Project BMW MINI One
If £4500 for a Leyland Mini Clubman requiring work is too rich for your liking, maybe we can tempt you with the second of our Mini pairing – a BMW MINI from 2001? Rob Hawkins reports.
And here is the second part of the double header – a cheap as chips BMW MINI One from the first year of production.
Simon Goldsworthy’s reflection on the classic Mini seems to sum up my life during the 1990s when I was in my twenties and running Minis as everyday cars on a tight budget. I didn’t need to spend more than £500 to find a useable Mini and often spent much less – as a student I had a £125 Mini Pick-up, and when I started freelancing for MiniWorld magazine I paid £150 for a 1098cc saloon which became one of the many budget bangers I ran for that publication.
I have to confess I generally prefer rearwheel- drive cars, but I won’t bore you with the details and excuses. However, when it comes to FWD the Mini is hard to beat for what Simon rightly describes as being part of the car when you drive it. I remember a friend of mine being horrified at the fact that I didn’t have a stereo fitted to one of my Minis, but after a few minutes in the passenger seat, he realised that musical entertainment wasn’t necessary because the drive created just as much amusement.
Sadly, I also agree with Simon that the days of buying a cheap classic Mini as a daily runabout are over. Even 15-20 years ago, I could not only see this was on the cards, but I was also becoming tired of the rot-boxes that most cheap Minis were becoming thanks to poor levels of build quality and owner neglect. I didn’t want to be fighting back the rust and keeping my fingers crossed at every MoT anymore, so I moved on. Or should I say back to the RWD sports cars I’d always loved, ranging from the MGF and MX-5 to the Lotus Europa and kit cars including the Sylva/ Raw Striker.
However, I can’t shake my addiction to the classic Mini, so when Simon proposed this double header project, I started looking for both a classic and BMW MINI. The classic Minis for sale proved tough to navigate with many of the collectibles being too expensive, and I couldn’t justify spending £5000 on a tatty run- of-the-mill Mayfair or City model from the 1980s. Occasional bargains appeared, but there was often a catch, such as an abandoned Woody Traveller with no log book or an imported Moke that promised to have its paperwork intact on purchase. There were also a few modified projects which seem to sell for less than a Mini in standard spec, but it was still a high price to pay, such as a Clubman I spotted with a 1275cc A-series and rally-style interior for £7995.
Whilst Simon and I shopped around for the two project cars, we both became frustrated at times. Even the BMW MINIs were starting to gain in value, and the cheap ones for £500-£1000 were often
snapped up quickly. However, I remained optimistic. I’d always hoped the day would come when Minis old and new would be compared and brought together. I drove, photographed and helped repair many BMW MINIs almost from the start of production. I think the styling is a brilliant take on the traits of the classic Mini, but due to the requirements of crash protection while the car may be bigger on the outside, it actually seems smaller on the inside. The ride quality and handling are on a par with a classic Mini, but the refinement is naturally better, so you do lose the rawness of the original Mini.
There are mixed opinions on the choice of mechanical components on the BMW MINI, with gearbox and power steering problems being top of the list. Common problems abound, but that spells good news for owners because someone somewhere knows how to fix them and find the parts. And on the bright side, some of the problems associated with the classic Mini are nonexistent with the BMW, such as corrosion and dodgy ignition components when it’s raining.
Many classic Mini fans have taken a long time to accept the updated BMW, but with the 20th anniversary of production upon us, the MINI has surely earned its classic car status. And history seems to be repeating itself for possibly a short time, with the price of these cars being sufficiently low to warrant running one on a shoestring as a daily driver. That was certainly the case with this MINI One, which was found via Car Mechanics magazine editor Martyn Knowles, who has a collection of them that includes several early Y-reg models. He knows his way around the UK’s car auctions where MINIs are often not considered collectible or classic, so when Y254 YYW was spotted at British Car Auctions near Reading, he offered to bid for it live online and won the auction at a bargain £275. Add in the fees, and the total cost tipped £400, but that’s still less than 10% of the value of the classic Clubman it is pitched against. The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t make it easy for me to collect the MINI from BCA near Reading and return it to my home in Leeds some 222 miles away, but luckily the auctioneers have a transport service and charged a reasonable £330 (including the dreaded VAT) for the convenience. That’s more than the auction bid for the car, but it took the risk out of attempting to drive it home.
So the MINI One was delivered on the back of a 12- car transporter, much to the amusement of my neighbours who are used to seeing cars come and go on my driveway. The delivery driver kept his distance and drove the car into position, where it stayed for several days before I decontaminated it inside. In the meantime I delved into the car’s history, discovering it had 76k on the clock but back in July 2018, some 3000 miles ago, its radiator
and coolant had been replaced, along with the brake fluid, tyres and some air intake components to the tune of £541.20.
This was reassuring, but it wasn’t all good news in the history file as a look online at the car’s MoT history revealed a bit of an anomaly. During July 2020 when the UK was in lockdown and MoT tests had been extended, the MINI was submitted for a test and it failed, mainly on rear brake performance, but also on headlight aim and a dodgy OSF indicator. However, its MoT extension automatically kicked in, so it was granted a certificate until January 2021. Not only was the car road legal, but I could tax it online. However, with seemingly faulty brakes, I wasn’t prepared to head out for a road test.
Having looked over the car, there was more bad news, but nothing disastrous yet. I’ll reveal more in the next issue, but it’s fair to say I have plenty of jobs to do. What is interesting is whether this MINI One is worthy of preservation because it is an early model. The most collectible have the Y-registration ending with the letters OBL, so it’s never going to be in that league. Instead it has a build date of May 2001 and is number 276 according to its VIN, plus it does bear a few early features such as the MINI embossed pedal rubbers – later pedal rubbers don’t have these logos. The windscreen washer jets are smaller on the early MINIs, and there should be foam underneath the scuttle panel grilles but this is missing. Looking underneath the front end, the anti-roll bar drop-links are a later type, suggesting the front MacPherson struts have been changed – early struts are expensive to replace with top bearings and bushes costing around £200 a set.
There was a time when a 1959 Mini wasn’t worth its weight in scrap, superseded by later models with a rod-shift gear change, disc brakes up front and a larger A-series. This MINI One may not be following suit in technological advancement, but it seems destined to be just as collectible due to its emerging classic status, so I’m determined to preserve it as much as possible and keep it looking original. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I’ve yet to find out.