Irish Mini Owners Club

Hi all, i'm a newbie here and i'm looking for a bit of guidance, i've been looking for a mini to restore and came across one locally, its a 1980 leyland with original tax book and two previous owner (both which i know). Its a complete car however my concern is, is it classed as vintage for a start and secondly its condition ill give a quick run down on what i seen when i viewed it.

starting with the worst:
1.both front floor pans are gone, some rot on the tunnel and Xmember and toe board where floor use to be.
2.inner, outer sills and door steps well rotten both sides.
3.boot floor is there but pretty bad all over.
4.bottom of both door frames and bottom of door skins rotten.
5.boot lid has rot on the bottom of it and valance needs some work, front end seems good enough bit of rust at bottom of A panel and on wing where it meets the scuttle and the xmember where the bonnet catch bolts on is rotten, from what i can see subframes and where they bolt on ares reasonable.

sorry its long winded, i'm just wondering in your opinion is it a salvagable project. i'd say it could be bought for €450. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

first off, for the purpose of insurance it would be classed as classic and vintage, but because it is an 80 reg it will still need to be NCT'd, anything registered before 1/1/1980 is still NCT exempt,

secondly, it would be salvageable but at a cost,
it would all depend on how much of the work you are prepared/able to do yourself, their are panels available for just about the whole mini!,
their is also a lot of welding needed from your description, how proficient are you with a welder?
if it was a case that you were going to get somebody else to do the work for you it could and probably would run into thousands,

the asking price you have quoted for the condition you have described also sounds a bit much seeing as what would be needed,

my own advice would be to look for a better example


btw, welcome to the forum

I am located in Louth,if you want me to have a look at it for you I would be happy to meet you.Give me a call on 087 2309324 Aidan.

I ripped apart an mpi in better nick than the one you are looking at . The sad fact is the cost of that sort of resto will far outstrip the value of the finished car . But I do take my hat off to anyone who does take one on . Its sad to see one broken for bits , but thats the times we now live in

i actualy think thats a fair enough price considering and never expect to get the money out of any car you put into it so its a matter of love and apreciation... a mini fan who can will restore a car regardless of cost unless they haven't got the money or know-how which in that case the car should be left to someone who will instead of being broke!! like we all buy more modern cars that devalue as every day passes so ye may as well put the same money into something worthy imo.
it would be a nice little car if brought back to standard and would still retain so of the nice early mini trademark features

Sounds expensive to me for what you're getting. Sounds like you're basically paying for the sides,roof and the engine.(which might have to be overhauled too if it's seized or anything.) Tops I'd pay for that from your description would be €250 stretching to €300 if you really wanted it. I bought a shell recently enough myself for sale with a fairly decent floor for €150. No engine but thats what I wanted so I could decide myself what to use.

Best of luck if you do get it and if not good luck when you do get one!

thanks a mil for your comments and thanks Aidan i.ll keep ya in mind. i'd be doing most the work myself, have my own blasting set up so might leave life handier. gonna give the owner a ring tomorrow and see if i can get the price down a bit as he told me it was vintage tax and nct exempt so see how that goes.
thanks again lads.