Irish Mini Owners Club

I got a bit of a fright the other day when I saw the thread on the prices of a re-spray. Had never thought that it would cost in the region of 2 grand*.
So that got me thinking, how much should everything else cost.
Rust, how much to put right?
Engine, what if it needs to be reconditioned?
Same with the gearbox?

Basically, if you buy a lemon – how much would it typically cost to make it into lemonade?




(foot note, had to get a bit of paint work done on a car yesterday and I asked the lad doing it how much it would cost to completely do a mini. He talked in detail about lots of different options, but the break down was a basic paint would be about 400, if under paint is needed another 400, and if you’re going metallic it’d be closer to a grand.)

Depends on what standard to want, You get what you pay for essentially, and as regards mechanicals, your looking at only a few people who would specialise in this work, personally I wouldnt trust anybody to work on my mini unless they know exactly what they are doing.

Depending on the state of the car, Id say to get it done 100% you could be pushing 10K possibly more if you want to get some mods done on the car.
If you read the likes of miniworld some of the show cars have nearly 20k sterling spent on them. IMO Minis are not a cheap hobby or car if your using it as a daily.

2 grand is a bit ott for a respray... i would want all windows, chrome etc removed for that price along with tea and buscuits while i wait lol... as kona said you get what you pay for but it is easy to get a decent spray done for cheaper but check their work 1st.... the thing that anoys me is bad masking of windows and stuff or more to the point the build up of access paint around window rubbers etc from just masking them, with a 2k paint job it would want to be like a factory finish.

a friend of mine can spray your car for about 750e give or take but gets a prity good finish, he is spraying his own and a friends mini's at the moment, i am trying to get him to join the club but he's too busy at the moment, but when the time comes he will be doing mine too. i could get pictures and post them if anyone is interested to see but it needn't cost 2k.... take the fun out of driving them....

And what about repairing rust? I've seen some scary pictures up

Mossess,

I've just had my Mini done by Martin Murray in Croom. Give me a shout if you want to discuss details.

Billy

The mini concept was thought of in 1957 and went into manufacture in 1959. Don t get carried away, there s nothing on the car thats rocket science. Learn how to weld, its not hard, you can do anything if u put ur minid to it. Thats when the costs come tumbling down

Well said Joe , everybody has a view on the cost of working on a mini and what a good finish is . But as you said get yourself some skill and the costs will come down . What better car to learn on than a mini simple a !

I just noticed the way i spelt Mind, MINID, The only thing is, when u get the skills there s more you can do with the car, and soon enough parts start coming into the house , then u start planning holidays around IMMs, this bloody car takes over ur life

Yes, doing the work myself would be the long term plan. But, at the moment I'm not in a position to work on one, and at this minute, even buy one.
So I'm basically working out the costs at this stage. On the plus side of things though is that a house move will be needed soon, and when that happens I'm putting a large external garage on the list of things the house must have.

A Mini is for life after all.

Make it a large garage, because one Mini is never enough

DaveC wrote:Make it a large garage, because one Mini is never enough

Thats sound advice!!! Amazing how extra Mini's just follow you home and sneak into the garage behind your back....

The advice earlier in the thread of "you get what you pay for" stands true for paintwork. The key to a proper paint job is in the preparation, and preparation takes time, and time is money. Simple as that. If you can do a lot of the prepping yourself, and lets face it, rubbing down old paintwork isn't rocket science, its just boring laborious work, you can help get the costs down. Painting materials these days aren't cheap either, so for a pro to put in the hours of prep work, and if they don't scimp on the paint, its going to cost. A quality paint job will add value to the car, but a poor paint job will devalue it. If you're considering a respray, talk to the bodyshop, see some examples of their work and judge for yourself. If you know nothing about painting cars, drag along someone who does and get a second opinion. Personal recommendation goes a long way too.