a Mini



With the aid of Gerry's Massey 135 tractor, 570JIM sees the light for the first time in 17 years

Gerry and his son Gearoid pose with his father's old Mini



On to the trailer and off to Ballyhooly!

Good work Billy, another one saved.
Any progress since it arrived in Ballyhooly?

That's my feckin trailer board ~*@%£$$

Wow, fantastic find Billy! Best of luck with it, nice to see another Irish one being saved.

Darran.

Clubman estates are the new 850's. Most of that rust should buff out.

that's not rust.................... it's designer aging

Loving the reg........ We may call ya Jim now.....

How it scrubbed up:

Looks like you have another fine project on your hands billy! Good luck with the restoration, cant wait to see progress

Gotta love barn finds being put back on the road!

It dosent look half as bad as it did at first. Nice job Jim boy.

This yoke needs work, there's no two ways about it but it is an original Irish car so will be worth saving. It's stored away for the time being as there's another restoration at hand. Before KMG says anything, I'll post photos later.

Billy

I'll bring some polish & windowlene down with me next time......

Good to see the pics on here Billy



Tony

Billy you'd be amazed what difference a Cooney clean could make to a car.

If anyone knows of a scrapper Estate with a good wheelwell, I'd be interested as it's the one panel I can't source.

plminis have them billy

Thanks for that JD. I checked P&L Minis but could only find a boot floor for the saloon but not for the estate. The difference with the estate is that the battery is under the back seat so the wheelwell is a different shape.

If you spotted it on their site, would you mind pointing me in the right direction? What was interesting is that P&L stock a towbar which is also on the shopping list.

Thanks,

Billy

i just saw that mini estate yesterday when i purchase Mini World

I couldn't find a wheelwell when I was building mind and made a repair section. If your running 12" wheels you may try enlarging the well as you won't get a 12" spare in the standard one.
Thoes toebars look nicer but I think they attach to the subframe

I would think that the best way to repair the wheel well would be to modify a saloon one to fit and it would take a 12" wheel.The 10" is a snug fit in the estate as it is,I have an ordinary 10x3.5 in my estate because the 10x4.5" alloy will not even fit and allow the cover to be put over it.

thats some find alright,hope it all goes well for ya,looks like youve alot of work to do!

Seeing Keith's Clubby estate at the AGM got me thinking that this car deserves attention and could be ready for the IMM trip to Italy next year. What I originally thought was going to be a big problem might actually work to my advantage if I want to fit 12s. See how the wheelwell is rusted out.



Talking to Darran tonight about the panelbeater that did his red Mini some time ago could be the kickstart I need to strip it out and get some new panels together.





Checking the Somerford website, all the panels and repair sections I need are still available.

There are more panels there than you think

Those corners are a pain in the butt to repair and as Neil said more panels than you think in those corners.

Fair point but if you remember the work on Darran's car, the particular panelbeater was able to fab up new piece himself, which many panelbeaters don't do nowadays.

Go for it!

The panel beater who did my black Princess last year was able to fabricate some panels/sections that wouldn't be available in a million years.
Such skills are rare these days.

Tony.