Irish Mini Owners Club

Hi all, my name's Stephen, and I live in Wiklow. I was directed over here by some friends off octane.ie.

I did something a bit mad the other day...

I jut bid on/won a mini on ebay: [url]http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... %3AIT&rd=1[/url]

The really mad bit is that I have never seen it.

Its in Leicester at the moment - the plan is to fly to east midlands on the 17th at 7am and bring it back to Dublin on the 630pm boat from Holyhead.
I would have got it this weekend, but it's being sold with a new MOT which it will get on Monday, thanks to some mending of sills that will be done over the weekend.

I know any sensible person would have gone and kicked the tyres first, but feck it - that would have cost me more than the car.

I reckon it'll get an NCT as it will have just passed an MOT. the Vrt is only 300 odd quid too.

Number one priority is to have it looked at by someone who knows what to look for.

Number 2 (assuming all is well-ish) is small alloys.

Can anyone recommend someone to look at it / somewhere to get some wheels?

Absolutely any and all advice would be welcome. Cheers.

congrats man!! think u mite have put ur hands on a bargain, looks like a nice lil mini and i wouldv been crazy enuff 2 bid 4 it 2 only 4 i got my mini last week :D
just one thing, if its a 95 model how come theres only 4 gears?? just seems bit strange but i dont kno much about it.. other guys are super educated on minis and they can tell u all!
best of luck wit it m8! 8)

If it had had 5 forward gears it wouldn't have been that cheap.

According to the DVLA its a 96 car and has only had one previous owner, (might affect the VRT a little), personally I think the NCT is much more stringent than the MOT, it will be interesting to see if there is much of a difference.

When buying from ebay or online and you don't go to actually see the car in real life, then you are taking a gamble, and therefore you must be prepared to make a loss, if you can handle that, then away with you, but if you can't, then don't bid.

Lloyd Hutchinson is in Delgany and races historic Minis also does work on them, might be worth asking him to have a look over it.

When you say "small alloys" do you mean 10" wheels, if so then you will have to change the brakes on the front of your Mini which are 8.4" and replace them with either a 7.5" set from the Cooper S or a 7.9" disc/ alloy 4 pot calliper combination that will fit under the smaller wheel.

Best of luck.

Yeah I saw the 4 gears - not that bothered as I'll only be using it to play with.

I'm prepared to take a loss, but obviously I'd rather not! If there's work I can do to it myself, I'll enjoy learning about it - done a few small things with my Alfa 156, but I reckon a mini is easier to learn on...


The alloys - I just want a nice minilite style set that fit! I'll buy second hand if possible. Anyone who knows where to look, your help would be much appreciated.

The reason I said 'small alloys' is cos I reckon that wheels that are too wide will ruin the handling on the twisties!

Rover Cooper Alloys are 12" and only 4.5" wide, you can get aftermarket alloys that are wider but you start getting into wheel arch cutting territory at 12x5.5 .

nice one - I'll have a look on ebay, in buy and sell and whatever. Better get the car before I buy stuff though!