Project Mini 1000
In part two, Lancaster Insurance’s strippedout Mini takes pride of place at a season opening restoration show before heading back to the workshop to undergo major body surgery.
Lancaster Insurance’s stripped-out Mini meets the readers at the NEC.
Last month we showed how Lancaster Insurance’s 1969 Mini 1000 was reduced to a stripped-out rolling shell in the bodyshop at the MG Owners’ Club’s headquarters in Cambridgeshire followed a professional assessment by workshop manager Ian Wallman. This efficiently executed Demolition Derby soon had the Mini’s interior, glass, front and rear lights, doors, boot lid and bonnet neatly laid out on the workshop floor alongside the empty shell before all the parts were labelled and safely stored prior to receiving further attention.
Next job was to wheel the rolling shell into the workshop and position the car on a wheel-free lift. Before the Mini was lifted off the ground, the underbonnet auxiliaries, including the radiator, starter motor, alternator, carburettor linkage and clutch slave cylinder were disconnected and removed. The Mini was soon up in the air again to allow the one-piece exhaust to come off before the hard-to-reach bolts securing the engine mounts and driveshafts were undone.
Once the Mini’s A-Series engine had been safely secured onto a small trolley, the unit was carefully degreased and inspected before being loaded into a covered trailer alongside the stripped-out rolling shell. The Mini and its power unit were transported to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre where the car was going to be displayed on the Lancaster Insurance stand at the recent Restoration and Classic Car Show.
Lancaster Insurance’s Mini 1000, which now goes under the name of Margo, is being gradually returned to her former glory. When compete this one family owned little gem is going to be auctioned for charity when the finished car returns to the NEC in November, with all proceeds going to help Prostate Cancer UK. The winning bidder should hopefully be delighted with their purchase, as this very original Mini has only done 33,000 miles and doesn’t need too much work doing to the bodywork before the bare metal shell receives several coats of bright red paint.
While Margo the Mini was on show at the NEC, technician Alex Cursley demonstrated how to remove the cylinder head from the A-Series engine displayed on a special trolley next to the rolling shell. While Alex was hard at work twirling the spanners, Ant Anstead one of the presenters from TV’s For the Love of Cars paid a visit to Lancaster Insurance’s stand and after catching up with the first instalment of Project Mini in last month’s copy of Classics Monthly, Ant carefully eased himself into the Mini’s cockpit, much to the amusement of the assembled crowd as the driver’s seat wasn’t bolted down.
Once the Mini was back at the MGOC’s workshop after the show, the first panels to receive the attention of the bodyshop technicians were the damaged driver’s door and dented boot lid. Although both these panels could have been replaced with new Heritage items, it had been decided to retain as much originality with this Mini as possible, especially as the dented boot lid was a rare early example with a hinged number plate surround.
The driver’s door required repairing where the lower part of the opening edge had taken a wallop during an unfortunate mishap while shunting the car around the yard. Another repair to the door was to repair a small strip of corrosion running along the base where the door skin was folded over. This required all the corroded metal cutting out and replacing with new metal. Here’s what has been done to the Mini over the last few weeks, both at the NEC and back in the workshop: